Red Seems To Be My Colour Lately

Around 4 am I decided it was time for me to head home. I figured if I thought leaving in the middle of the night was awkward, that the morning would only be worse. Brandon had fallen asleep so I had my chance. I quickly gathered my clothes and got dressed in the hall. As soon as I made my way to the lobby, I called for an Uber.

When I arrived back at my house, I was happy to see all the lights off. I knew the girls were going to be demanding details but I needed to sleep first. I opened the door and let myself in, trying as hard as I could to be quiet. I slipped off my shoes and started slowly walking towards my bedroom, praying I didn't run into anything. Just as I went to open my door, I heard a mans voice say "Freeze! Where do you think you're going?"

I gasped and dropped my shoes, making a huge clatter. My heart was ready to jump out of my throat. I couldn't decide if I should scream or try and get inside my room and slam the door shut. Suddenly, I heard a deep laugh coming from behind me.

Ryan!! Son of a bitch! I turned around and glared at the guy sprawled out on my sofa, who was currently smirking at me. Ryan is Tara's cousin and one of my best male friends. As he still lives at home, he often crashes at our place on the weekend after a night out.

"So, little Miss Alya is doing the walk of shame" he teased. "Not a sight I thought I would see tonight! Your two darling roommates convinced me you were in your bed fast asleep. Here you were out doing who knows what. Or should I say, doing who knows who?"he asked with his eyebrow raised.

With anyone else this may have bothered me but Ryan and I talked about everything. He knew my character inside out. I made my way over to sofa, pretending to walk by but then quickly dropped myself on top of him.

"Oooofff" he groaned. "Get off me! Don't make me tickle you!" Normally I'd take the challenge but Ryan knows I hate being tickled and will scream bloody murder. Not wanting to talk about my night with the girls I decided instead to cuddle up beside Ryan. He hugged me in his arms and I laid my head on his chest. If anyone were to walk in they would assume it was Ryan who I spent the night with but everyone knew we were just friends. Besides, the odd time things ever did shift towards the romantic side with us, Tara was right there to jump in. As she was an only child, Ryan was like a brother to her and she wasn't going to risk something happening between us and then going bad.

I told Ryan about my night, obviously leaving out some of the details. Trying to be my protector as always he gave me a lecture about going home with a guy I just met. He grilled me for details on Brandon, and when I told him I really didn't know much about him, Ryan started to bitch at me again.

"Ryan" I exclaimed, "just drop it! I've felt like shit for weeks now and suddenly I don't feel quite so discarded or ugly"

"God damn it Alya!" he roared, then lowered his voice. "You are not ugly or anything of the sort. Peter was a fucking wanker. I would continue this conversation but I'm a little drunk and I don't want to say something I shouldn't"

I wasn't quite sure what he meant but I was tired and needed my bed. As I hugged him good night, and kissed him on this cheek, he looked up at me and grinned. "I will say I wish I had been there to see that jerk in pain."

I laughed, "yeah Brandon hit him pretty good!"

Ryan laughed, as he turned over onto his stomach. As he did that he smirked, "I meant when Chelsea made him scream!"
....................................................................

The next morning at 10:30 my alarm started going off. I hit snooze and tried to figure out why it was even going off. Suddenly I remembered that I had to be at work for 12. I groaned. The last thing I felt like doing was working a 10 hour shift. The only good thing was that I wasn't going to need to fill the girls in about last night. As I went to get out of bed some of my muscles reminded me of the previous night and I blushed.

I quickly showered and got ready. I tried to peek out my room to see if I could make a clean break. Unfortunately, Tara, Chelsea and Ryan were all sitting in the living room and saw me. I quickly yelled " No time to talk!! Going to be late" and ran out the door.

For the past three years I have worked as a waitress at a local restaurant called Chester's. The best way I can describe it is an upscale sports bar. We serve pretty good food and drinks, and are always showing various sporting events. Being a waitress there paid pretty well with tips especially when the home team was winning. Unfortunately it also meant with putting up with a lot of idiots and drunken ass holes. I had been slowly training to work as a bartender. I had enough of working the floor. Luck was in my favour tonight though as I was getting to work being the bar for the first time.

I looked at the schedule to see who would be training me. My heart started beating a little faster when I realised it was Liam. He had just moved here and started working working with us about 2 months ago. And he was HOT. He wasn't overly tall, but he had a great body and the most amazing arms. Nothing massive but they just looked impressive. He also had the most beautiful blue eyes that lit up when he smiled. Sadly Liam didn't seem to smile a lot but his broody, serious personality seemed to make him even hotter. This would be our first time really spending any time together. This night as looking up.

I clocked in and made my way to the bar. Liam finished up the drinks he was making and then turned to me. "Hey Alya! Looks like you are stuck with me tonight" he said.

"I'd like to be!" I stated, then blushed as I realised what I said. "Umm I mean I'd like that. Err I mean, that's good" Jesus why couldn't I shut up. I just stared at him and realised I was making it worse by not saying anything. Luckily, Stacy, one of the waitresses on duty came and placed an order. As Liam made the drinks, Stacy came over to  me and grinned. "Lucky you!" she exclaimed. "I'd love a little one on one time with Liam, if you know what I mean!!"

I started to turn red and prayed he never heard her. I don't think he did actually hear our conversation but sadly an older lady sitting at the bar did. She wolf whistled at Liam and purred "I wish it was me spending some time with that hunk!"

I wanted to crawl into a hole. Why is my whole life based on embarrassment lately? Thank goodness, after that little incident the rest of the night calmed down. Normally Sunday nights are pretty busy  when events are going on but there were no major games today and the weather was decent so everyone was out enjoying it. Liam showed me the basics and half way through the night he let me start making the orders. A few times I caught him looking at me but I just brushed it off as him making sure I did a good job.

When my shift was finally over, I clocked off, grabbed my stuff and waved to everyone as I left. I checked my phone and saw several missed messages. Three were from Peter, bitching over last night, calling me names and the last one asking me to call him. I deleted those in a hurry.

I had a few other texts from a few random friends, one from Chelsea asking when I was off and one from my brother asking if I could baby sit my nephew on Thursday. Disappointment filled me when I saw nothing from Brandon. I know that I will likely never hear from him again. I do know what a one night stand is. But suddenly it just made me feel bad about myself all over again. I realised how stupid I'm being. Peter dumping me and Brandon not texting are two different things, but in some shitty way they were making me feel the same.

I pulled out of the parking lot and started making my way home, with a slight detour to Burger King through the drive through - Opps! I'm not even sorry though. My chicken sandwich was awesome. As I got out of the car, I noticed I had a missed message that must have just came through.

Brandon - So Alya. I really enjoyed last night. When do I get to see you again?

A huge smile came over my face and I did a little dance. Perhaps things weren't as shitty as I thought