Chapter 10
Amy's POV
A month later
"Hey b-baby girl, get m-me a...a em... G-get me uh...one more of them... them vod-vodka whiskey thingy." Winston- a regular at this bar- slurred drunkenly.
"Winston, you're drunk off your ass. It's time to cut you off now." I said to him. "I'm going to call you a cab. I think it’s time to go home."
"No baby girl. That's the vely...very last place wannabe... Just need a drink, please just o-one more and I go...I'll be out of you-r hair." he slurred once again.
"No, I think you've had enough drink for tonight.” I said as I pulled out my phone out from my shorts’ pocket. "I'm calling you a taxi."
After calling a cab for Winston, I turned to him and told him not to move until it gets here. He sat there rambling about how I wasn't his baby girl anymore if I didn't give him another drink. I couldn't help but chuckle at his antics. There was no way I was giving an already way too drunk man more alcohol.
Katie and I switched places as I went to serve a few more customers. After an hour, we switched roles again as I took over as the bartender and she the waitress once again. A guy came up to the counter and sat on the stool. I was drying a glass at the time when he spoke up.
"Can I have a beer please?” The guy said to me.
"Sorry about that," I said as I put down the glass and towel and turned to him. "Sure thing. Hot or cold?"
"Cold." he responded as he gave me a weird look.
“I know that may seem like a weird question but I’ve had customers asked me for room temperature beer which is what I referred to as hot.” I clarified.
I didn’t want him to think that I was stupid or something.
"Coming right up." I said as I reached for the beer and placed it on the counter in front of him then got the opener. "Here you go."
"Thanks." the guy replied pushing a wad of cash towards me.
"It’s just $4. This is a bit too much." I said pushing back the rest to him.
"The rest is a tip. Keep it." the guy smiled at me.
"Uh I don't know, that's a bit too much to take." I said to him.
"That's nonsense. A tip can never be too much." he smiled at me again. "I'm not taking it back so you better keep it or someone else will."
"You're feeling quite ‘cashy’ tonight huh?" I joked.
"Yeah, as always." he chuckled. "I guess that I'm always feeling cashy."
"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "Well I'm sorry. My bad assuming that you're only feeling that way tonight. I had no idea it was a regular thing."
"I love your laugh," The guy said to me. "It's refreshing."
"Uh thanks." I said looking down with a smile suddenly feeling shy from the look he was giving me.
That and the fact that I wasn’t really used to such compliments.
"Are you getting shy with me uh...Amy?" he said looking at the name tag on my blouse. "Amy? That's your name?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
"It is really nice. Amy.” He smiled after repeating my name. “I like it. Short and sweet.”
"Uh, thank you." I chuckled shyly.
"Hey, you're not over here sweet talking my friend now are you?" Katie said as she came back from delivering her drinks.
"Kate my number one girl." The guy chuckled as he turned sideways to face her. "Don't tell me that you're jealous?"
"No, I'm not jealous Matt. I just don't want you to play my bestie." Katie said placing the tray on the bar counter and placing a hand on her waist.
"You two know each other?" I asked looking between them.
"Yeah this is Matthew. He's a good friend of mine." Katie said. "Don't let him sweet talk you. He is not to be trusted."
"So you're like a player huh?" I said to Mathew.
"What no? Katie look what you did. I was trying to work my way into her heart to ask her if she would go out with me and now you just ruined my chance." Matthew said pouting a bit. "She thinks I'm a player now. Tell her I'm not."
"Is he?" I asked Katie chuckling.
"He's a sweet talker..." Katie started to say before Matthew held up a brown envelope.
"Tell her the truth about me or you don't get this." Matthew said with a mischievous smirk.
"You're blackmailing me to score a point with my friend?" Katie said feigning shocked before grabbing at the envelope. "Give me that."
"Ah, ah. You're not getting this until you tell Amy what a great guy I am." Matthew said as he pulled back his hand with the envelope.
"You're an ass." Katie frowned.
"Okay, suit yourself." Matthew chuckled as he attempted to put it back in his pocket.
"Alright, alright fine." Katie said quickly turning to me. "I know him, he's a good guy. Quite a sweet talker; I won't deny that but differently he's a great guy overall. You should definitely go out with him."
"Why thank you Kate for that lovely compliment." Matthew chuckled.
"Now give me that." Katie said grabbing at the envelope once again.
"No not yet. Wait just a minute." Matthew pulled back the envelope before looking at me. "I have to know that she's convinced."
"What? I'll kill you Matt." Katie raised a fist to punch him.
"That would make it even worst." he chuckled causing her to stop. "So Amy, do you believe her? That I'm a good guy?"
"I don't know. You're being quite a bad boy right now." I replied.
"Katie, it’s your fault you know." Matthew said to her. "Now she's not going to go out with me. That's it. I'll just keep this."
"No! Matt don't play with me that way." Katie protested before turning to me pleadingly. "Amy please, could you just tell him that you'll give him a chance so that he can give me my things and go. He’s persistent and a bit relentless, he won’t leave us to do our work otherwise."
Matthew turned to me smiling hopefully.
"Will you go out for coffee with me Amy?"
I was frozen not knowing what to reply. Was he asking me out on a date? I had never been out on a date or even with a guy without being forced to because of working with Alfredo. I wasn't sure what to say or what to expect.
"Uhm, I don't know."
"Really Amy, he's a decent guy." Katie smiles at me. "You can give him a chance."
"See? I'm a great guy. She finally admits it. So?" Matthew smiled at me.
I wasn't sure what to say as I was new to this whole guy asking me out thing. And I was tempted to say yes as well as no at the same time but Katie with smiling at me encouragingly, I decided to give him a chance. Maybe I’d get the chance to see what this whole date thing was like.
"Uhm... Alright. When are we doing this?" I asked with a smile.
"Katie are you sure about this blouse?" I asked as I turned to the mirror once again. "I just met the guy, I don't want him think that I'm too desperate."
"What's wrong with the blouse Amy? It’s not like you're naked. You look great." Katie said to me.
"The whole outfit just screams desperate. I mean, these pants are showing every detail of my body and the blouse is sheer for crying out loud." I huffed. "I might as well write ‘trying too hard’ on my forehead."
I was dressed in a white sleeveless sheer blouse with black polka dots, a tight black leather pants paired with plain 4 inches’ black pumps and a black leather jacket.
"So the outfit is a bit sexy. What's wrong with being sexy Amy? Isn't the whole point of going on the date with Matt is to look good for him?"
"Who says that I want to look good for him?" I asked raising a brow at her.
"Don't you?" Katie asked back raising her brow as well. "I thought you liked him."
"I don't him enough to like him but I do find him attractive." I said as I applied a shade of dark brown lipstick to my lips.
“Then that's all the more reason to look hot for him." Katie smirked.
"OK whatever." I said waving her off. "Do you think this color looks okay? I don't want to scare him off."
"Amy, stop fretting. The color looks good on you and the clothes looks good on you. You look great, now stop worrying. Matt is probably here by now." Katie dragged me from in front the mirror and pushed my purse into my hands. "You don't want to keep the guy waiting too long and miss out on your first real date."
"Oh my Gosh Katie." I giggled nervously. "It's a date; a real date. I don't know what to expect from going on dates and I'm 22 years old for heaven’s sake."
"You just go and have fun wherever you guys go." Katie said to me.
"I don't even know if I'm wearing the right outfit. I don't know where he's taking me." I said freaking out. " What if I’m too overdressed or worst underdressed? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
"Amy," Katie placed her hands on my shoulder s "You are going on this date, Matt is a nice guy and you're going to enjoy it to okay?"
"Alright okay." I nodded with a sigh. "By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you... What was it that Matthew gave to you the other night at the bar?"
"What?" Katie asked clueless.
"You know; the envelope he wouldn't give to you until you convinced me that he's a great guy?" I said to her.
"Oh, that. It’s nothing, it’s just.... Oh that must be Matt here for you now." Katie started before rushing to the door at the sound of a knock.
After taking a deep breath, I walked towards the door where Matt was now standing with Katie.
"Hey." I greeted with a smile.
"Amy hi. Wow, you look awesome. You look great." Matthew said looking me up. “So beautiful.”
"Thanks, you good too." I smiled at him while blushing.
"Thanks, so you ready to go?" He asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess so." I nodded.
"Okay then, may I?" Matthew asked holding out a hand to me.
"Yeah ok." I smiled as I gave him my hand.
"Katie, see you later." Matthew winked at her.
"You better take care of her okay. Or else I'll have to kick your butt if she complains about you." Katie threatened him. Though I know she was probably only joking.
"Don't worry, I'll take very good care of her." Matthew chuckled. "You can ask her when we get back too.”
" See you later babe. Have a good time." Katie smiled at me.
"Yeah, I will." I nodded with a smile.
After that, Matthew led me down the stairs from the apartment outside to where his car was. Katie and I lived on the second floor so we didn't have to climb down many steps thankfully. Once inside Matthew's Camaro, we set off to wherever he was taking me. We had small conversations on our way as I tried to question him about where we were going but he wouldn't say. I even made a joke about if he was going to kidnap me and kill me and Matthew laughed telling me that's he's a lot of things but a kidnapper or killer wasn't any of them.
I had no idea what Matthew had in store for us but I was extremely surprised when he took me to a bowling alley. I was a mixture of excited and nervous. I was excited because this was my first time coming to a bowling alley and nervous because of the same reason. And the fact that I didn't know one thing about bowling. I was a bit skeptical though when we had to choose shoes there—I didn't like the idea of putting my feet in a shoe that someone else's feet have been in.
Matthew and I were choosing our balls and I chose a red one with some sparkles that had him laughing at my choice.
"What's so funny? Why are you laughing at me?" I asked Matthew a bit amused.
"I just can't help it. You choose the big red ball with sparkles. That's something a kid would chose." Matthew chuckled.
"Well maybe I'm a kid at heart." I smiled. "It just pretty so I figured it would do too. I don't really have much experience with balls."
"No?" Matthew asked before laughing very amused. It took me a second to realize how what I had said sounded.
"Oh God. You know what I mean." I said a bit embarrassed. "I meant that I don't have much practice with bowling balls."
"I know; I know." Matthew laughed. "So is this your first time bowling?"
"Yeah, the very first." I nodded.
"Well alright, take your first try. Let's see how good you are at this." Matthew said to me.
"Now? I'm supposed to bowl first?" I looked at the ball in my hand and back to the pins. "I don't have a clue how to do this."
"Don't worry, just take your first bowl however you can and I'll help you afterwards if you don't get it right. " Matthew smiled at me.
"Okay then. Here goes nothing." I sighed as I put my fingers in the three holes on top of the ball before taking my stand to let the ball go down the lane.
The ball went part way then rolled right into the gutter.
"See? I told you I'm not any good at this." I pouted as I turned to Matthew.
"It’s okay. Here, try one more time." Matthew said giving me another ball.
I tried again and the same thing happened. I turned to Matthew once again frowning.
"I'm not good at this at all." I said to her. “This is so embarrassing.”
"It’s okay, you'll get it. Let me help this time." Matthew said as he came with another ball.
This time as I held the ball, Matthew stood right behind me with one hand on my waist angling my body how I should stand while the other rested under my hands which was supporting the ball. After giving me a few pointers on how to set my leg and how to do a small run before releasing the ball, Matthew helped me to do just that. The ball went out of my hand and down the lane knocking over seven of the pins. I couldn't help the excited squeal that left my lips as I saw that.
"I did it!" I giggled to Matthew.
"You sure did. Looks like you're a pro now." Matthew chuckled.
"All thanks to you." I smiled. “You are an excellent teacher.”
After bowling for a while longer, Matthew and I left to go grab a bite. He asked me what I would like and if I'd like to go to a restaurant now or something. I just suggested that I'd rather something more simple and so we went to get burgers, fries and milk shakes. After a while, Matthew decided that he should probably take me back home before Katie have his head. I couldn't deny that I had an excellent time out with him.
During the drive home, Matthew and I talked and tried getting to know each other better but that was where I started freezing up. He had asked what I used to do before. I didn't know how to tell him that I was a stripper once performing in a strip club. When I told him that I didn't want to discuss it, he asked me if it was because I was embarrassed. Then he surprised me by telling me that I had nothing to be embarrassed about. I tried playing dumb while asking him what on earth he was talking about. He was able to tell me that he had a guess that I once worked at a strip club with Katie. I didn't know he knew that so I wanted to deny it but then he started telling me about himself. It turned out that the envelope that he gave Katie that I was so curious about, contained whatever drugs. He was her new supplier.
I was shocked to know that he dealt drugs too. I immediately wanted to start avoiding him instantly but he had already told me that he enjoyed his time out with me and wanted us to try going out again. He told me that he didn't want what he had told me to change anything just as how he didn’t feel less about me because of my past job. I wanted to say no to him but I had a great time with Matthew. He was the first guy that ever treated me so well with care and respect. And furthermore, I think I may like him. I decided to give him another chance. I figured to myself 'what the hell' as long as I don't start taking drugs again, what's the big deal? Maybe continuing to hang out with Matthew could be the start of great things between us.