Alicia Reynolds was a rather transparent girl throughout high school. She didn't really belong to any of the cliques at her school. She wasn't pretty, perky, or rich enough to be considered a part of the "prep" clique. She wasn't into partying, doing drugs, or having unprotected sex, so she didn't fit in with the party crowd either. The nerds were more of her crowd, but even they didn't call her one of their own. She had a few close friends who were just like she was, but she mostly floated through high school under everyone's radar.
Things didn't change much after she graduated. She had a steady boyfriend, whom she had been dating for over a year. At 18, this type of relationship was considered serious. They still lived at home with their parents, but they had talked about moving in together in the future. Alicia lived with her father, David. Her mother had moved out after a messy divorce several years back. She had been caught cheating on her father, who Alicia thought very highly of.
Alicia had gotten used to living with her father. She would come home after he shifts at a local video game store to do chores and cook dinner for the two of them. Her father had a deep respect for Alicia. He felt that he was lucky to have her as his daughter. Most girls her age weren't interested in having jobs, steady relationships, or helping out their families. Alicia was not like all the other girls and her father knew it.
Her father ran a dive bar downtown, named The Hole in the Wall, in an area that was known for being trouble. The Hole in the Wall had been in business since a few years before David's divorce. It was something her father had always wanted to do, but couldn't find the time or the money to do it. David Reynolds had been laid off from his last union job several years back when he decided to cash in his chips and open the bar. When the bar opened, it was a hit. Everyone flocked to the new spot to drink and unwind with friends. A few years went by and the bar's luck started to change. To David, it seemed like most of his bar business had abandoned him and went to the other, more "hip", bars around town. After his divorce, he started to do anything he could to get customers in the door.
He would hire the prettiest bartenders that he could to work there, hoping that men would come in, drool over them, and dump money into his bar. This only seemed to help his failing business a little. It was a band-aid over a much larger wound. What he needed to do was something drastic...
Alicia Reynolds was a short girl, with raven black hair which covered her a quarter of her face. She dressed like a "gamer girl." She wore video game t-shirts that she would get for free from working at Game Addict. Alicia also liked to wear short shorts and thigh highs. When she went to school, she would wear a turtle shell backpack. She dressed the same when she started classes at a local community college in her town.
After classes got out in the afternoon, Alicia would walk from campus to her father's bar. This was normally a fifteen minute walk for her. She would get there, say hello to the bar regulars, most of whom she knew since she was young. The regulars were mostly her father's friends. After she said her hello's, she would find her father, who would give her the keys to his beat up pick-up truck. She would drive home, study, then pick her father up, come home again, fix a late dinner, then go to bed. This was the routine she had become accustomed to over the past two years.
It was Friday afternoon and Alicia had just finished her last class. She threw her books into her back pack and started walking toward her father's bar. Before she got very far, she was stopped by someone. The boy seemed vaguely familiar, but she was trying to figure out who he was and why he had stopped her.
"Hey, Alicia, right?"
"Uh...yeah. Hello." She said politely.
Sensing she forgot who he was, the boy said, "It's me. Tom Harris. We've got English 131 together. I sit behind you."
"Oh yeah. Hi. How are you?"
"I'm doing great now." Tom said, with a sly grin on his face. "Hey, where ya off to, sweetie?"
Sweetie? She thought. Why was he calling me this?
"I have to go to work." She lied.
"You don't work at the game shop tonight. Do you have another job?"
Fuck. How does he know my work schedule?
"I'm helping my dad out at his bar."
"But you aren't 21, are you? How is that even legal?"
He's too smart for his own good!
"I just bus tables and wash dishes. That's all." Quick thinking, girl!
"Oh, that's cool." He said, trailing off. "Look, you're hot as hell. The hottest girl in our class. Let's go out this weekend. You and me. We'll go see a movie and maybe go to my place after and hang out."
Go back to his place? Gee he's blunt!
"I'm sorry. I have a boyfriend. I can't go out with you. I'm going to be late. I have to go. Sorry."
She smiled meekly and walked off. She had been asked out before, but never by anyone as forward as Tom Harris. She remembered who he was. He was always late for class and sat in the back to talk with his friends. He didn't care about getting an education. His parents were paying for his classes and giving him a free ride. She had to work to pay for her classes, because her grant didn't pay for everything she needed. Tom Harris was one of those annoying boys with the polo shirts and the popped collars, who watched Van Wilder too many times and was only interested in chasing girls, drinking, and partying.
He was tall and muscular, a sharp contrast to her boyfriend, Peter, who was short and slender. She had met Peter while they were sophomores in high school. The two were both late for class on the first day, because they couldn't find the room they were supposed to be in. After looking together for the class, they sat by each other, became group partners, and started to talk and hang out after class. Their courtship started as a friendship. Alicia and Peter were just friends until late in their senior years. It wasn't long into their relationship that they started to become sexually active. They were both virgins when they had sex for the first time, in Peter's parent's basement on a Saturday night. As awkward and painful as it was, Alicia didn't dislike the experience. She somewhat enjoyed it. The sex wasn't anything to brag about, but Alicia started to enjoy it more and more as time went on.
Alicia finally arrived at her father's bar. She walked inside and said hello to three old men sitting at the bar - Ralph, Manny, and Roger. Ralph was the oldest of the bunch. She thought he was 60 or 70 years old. He walked with a limp. He told her it was because he took a piece of shrapnel in the leg during Vietnam. Manny and Roger were around her father's age - 52. The three of them put their drinks down and greeted the young girl. The bartender on Friday nights was Cheryl. Cheryl was in her late 30's, with three kids, and smoked a lot. She dressed trashy - usually in tight leather pants and a black tank top, which did nothing to hide her body or her slew of poorly done tattoos.
