"YOU HAVE TO GIVE me your number next time," one of our customers named Harold tells me before giving me a quick kiss on my cheek. He was taller than me and bigger in size. But I didn't really mind, though. He was pretty cute, in my opinion.
"You know I can't. But if you want to see me again, you can always find me at the bar," I whisper, leaning close to him and slowly blowing on his neck, making him giggle.
Harold then looks at me and gently touches my chest before pulling something out of his pocket. "You know, I've always been conscious about my appearance. For a fat guy like me, thank you for making me feel special, Sunday. Here, take this," Harold then says, grabbing my hand and forcing me to take the money.
"I can't possibly—"
"Don't be shy now," he insisted, and so I nodded my head and took them without any complaint.
"Thank you," I say, leaning close to him and kissing him again. "And don't talk about yourself like that. You're going to make me sad."
Harold laughs and decides to finally move away from me. He looks around the area, and then he covers his mouth to give out a laugh. "I can't believe I made out with someone in a dark alley."
"Next time I'll choose a better location," I tell him, and Harold laughs again.
"Thanks for tonight. You really made my Sunday unforgettable. I'll see you next time, okay?"
"Okay. Bye, sweetheart."
Harold waves his hand and walks away. As soon as he was gone, I took a deep breath and fixed my suit before walking back to the bar with a smile on my face.
Today marks my 3rd week as a Table Employee in the Red Light Bar. I don't really notice the number of days anymore whenever I'm at work, but working for madam Scarlet has been a blessing to me. I still get harassed by some pigs once in a while, but I handle it better now.
I also meet different people from different walks of life that have stories that they're dying to share. I get to express myself and my sexuality better, and the best part is that I earn more than I ever did in my lifetime.
Others might not understand people like us who are working in this kind of industry, but that's okay. As long as I'm not hurting anyone, and I get to earn money and at the same time make others like us feel good, then I don't care what they'd say about me.
"Mr. Sunday's back!" Someone announced when I got back to the bar.
"That's the fifth 'bill out' this week playboy. You're going to tire your dick out," one of the T.Es then tease, making the other employees and even the customers laugh.
"Haters gonna hate," I reply, making the T.E roll his eyes.
"Sunday," our receptionist for tonight, Anna, then calls out.
"What's up? Did I get any complaints?" I jokingly asked when I approached her.
"Unfortunately, no. Someone's just here to see you. He's new so go easy on him. He's at table 8," Anna says, and I nod my head and make my way to the table to meet this customer.
When I got close to the table, I immediately put my game face on and got ready to welcome the newbie. "Good evening. Welcome to Red Light. My name is...Gelo?!" I shout in surprise, making the others turn around to look at us.
Gelo, my overbearing childhood friend, looks at me with a wide smile before taking a sip of the drink he ordered. "Oh, hi, Mr. Sunday. It's great to see you."
"Fuck you, man. What are you doing here?" I ask, sitting across from him and staring at him from head to toe because I couldn't believe that he was even here in the first place.
"Hey, can't a friend support another friend? I prefer to see women though, but this will do," Gelo answers, looking around the bar and taking another sip of his drink.
"Can you even pay for that?" I ask, gesturing at the alcohol that he ordered for himself.
Gelo finishes the drink and then smiles at me before saying, "No. That's why I came here, so that you can treat me to a couple of rounds."
"I knew it. Get the fuck out of here. With your alcohol tolerance, I'm going to be broke before my shift even ends," I then say, standing from my seat to grab his arm.
Gelo pulls his hand away from me effortlessly and suddenly fires back, "Let me remind you again, Mr. Sunday, that I'm the reason why you have this job."
"Fuck you."
"You're welcome," Gelo answers, making me sigh and head back to my seat in defeat.
Gelo ordered a bucket of beer with no shame, and all I could do was cross my arms. I guess this is the perfect time to rest. I have been entertaining customers all night, after all.
"So, you just got out of work?" I ask Gelo while I grab the service water that they gave to him earlier so I can take a sip of it.
"One of the cashiers asked to change schedules with me for a few days, so I'm on the morning shift for a while. I was then invited to a birthday party, but I got bored, so I just ended up going here. I wanted to see what the excitement is about, but it's not really anything special," Gelo truthfully answers.
"You're not exactly the target market."
"Hey, if there's good booze, I'm always the target market."
"Of course you are."
The waiter arrived with the beer, and as the table employee that I am, I opened one bottle for Gelo and handed it over to him, which was something that I shouldn't have done because he'll definitely end up teasing me about it all night.
"Anyway, have you gotten over that guy that visited your house last time?" Gelo then asks, almost making me spill the beer that I was also drinking for myself.
"And who the hell told you about that?"
"Mama mentioned it to me when I saw her buying detergent at the store. She told me about him and said he hasn't visited since, which is why you're acting all mopey," Gelo explains, almost making me snatch the bottle from his hand because of irritation.
And why did mama have to talk about Aries? I've been trying my best to avoid him, so I haven't seen him again on campus. Not even once.
I'd gotten over him before things got serious. But whenever people talk about him, I still get irritated.
"He's nothing important. He was just a senior partner who helped me during the exams. Mama's just over-exaggerating," I say, and I could tell that Gelo wasn't buying it, but he decides not to push the discussion further.
"By the way, when you got back everyone was talking about you getting billed out. So you're fucking your customers now too?" Gelo shamelessly asks this time before taking a sip of his beer. I finally snatch the bottle from his hand and finish it in one go, making him narrow his eyes in irritation. But surprisingly enough, he doesn't say anything about it and just opens another bottle for himself.
"Why so defensive? It's not like I asked a crazy question. That's part of your job after all, and you know me enough to know that I'm not the type to judge people easily," he then defends.
I slam the bottle down on the table and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand like some thug before answering him, "I don't fuck any of my customers. That's my limit. I only let them touch me, and sometimes we make out a little. One of my regulars sucked me off once, but that's it."
"Okay, now that's too much information."
"Well, you're the one who wanted to know, so I only answered you," I sarcastically replied.
The two of us continued talking to each other for a while until someone suddenly joined us at our table. It was Gin, the head bartender, and the co-owner of the bar. I thought he was just going to talk to me about my bill outs, but to my surprise, he goes to Gelo and pats his back instead.
"Gelo, it's been a while," Gin greets, immediately making my friend stand from his seat to greet him properly.
"Yo Richard! Glad to see you, man. How's Michael?" Gelo asks back before giving Gin a quick hug. I couldn't believe that Gelo's close enough with Gin to just casually call him and madam Scarlet by their real names.
"Wait, Gelo, the buddy you mentioned when you told me about this job is Gin?" I finally ask, making the two of them look back at me.
"Oh yeah, I haven't told you, haven't I? Richard and I go way back. During the time I was working as a bartender at a different club, he and Michael would regularly visit. That's when I met them," Gelo casually explains like it's not something important.
"I was hoping he'd work in this bar, but Gelo said he's already working at some convenience store," Gin says.
"I don't wanna go back to working at bars. I get in a bunch of trouble every time," Gelo then replies, and Gin and I couldn't help but agree.
The three of us were about to continue our conversation, but then the employees suddenly started crowding the entrance, welcoming a couple of customers who entered the bar.
"What's going on?" I ask, curious to see who the guests are. "Do we have famous customers here?"
"That rarely happens," Gin replies, stretching his neck to see better. When he finally saw who they were, he goes "Ah~" and looks back at us like it's not a big deal. "It's just Jack's customers. Those groups of guys are from rich families, so they're big spenders, and they give large tips. The other employees usually fight over them," Gin explains to us.
"Is that so? Then shouldn't you try to introduce yourself to them too, Dom? Who knows, they might find you handsome and bill you out," Gelo then suggests, which was actually a suggestion that I agreed on.
"I think I should," I say, looking at Gin.
Gin nods his head to agree to it too. But when I stood up and got ready to head to them, Gin suddenly grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Wait, Dom, I don't know if you're bothered about these things, but I think some of those guys are studying at Librada University. You're a student there too, right? You can sit this one out if you want."
Whoa, they're students in LU? This is the first time I'm going to encounter that here even though this is relatively close to the campus. It's not really a problem to me either since being seen working here and them being a customer are both equally awkward.
"I don't have to hide. But I guess it's better if I keep a distance," I answer, sitting back in my seat.
Gin respects my decision and gives Gelo a free bucket of beer before heading back to the bar area.
While I sat back on the sofa, I couldn't help but glance at the customers that Jack and the others were entertaining. There were about eight of them, and they were loud. Most of them were pretty handsome, not gonna lie, but before I could stare at each and every one of their faces, Jack leads them to a private room, making me unable to see who they were.
"Hey, Mr. Sunday," Gelo suddenly calls out, making me look back at him.
"What now?" I ask him.
Gelo looks at me and smiles before asking, "Can I have some snacks too?"
"I'm seriously banning you from returning to this bar," I threaten. But like the true friend that I am, I stood from my seat and started searching for some snack I could feed my very broke and annoying customer
...
"Please, don't come back. You literally finished three buckets of beer all by yourself," I say as I walk Gelo out of the bar.
"If you didn't stop me, I could have had more," Gelo playfully says, which I knew for a fact was pretty likely to happen.
"Are you sure you can head back home safely? I know you said you left your motorcycle at your house, but I don't trust you enough. I'd come with you, but I still have two hours left in my shift, and I don't want you to stay longer because you'd definitely bankrupt me," I tell him, and Gelo just laughs and hits my back.
"Don't worry about me. You know I'm good with my liquor," he reassures me, and all I could do is believe him. "Anyway, thanks for the free drinks. When I get my next salary, I'll treat you out too."
"I'll wait for it."
Gelo pats my back again before finally waving goodbye.
I watched him until he got into a jeep. And when he was gone, I went back to the bar.
At this hour, there were still a lot of customers. This is what the others call the happy hour. It's when most of the customers are drunk, so they tend to drink more and give bigger tips. That's why the employees have to work extra hard to entertain the customers and keep the high going and the money flowing.
As a previous floor employee, this was the worst hour because the customers made a lot more mess. But as a table employee, this was definitely heaven.
"Should I try sharing a table with the others?" I ask myself as I look around the bar.
I saw one of the employees entertaining a group of newbies and decided to join him, but then one of the waiters suddenly grabbed my arm to stop me. "Sunday, can you bring this bucket to the VIP room? I need to serve more tables," he says, handing me the bucket of beer.
"No problem."
"Thanks, man."
The waiter pats my back and runs back to the kitchen as I walk my way to the VIP room where Jack's customers are. I'm just giving them their drinks, so I'll be out before I know it. As much as I don't really care if they see me or not, I still don't want to be in an awkward position in the future if I end up seeing them on campus.
When I arrived outside the VIP room, I adjusted the bucket in my arm so I could knock on the door. But just as I was about to hit my knuckles on the door, someone suddenly cleared their throat behind me.
"Are those our drinks?" A voice suddenly asks, my eyes widening in surprise because of how familiar it sounded. For some reason, my entire body stiffened, and I couldn't move from where I was standing.
"Excuse me, are those our drinks? You can just head inside and place it on the table," he continues to say.
I'm starting to question myself if what I'm assuming right now is correct or not. But given the situation, this assumption was definitely impossible. There's just no way this is the same person that I'm thinking of right now.
"S-Sorry..." I say, slowly turning to finally face the mysterious man.
I kept things neutral, and I was trying to manage my expectations, but when I finally turned around to face him, I dropped the bucket of beer in my hand because of shock, and then, at that very moment, my entire universe stopped.
The music in the background sounded muffled, and all I could hear was my heart beating so close to my ear.
Aries was standing in front of me.
Aries Buan, the senior who I was starting to have a crush on but then ended up ghosting me, was now standing in front of me in a gay bar I'm currently working at.
"Aries?" I ask, and I can tell that he's equally shocked as I am.
He stood in front of me, not moving a single inch. He was wearing this leather jacket, and he used his black shades as a headband to hold his hair. His vibe was completely different from when we were at school.
"Aries..." I call out this time.
I thought Aries would start explaining himself, or maybe even pretend that he doesn't know who I am and just ignore me completely, but Aries doesn't do any of that. Instead, he turns away from me and makes a run for it.
I curse under my breath and chase after him even though I shouldn't be chasing him like this.
Some of the employees were calling out for me when they saw me running, but I ignored them and continued chasing after my senior partner. When I got out of the bar, I saw him entering his car, so I immediately ran to where he was, slamming his door shut so he wouldn't be able to get inside.
"What the fuck are you doing? Leave me alone!" He angrily asks.
"Aries, w-what are you doing here?" I ask even though I already have an idea of why he was here in the first place.
Aries looks at me for a quick second but immediately looks away. He doesn't say anything to me, but then he kicks the wheel of his car and starts cursing.
I know that I shouldn't have followed him here. Maybe I should have just pretended like I didn't know him back at the bar so he wouldn't have to act like this. But for some reason, I just couldn't. I couldn't leave him alone. I couldn't leave him alone even though I was supposed to be mad at him. I couldn't leave him alone even though he was the one who ignored me first.
"I've been working at this bar for about two months now," I tell him, even though it's already too late for that. "I'm pretty much aware that you know what this bar is, but I don't want to make this harder than it already is. Tell me you were dragged here by your friends, or you were just here to have casual drinks. Tell me anything, and I'll nod my head and believe you. And I'll never mention this to you again."
Aries removes the sunglasses on his head so he can brush his hair back. He still didn't look at me, but when he finally did, he looked straight into my eyes and put on a serious expression. "I'm gay, Dom," he finally says, making me look away from him this time.
No...
You're not supposed to tell me that.
You're not supposed to tell me, a guy who's practically a stranger to you, such an important matter about you.
"I didn't hear anything," I say instead, finally turning around to head back to the bar, but Aries grabs my arm and forces me to look back at him.
"Don't act stupid. You had a hunch, didn't you? You saw through me. I could tell you saw through me," Aries desperately tries to ask, and the way I couldn't even look straight at his eyes already clarified it for him.
I'm never the type to assume someone's sexuality. But when he opened up about the senior partner he had in the past, I already had a hunch just like what he's saying now. I had this speculation, but I didn't say or even think about it because it's not my place to treat him like he's some sort of puzzle.
"Go ahead, you can laugh. I'm Aries, the guy who always acts like he's superior when in fact, he's such a coward that he can't even admit he likes boys," Aries suddenly tells me, immediately making me shake my head.
"You know damn well that not coming out doesn't make you a coward," I tell him, but Aries just laughs and heads back to his car again. He tried to open it for the second time, but for some reason, I ended up slamming it shut.
I didn't want to let him go.
Not like this.
"What is your problem?!" Aries angrily shouts at me again before pushing me away. "You're mad at me, right? Then tell everyone that you saw me here so we could get even. That's going to make you happy, right?!"
"Why would you even think I'd be mad at you?" I then ask him, making Aries calm down for a bit. "I got hurt, yes. I got hurt because I thought we grew closer, but then you suddenly shut me out for no reason. I felt betrayed by you because I genuinely wanted to know more of you, but you treated me like a kid you got tired of playing with."
"I didn't..." Aries tried to say something to me, but the right words wouldn't even come out of his mouth. "You don't know me, Dom. You don't know what kind of person I really am," he tells me instead.
"Then let me know you. Show me everything that you're afraid of showing me or anyone else. If you think I'll run away because of that, then you don't know me enough either," I tell him.
Aries takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky before looking back at me. He doesn't say anything, but then he takes a step closer. And then another, and another until he was only a few inches away from me.
"You want to know more of me?" He asks before leaning close to my ear. "Then let's fuck, you and me. You think you can do that, Dom?"
The question came as such a surprise that I wasn't even able to say anything. So when Aries sees my reaction, he chuckles and then pulls away from me.
"I thought so," Aries says as he walks back to his car. "You always kept staring at me, and I could tell you liked me from a mile away. But let's face it, Dom, you only liked the idea of me. Just like everyone else."
Aries glances at me for one last time as he opens the door of his car. But just as he's about to head inside and leave, I swallow the lump in my throat and clench my fist before finally saying, "Okay."
Aries stops in an instant. His eyes become wide as he looks back at me, almost like he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"You want to have sex? Then let's do it."
end.