Gen 1.5 Date Night!

One of the perks of working for Sing-A-Grams ™ was an irregular work schedule that allowed her to meet up with Leah in the middle of the day while the kids were at school. Leah would say it was the only perk; she wasn't wrong. She focused in on what Leah was saying about Elijah, or was it Guy? “He's such a cute little guy, but Guy and Elijah tease him to bits! The other day I went into the playroom and they'd strung Joe's toy pig up and trussed it like they were going to roast it on a spit. The entire time Joe was yelling, 'No roast pig!' I think Guy is just happy to have someone to dominate, but Elijah... I'm so disappointed in him. He was never this bad with Guy.”

“Yeah, but they were closer in age, Leah. Guy always had more spunk too. He would've bitten Elijah if he'd tried to roast Big Dog.”

“I suppose you're right. How'd it go with Shane the other day?”

“It was good, sweet actually. We went to the festival and it was like something out of a movie.”

“So, were there any fireworks?” Leah asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“Not like that, but we're meeting for happy hour at that dive bar across from the fire station on Wednesday.” Lupe smiled to herself, she was really looking forward to it. Apparently, he went there often after work to play pool and have a drink. “How'd you know with Elliot?”

Leah laughed, “Well, by the time I knew for sure, I'd already had Elijah! Before I got pregnant, it was just, that hair, those eyes, the poetry, that butt... He really stepped up once Elijah was born, though. He was my rock and took care of me so I could take care of the baby. He kept our relatives at bay and was my hero. So you think Shane could be it?”

“I don't know. I mean, there's only been one date. He hasn't even met Floyd yet!”

“And of course you couldn't see anyone that Floyd didn't approve of.” Leah said archly.

“Of course not! Floyd is The One! He just lets me meet my needs with humans.”

“Oh and will you be meeting your needs with Shane?”

“Maybe, we'll see how things go on Wednesday.”

“OOOoooOOO, better stop at the store on your way home, wouldn't want to be caught unprepared!”

“Gotta sing a few more 'grams before heading home. Junie's pissed. What am I supposed to do? She's old enough to stay home by herself for a little bit and the bills aren't going to pay themselves. 'It's been a good day, let's make it a great day, here's a present for you!'” sang Lupe sarcastically.

“Boop boop be doop!” squealed Leah and they collapsed into giggles.

Wednesday was rather light. Lupe spent most of the day doing chores and only had three sing-a-grams to perform. She called up Jodi, Jude's mom, to arrange for Juniper to go over there after school. Lupe felt self-conscious as she got herself ready to meet up with Shane. “It's just a date,” she told herself, “It doesn't even mean anything. We're getting a beer and shooting some pool.” She put on her lipstick with care and fussed with her hair for a while before settling on her usual side braid. She didn't want to look like she put too much effort into this, it's just a dive bar. Finally she felt like she was ready to head out and she looked at the clock. It was only four o'clock. She had to laugh at herself! Not get yourself worked up, indeed!

When it was actually time to go, she set off and still made it there before him. She had about fifteen minutes of sitting at an unfamiliar bar being scrutinized by unfamiliar people before he came in. At the far left of the bar, a woman going for a Dolly Parton look, but achieving a Golden Girls look nursed a large mug of beer. The portly bartender twitched his mustache at Lupe disapprovingly as he wiped down the bar. He defrosted when Shane came in, “Shane! How ya doin? Wanna try the new amber ale from the Stardrop Brewery? Don't know if I'm gonna carry it yet.”

“Gus! Sure, I'll give it a try!” he came up behind Lupe's stool and rested a hand on her shoulder, “And what about you, Lupita? They carry all the usual beers here, plus some micro-brews. Stardrop's pretty good and I also like Fire House's IPA.”

Lupe arched a brow when he came out with the diminutive, no one except her abuela and her brother called her that. Her mother was more likely to come out with the even sweeter “Lupecita” which was often followed by, “querida, could you please...” Lupe felt that she would let him get away with it just this once, because she liked him.

“I don't know much about beer” she said, trying not to blush, “What's good?”

“What's this, Shane, you bring a girl into my bar and she don't even like beer?!”

“If you saw a girl this pretty sitting by herself in a coffee shop, would you stop to ask if she liked beer?” he paused for a second, “Think of it this way, you get to educate her!”

“Ok, ok, we gonna start you off with a nice, light hefeweizen or--- I'll make you up a flight.” he intoned getting excited, he had a sonorous voice with a New England accent. He was a Pavarotti of bartenders, nimble and passionate.

“We're gonna be over here, Gus, gimme a shout when it's ready.” said Shane, guiding Lupe to a booth.

She could see why he liked the place. “Gus has owned this place for ages, don't know why he decided to come out here from Portland, but I'm sure glad to have him! That's Pam in the corner, she's cool once you get to know her. Some of the guys come in after work like me and they're real pool sharks. Latoya used to come around a lot too, but now that she and Gus got married, we don't see her that much. So why Meadow Glen? It's no Bridgeport.”

“I just wanted to be someplace else, you know? I was one of those 'anywhere but here' kids and there was this book I loved as a kid that took place here and I just thought... I don't know, I wanna be somewhere like that. Where there's this close-knit community and you've got the mountains and the water. It's silly.”

“No, it's sweet. Just like you.” he leaned his head in close.

“Shane, order up! Go from lightest to darkest they're all Stardrop.” Gus said, placing a paddle with four short glasses on the bar next to a tall glass full of amber ale with a short head of foam.

Shane settled the flight in front of Lupe, who was bewildered by it. Arrayed in front of her was a set of four juice glasses filled most of the way up with beer arranged from a pale yellow to practically black. She picked the lightest up and smelled it. It smelled kind of like bread with a citrus touch. Then, ever the scientist, she picked up the next three to smell them. They also smelled like bread with some alcohol in it, she thought the dark one smelled stronger than the others. When she went back to the first, it smelled like nothing to her. Shane was watching her with a slight smile, apparently beer was one of his things. Was this a test? Was she passing? Shane pointed to the lightest beer, “This is Stardrop's Pilsner, Shooting Star. Take a sip and roll it around your mouth a little bit like wine. What do you think?”

“I think it's good, crisp, lemony?”

Shane glowed at her like she'd given him an A+ answer. “Now what's this one?”

“That's the hefeweizen, North Star. The next one is their Belgian amber ale, Red Sky. And the last one is New Moon, an imperial porter.”

Lupe took a sip of the hefeweizen and found it to be sweet and a little tropical, but not to her taste. She much preferred the clean taste of the pilsner. Then she tried the amber ale, which oddly tasted like autumn and moved on to the porter. She took a sip of the porter and then another. It reminded her of coffee the way her dad drank it, rich and black with a crema at the top, but it was also bready and a little sweet and bitter. She wanted to drink more of it. Shane was amused by her observations, “And what are you drinking?”

“This is their Amber pilsner, they just developed it. I think it was gonna be a seasonal for autumn, but..” he shrugged.

“And what do you think?” she asked

Shane took a deep drink of his glass, thinking, “I think it's good, but should've stayed seasonal. It's a bit pumpkin spice for me, you wanna try?” he passed her the glass. Lupe took a sip and grimaced, “I see what you mean, they didn't quite take it to candle territory, but it's getting there.”

“You wanna play a round?” Shane asked indicating a pool table.

“Yeah, but it's been a while since I played, so go easy on me.”

“Ok, I'll try.” Shane said, offering her a cue. He put a few coins in the slots and pushed it in releasing the balls. Lupe helped him gather them together into the triangle, “You wanna break?” asked Shane. Lupe agreed and totally flubbed it, not even hitting the white ball.

“Are you sure you've played before?” asked Shane leaning on his cue.

“I might need a refresher...” before she quite had time to process, Shane crossed behind her. Speaking softly into her left ear he positioned her arms and hands on the cue. She could feel the heat of him behind her and smell his breath as he spoke. He guided the cue and her hands to hit the ball and break the setup. She turned her head to thank him and he dipped his head down brushing his lips to hers. It took all her willpower to turn her attention to the game and not turn around and give him her full and undivided attention. He, meanwhile, was doing all kinds of fancy maneuvers to impress her, but to her just hitting the ball and having it hit other balls was impressive. He beat her handily, “When was the last time you played?”

This time, Lupe did blush, “Sixth grade, I think. The church youth group had a table in the hall, until the deacon discovered that the kids were gambling on it and then it was 'Bye bye pool, hello croquet!' Guess they never realized that you can gamble on anything if you try hard enough.” Lupe saw Shane give a nod and a discreet head shake to a guy in a black jacket, “Hey, I'll just be a minute, you practice using that cue, k?” He headed over to the stranger and carried on a very quiet conversation. He came back; Lupe feeling bold after two pints of beer asked him which way to the restrooms, leaned in and said “Follow me in about a minute”

She walked back through the bar, hips swaying, feeling in control. She got to the hallways in front of the unisex single stall bathrooms and looked back, feeling rather like a cat, she tilted her head at the door of her choice and entered it. A couple moments later, just long enough for her to begin to worry, there was a knock on the door, “It's me.”