Show Girl by Alyson Greaves

Author:Alyson Greaves [Greaves, Alyson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alyson Greaves
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It occurred to me as I waited to be served that all I’d eaten that day was a cereal bar from a box Kit had passed around, so when the woman behind the bar asked my order, I stuck with a light beer. I wasn’t planning on getting drunk, and it’d be easy to overshoot with so little in my stomach. She handed over the bottle and I found a table as far from the speakers as I could.

God, it was nice not being looked at. I unzipped my hoodie a little and sat back in my chair, enjoying the anonymity and sipping from my bottle. Sure, I was a little out of place in my tracksuit bottoms, like I’d gone out drinking straight from a run, but for some reason I didn’t feel bad that literally everyone else in the bar was dressed more garishly than I was.

I found myself swaying gently to the music. It was something by Madonna, but not one of the few songs I knew well, so I was saved the embarrassment of half-consciously mouthing the lyrics. I stretched out my legs and wiggled my toes inside the trainers — no heels! room for my toes to move! — and drained my bottle.

Despite the noise, I felt quiet. Almost at peace.

I was on the verge of closing my eyes when someone put another bottle down on the table in front of me. A dark-haired, fair-skinned someone.

“Mind if I sit down?” she asked. “I brought another beer as payment.”

“Sure.” I returned her smile and accepted the beer, taking a swig as she sat down opposite me.

“I’m Vicky.” She had a Manchester accent, if I was any judge.

I shook her outstretched hand. “Alex. Just visiting town.” Whoops; there I was, telling my real name to yet another person I was meeting as a— Oh. Wait. I was a man right now. Easy to forget.

“Hey, same.” She grinned at me, took a long drink from her own beer and propped her head up on her other hand. “So why are you here tonight?” she said. “And all alone in this bar?”

“I had the longest day,” I said, “and I needed to get away from everyone I spent it with. So as soon as I got back to the hotel, I took off the, uh, the suit, put on the most comfortable stuff I could find, and just… started walking.” I shrugged. “This is where I ended up.”

She laughed. “That sounds familiar. I spent the entire afternoon travelling, which is bad enough, and with my boss, which is worse. First chance I got, I escaped, looked online for places that seemed okay, and came here.” She looked around the place. “But it’s kind of empty, and I’m bored, and you looked bored too, so…” She was right; the bar wasn’t exactly rammed. It wasn’t much past 7pm, though.

“I hadn’t even noticed there weren’t many people here,” I admitted. “I’m only half awake. I feel like I’m jet-lagged, even though I only came up from London.

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