“I have to work at my own business when I get done doing Larry’s job. Sorry, but we’ll skate some other day.”
“That’s a shame.” Cheri held the straw to her drink between her lips. “It’s gonna be fun.”
“We’ll skate. Soon.”
Two new girls walked in, casting a shadow in the doorway. “Hey, Joe,” a shadow called out. It took a moment for his eyes to focus on a face.
“Rita. Hey, how are you? It’s been a while”
“I’m great.” Rita sat at the bar. Her friend joined her. “I thought I’d stop for a drink before I go home and cook dinner. Joe, this is my friend Zoe.” Rita stared at Zoe who was staring at Joe, a little wide-eyed. “I told ya.” Rita turned to Joe. “She’s a fan. She didn’t believe you worked here. She owes me drinks now.”
Joe wiped his hand on his apron and extended it. “Nice to meet you, Zoe.” The young brunette took his hand, still staring at him. Finally, she uttered, “Hi, Joe.” in a mousy voice.
“So, what’ll it be?”
“Two Coronas and two shots of Don Julio,” Rita said with a smile.
“Okay, we have serious drinkers in the house.” Joe walked to the opposite end of the bar making eye contact with each day-drinking old man, seven in all. As he reached into a cooler for bottles of Corona, George leaned over the bar to whisper. “I don’t know how you do it, kid. How are you not skating with her after your shift?”
“Put your eyes back in your head, creepy old man. Cheri is drinking Coke because I won’t serve her. She’s young enough to be your granddaughter.”
“I’m talking about you. She’s falling over herself trying to get your attention and you’re like the palace guard.”
Joe exhaled as he poured two shots of tequila. “I’ve known her since she was a kid. I can’t.”
“And how old is she now?” Bert asked.
“Twenty.”
George shrugged, “Kid, you’re young, and that sweet thing is…”
“Shut up, George.”
Joe walked the beers over, then the shots. He noticed Cheri was giving Rita the death stare. Rita was thirty-ish, a single mom who lived nearby, with joint custody. Joe didn’t know Zoe and decided to card her. It’s a perk of bartending. Joe thought she and Rita were stoned, maybe.
“I don’t mean to harsh your buzz, but I need to check an ID.”
Zoe blushed, “Oh no. That’s fine.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a smaller purse and then a tiny leather purse just for her ID. She opened it for Joe. He took it from her hand and pretended to compare. She’s 5’6″ and 125 and comes from El Segundo.
He exhaled, “Is this your big sister’s ID? Her hair is much lighter and you don’t really look twenty-five.”
Zoe’s eyes widened again, “No, that’s me. I had… that photo was taken three summers ago. My hair was lighter from being in the sun. I was a lifeguard.”
Joe glanced at Rita who was smiling at him. She nudged Zoe, “He’s messing with you.”
Joe winked and handed back her leather ID purse thing. Zoe blushed, which Joe thought was cute. He glanced over at Cheri who now had Zoe in her death stare. Deena smacked Cheri, and whispered something to her. Cheri pushed her helmet over her mop of hair while staring at Joe. “You owe me a skate. I won’t forget.” She made kissy lips at him.
The girls walked toward the door, skateboards under their arms. “Bye, Joe.”
“See ya, girls, Be good.”
“Never!” Cheri declared with a raised fist of defiance.
Joe watched her ass as they exited, then leaned on the bar in front of Rita. “What are you cooking for dinner tonight?”
Rita was an evening regular at The Surfside, smart and attractive. She attended Eldorado shows when her ex had the kid. Joe had considered her eligible and possible, they talked from time to time, but he good reason to not cross that line. He also had his aversion to hooking up with a woman from his neighborhood. It was a source of great frustration he brought on himself, after being harassed by a stalker chick in his first year in Venice.
Cheri and Deena were kids to him because they were kids when he met them. From the day he arrived in town, Joe was fascinated by the skater culture and became friendly with the older skaters. He was not a skater, but the punks eventually convinced him to embrace the culture and try a longboard for cruising the ocean walk. So Joe did that and over time got to know all the skater kids.
The teens Joe first met ten years ago were gone, replaced by a new generation, and then another. Cheri and Deena were once the youngsters on the periphery of the skater punk gang, then they were the ringleaders, and now they were the oldest kids left. Most of their crew had gone off to college. If there was one thing that made Joe feel old, it was the turnover of skater punks. He watched them grow from snotty-nosed pre-teens, through the awkward years, and off to adult life.
Another group walked into the bar, three girls and a dude. They took the end of the bar the skater chicks vacated, squeezing in beside Rita.
“Hi, Joe.”
“Hey, Patty. How are you?”
“I’m good. I heard Danny moved out.”
Joe smiled, “Yes he did. My little birdie has flown away.” He slid napkins in front of the four new patrons.
“Where is he? He’s not around.”
“He is on tour with Beacon Hill, on the road crew.”
“Cool. He did that with you too, right?”
“Yeah, we saw the world together. So, what’ll it be ladies… and gent.”
Joe took drink orders from the three young women and one guy. Then he served Rita and Zoe a second round, chatting with them a bit, before tending to his old man regulars at the other end of the bar. Bert elbowed Charlie. “I love that Joe is back because the girls are back.”
Charlie nodded, “This was a sad and dreary place without you, son. Thank you for bringing your lady friends with you.”
Joe furrowed his brow in annoyance, “I don’t bring them here.”
“No, you attract them.” Bert said, “And for that, we are eternally grateful.” Bert raised his bottle of bud. “The Girls are back.” and the other day-drinking old men followed. The ladies at the end of the bar had no clue what the retirees were toasting.
— Ants In My Pants —
On another late-night call, Tina pushed again. “I had a hard time concentrating today. I was distracted and couldn’t focus.”
“Why?”
“I was thinking of you.”
“Here we go.”
“What does that mean?”
“Okay. I’ll bite. What were you thinking, T?”
“Do you remember the time we were camping in Vermont and you took me fishing?”
Joe chuckled, “That’s what you want to talk about?”
“Yes, because it’s a beautiful memory. Do you remember?”
“Of course I do. That was the best day on a great trip.”
“It was. We hiked to that secluded spot on a lake with the dilapidated cabin and the crumbling dock. It was so cool being out there, imagining what that place once was.”
“It was a summer camp back in the forties and fifties. That’s what the old man at the bait shop said.”
Tina paused for effect. “Do you remember what we did on that dock?”
“Yes. And as I suspected, you’re trying to lure me into sex talk.”
“No, Joe. I’m trying to have memories with you. We have so many and I like to talk to you about them. It makes me feel close to you.”
“We fucked on an abandoned dock in the middle of a sunny day,” he said, matter-of-factly, not sexy. “It was amazing. Then, you had ants in your pants and kinda freaked out.”