Chapter Text
The bar was quiet at this time in the afternoon, with only a few tables occupied. The other clientele seemed to be mostly middle-aged men mainlining coffee at laptops, clearly going for variety from working from home. The occasional call filtered to where Beth was sat and mutterings of sales figures, spreadsheets, and pivot tables carried across in hushed tones. She looked down at her own makeshift desk space and smiled.
PHB. Monster Manual. Folder. Notepad. Character sheets. Dice. Folding tray. Tea. Yeah, checks out.
Enjoying a rare day off, she'd escaped the four walls of the tiny, dingy apartment she called home in favour of the three walls of this tiny, dingy booth. Hey, at least it meant escaping the building noise coming from the neighbour's place (and indulging in a spot of people watching at the same time).
She had introduced her nieces and nephew to tabletop gaming at the last family get-together, and they'd been clamouring for another game ever since. Try as she might though it was difficult to get in the right headspace; a player at heart, GMing was still a new angle and one she had to work at. On the spot improvisation was not a muscle she had much experience of flexing so it seemed a ridiculous amount of prep was the answer instead.
A man across the room started whisper-shouting into his phone in a hissed argument. His suited form stood and he cupped his hands around his mobile in a futile attempt to muffle the row. Who was he talking to, a colleague? Partner? Her eyes followed in unveiled fascination as he stormed out into the cold, pushing past another man making his way inside. The newcomer laughed a loud, single guffaw at the besuited man as he stalked away, then headed to the bar himself with a shake of his head.
Going back to the kids' character sheets again she couldn't help but chuckle at their choices - while it was near impossible to guess what any of them would say or do next, it sure as hell made for fun. It was a constant balancing act trying to get them to stay true to their inventories while also loving when they'd suddenly "find" things like a haunted sword they swore blind they’d mentioned and definitely attuned to, honest. Slightly more difficult to manoeuvre around when the youngest declared they had a tiny tank to throw at the baddies, but hey she'd only just watched Ant-Man so who can blame her? Beth laughed again at this memory, a full-on giggle erupting from her chest. Heads turned in her direction and she ducked her face down, still laughing.
The room bustled with quiet business; occasional laughter rising from a small group in the corner, glasses clinked behind the bar as the bartenders tidied. A young woman approached the bar to ask for the wifi password and to make small talk with the newcomer sat there. Her body language from behind leaned into him but he seemed more interested in his drink and she eventually wandered back to her table with a shrug. A smartly dressed elderly man folded his newspaper and began his slow shuffle to the door.
The volume lulled and Beth busied herself again with her project. The pencil she'd been fidgeting with got propped behind her ear and she cracked her knuckles before getting back to it. She pushed the now cold teacup away to make space and grabbed the little suede tray, clicking corner poppers together to form a shallow dish. Tipping a set of holographic dice into the rolling tray, she pondered how much damage a falling tank would that do if she actually allowed it at their next session?! Getting back to her original plan for NPC development, she fidgeted with her dice as she pondered the new villager she’d have to make to help them after the kids killed the previous 2 guides she’d offered. But she was still grinning, thinking about the tank situation when the waitress bobbed into her field of view and brought her back to reality.
"Anything else ma'am, more tea?"
Beth had been trying to train herself not to wince at the word "ma'am" for months now but still failed a bit every time.
"Actually no thank you, I think it's time for a glass of wine before I head back please." She ordered a large glass of merlot, and some fries to soak a little of the booze up, and settled her tab. The bubbly blonde took notes and cleared away her cup, heading back to the bar.
In no time at all her order was deposited at the table with a gleaming grin. Smiling and thanking the waitress, she grabbed instinctively for the fries and bit into one - immediately squeaking loudly and huffing out steam from the scalding hot snack.
Another loud laugh burst out again across the room and she looked up. The man at the bar was trying to stifle his laughter until he caught her looking up, when he then simply grinned and waved a steaming fry in solidarity. Beth raised an eyebrow, unsure if he was mocking her or not until he too started puffing and fanning his mouth in an over the top manner, eliciting a smile from her.
She broke eye contact and went back to staring intently at her snack instead while she racked her brains - he definitely looked familiar, but she wasn't sure why. Surreptitiously she reached for the glasses in her backpack in order to steal a better glance. Sure enough the figure came into view more clearly and her stomach flipped as she slowly scanned up his body, side-on to her now. Strong looking thighs splayed atop the bar stool, a black Henley encasing his broad back and shoulders, thickly muscled arms strained against the pushed-up sleeves, pale but warm toned skin, and brown hair determined to flick out of place. Lost in the moment, she watched him turning in his seat and her eyes darted to his chest. Sure enough there was a little tuft of hair curling against the neckline, strong jaw outlined with a scruff of ginger beard, and those cool ocean eyes....
And *this* was the moment she realised she was staring. Oh. Even worse he was watching her in return. Puzzled, but grinning a lopsided smile.
Bollocks.
Her mouth went dry and she hastily looked away, grabbing for the wine glass. It was very hard to ignore him clutching his chest and leaning back into another bout of laughter, sat in her eyeline as he was, but she did her damnedest. Shuffling in her seat she turned away from him a little and attempted to restore some dignity, and hoped her blushes stopped incriminating her as soon as possible.
Alas no. He stood up, stretched, picked up his plate and mug and started walking over.
"No no no no no no no no" Beth thought to herself in blind panic, turning further away to present him with her back and started fiddling with a pen - anything except looking around. She grabbed her dice and started stacking them one on top of another in a poor attempt at being casual, as if she hadn't just been busted for ogling.
"Ahem"