How quick is this? Three sections out all ready. Don't worry, this is it for now. I'll put the rest up (this one is all written) but only if everyone is interested. Let me know what you think!
Mandijerri
A Man for a Year: June - Friday Night...
It was a house rule, you know, one of those rules you know is fair but just don't like anyway? So, it was a house rule that a third of all tips went to the backroom staff with the rest split equally between the front of house. Boy had earned 10 quid from Emma's table but, as always, he cashed it up, put it in the book and put three pounds into the kitchen glass. Only fair. Pain in the arse, but only fair.
Then the rest of the night was a blur and, as it was only the middle of the month, he and Eduardo were out of the restaurant themselves by eleven, and almost at Sheridan's by twelve.
"How much does this cost again?" Eduardo asked, fishing about in his back pocket for change.
"Eddy, my boy." Boy told him, adopting a W C Fields accent. "How many times do I have to tell you? I have the key to the back door!"
"This is your brother's club, isn't it?" Eduardo asked.
"Where else do you think I would take you in the middle of a month?"
"You are a useful person, man. Have I told you that?"
"Yes, and it's Boy." Boy reminded him as they made their way through an alleyway that ran between a church and a launderette.
"I knew that." Eduardo laughed.
"Are you hogging all of that?" Boy asked, pulling the bottle out of Eduardo's hand and taking a deep swig. "I paid half you know."
"Hey, I had some whiskey earlier, sent back by a table for being too malty, can you believe it? Give me a break."
"You are forgiven." Boy said as they came to a halt in a small, dark car park. "Are you ready?"
"Jeez, Boy!" Eduardo complained as he drained the bottle they had been sharing. "Stop making a big thing about this and open the fucking door!"
"Hey, I'm getting you into the club for free am I not? For that you have to put up with the theatrics!"
With a flourish he pulled out a swipe card and made a great show of swiping it and pulling the door open with gusto.
"Enter my good man." He said ushering Eduardo past. "Heaven awaits."
"Whatever." Eduardo smiled, patting Boy on the arse as he passed.
"Ooh, that so deserves revenge!" Boy laughed as they fell into the staff entrance to the club.
A few moments later and they were in the throng of the crowd.
whr R U? Boy texted Emma.
2nd mast. She came back.
"This way!" Boy called to Eduardo, grabbing his arm and pulling him through the throng of people.
Sheridan's was a theme bar. Bry, Boy's brother, had come up with the idea after a trip to Madrid. He had visited lots of small intimate clubs and bars there and one thing they all had in common was a theme. Some were really stupid, Mickey Mouse was the theme in one of them, but the place had been heaving. It was a real eye- opener and something he was determined to capitalise on in Aylesbury, in the UK, maybe.
Clubs in the UK were all chic furniture and designer DJs. The kids still came, but the only difference between them was the guys on the door and the price of a pint of beer at the bar. Given a choice, people would rather go somewhere fun than somewhere bland. Hence Sheridan's was a theme bar/club. Every six months or so the theme changed. In the four years since it opened it had already done Toy Story, Terminator, 70's retro and a host of others.
But he had been proved right. People still flocked to Sheridan's because the music was good and the place was fun. Currently Sheridan's was a pirate bar. The DJ booth was housed in the prow of a pirate ship, complete with topless mermaid (breasts now worn bare of paint, of course), and two huge masts in the centre of the dance floor, (the lower portions of which doubled up as dancing poles). Unfurled sails filled the space above and a small fake crow's nest perched at the top of one of the masts near to the glass ceiling which currently looked out onto a dark grey sky. The pirate theme was already six months old and Bry, was currently planning the next incarnation, an alien bar.
"You have no drinks!" Emma cried into Eduardo's ear as they found them, bodies moving in jerking rhythm with the music.
"Only just got here!" Eduardo called back, disappointing and pleasing Emma at the same time.
She was disappointed at his lack of a Spanish accent, but curiously turned on by his London burr.
"Come on!" She called, taking his hand and dragging him off in the direction of the bar.
"Jason?" Boy called, knowing she could not hear him over the music and, not seeing him with Mary or Sarah, he waved at the two before making his own way towards the bar.
He knew people, how could he not? Most of the youth of Aylesbury came through Charlie Green's at least once and that meant a good number of them had been served, and charmed, by him. So there was more than one slap on the back as he made his way across the room, more than one hand shake. Also, being the brother of the owner had its own credibility, and he lapped it all up.
Brian, his brother Bry's full first name (Bry was more suited, they all agreed, as the name of a club owner than the name of the simple snail from the Magic Round- about), had opened this club with the money he made from a redundancy some four years ago. Their parents had been horrified, but he was still here and still the only club worth visiting in this or any of the surrounding towns. The local coach company put on buses from all the main towns into Aylesbury just to come to Sheridan's - and that included Milton Keynes!
Others clubs tried to copy him of course, but Brian would just close down for a few weeks and then open with a completely new image - and always themed, and always successful.
Sheridan's currently, as already mentioned, was a pirate bar. Brian's last girlfriend, huge fan of Jack Sparrow as she was, had inspired the place and it was the most successful theme yet.
Boy approved.
The female staff were scantily clad big-busted wenches while the male staff were mostly topless, and muscular - a fascinating combination, and one that filled both his straight and gay fantasies most nights.
Eventually he made his way to the bar and after a moment spied Emma and Eduardo.
"Jason?" He shouted/whispered into Emma's ear.
"Oh." Emma replied.
"Oh?" He asked her.
"He erm... went home early?"
"You so owe me for this one. Emm."
"Look, I promise, anyone, anyone - he's yours. Leave me Eduardo, though?" And she smiled up at him.
"You are a real bitch, you know?" Boy smiled, then kissed her on the lips. "Love you babes." He laughed.
"Enjoy!" He called to Eduardo before fading back into the crowd.
Too Busy.
Boy made his way over to the door at the back of the stage, to the left of the DJ Pirate booth. Sheridan's was two bars, one for the public, and one more private. As a member of the family, and hence the inner posse, he had access to both. The security guy opened the door even before it was clear he was making his way over.
"Thanks." boy shouted as he passed inside. "Way too busy out here!"
The guy's answer was drowned out by the music and body odour as Boy himself made his way along the low lit corridor then up the stairs to the private bar.
There was music here as well, but more current and more real than that throbbing through the floor from below. As he came out of the stair well, glass windows looking down into the main club filled his view on the left, while the bar, and the select guests, sat on his right. He glanced down briefly, but none of Emma's group could be seen. The second mast had been claimed by others, it would seem. For a moment he glanced around before making his way over to the bar.
"June." He whispered, when he finally got her attention, "A bottle of your finest beer, if you please."
"On its way, hun." She crooned, and Boy settled into a familiar routine.
His brother was not here tonight and the private bar was empty, or full of people he was not interested in, which was pretty much the same thing, really. He joked with June and the other bar staff, but tonight was already falling into a familiar pattern. Drunk, alone, then home.
"You need company?" A deep voice asked, so close to his ear that he could almost taste the breath that accompanied the words.
"And what do you mean by company?" Boy asked, turning to get a look at the newcomer.
Tall, broad, as bored as he was... perhaps there was something to salvage here tonight anyway.