Free Woman Walks into a Bar by Rowan Coleman Page B

looked in the mirror and put on some lippy. The way I felt about Brendan hadn’t changed, but nobody else needed to know that. I’d just keep it to myself and wait for all of those feelings to fade away.
    â€œI’m giving up men for good.”
    The One Who Told Me Something Really Funny
    I walked up to the bar and waited to be served.
    Joy and Marie were dancing on the makeshift dance floor.
    Joy was dancing as close as she could to Sean Jerome, who she had had her eye on for ages. Marie just stood there swaying from side to side, getting to that point in the evening when she got all teary and started missing her husband. I knew that in the next ten minutes she would go to the payphone by the ladies’ and ring and ask him to come and get her. I don’t know why Marie used a payphone because she had a mobile. But she always seemed to forget this when she was drunk.
    I watched the bar staff as I waited to be served, too busy to notice me waiting. Even though I really wanted my first drink of the night, I didn’t mind. I was praying that anyone except Brendan would serve me. I thought it would be all right, as he was at the other end of the bar busy with a large round for the pub football team.
    â€œOi, Brendan mate!” Sean Jerome appeared beside me and shouted down the bar. “We’re dying of thirst down here!”
    Brendan looked up and past Sean. He saw me waiting and bent over to whisper something into the ear of one of the barmaids. He smiled at me as he walked toward me.
    â€œI’m on a break,” he told Sean. “Annie will be with you next, OK?”
    He leant over the bar toward me.
    â€œWill you have a drink with me, Sam?” he asked me.
    I nodded.
    He put an open bottle of melon-flavored Bacardi Breezer on the bar.
    â€œYou don’t have to buy me . . .” I began.
    â€œI want to,” he said. “You deserve it after all that.” He poured himself a pint and set it on the bar top next to my drink. He came out from behind the bar and stood next to me.
    â€œIt’s loud in here,” he said, leaning forward so that his lips were close to my ear. I could feel the breath his words made.
    Brendan looked at me for a moment and took a sip of his drink. The flashing colored lights from the disco turned him pink, green, yellow, and blue in turn.
    â€œAre you OK now?” he asked. “Tell me to butt out if you like, but I don’t think that feller was the one for you. I was getting worried about you, but you handled him all right.” He puffed out a breath. “You were really cool, much harder than me!’
    I couldn’t help but smile. Knowing that Brendan had managed to notice me while four or five younger girls were throwing themselves at him made me happy.
    â€œYeah, I am OK,” I said. “You know how when you build something up in your mind and it gets to be so big that you think you’ll never get over it, and then something happens, like a pin bursting a balloon, and the thing that was worrying you has suddenly gone and you don’t know why you let it bother you for so long in the first place?”
    Brendan frowned and smiled at the same time.
    â€œNo, to be honest,” he said. I laughed and thought for a moment.
    â€œSeeing him made me realize that I’m not the person I thought I was. I’m stronger than I thought and happier than I realized. The past isn’t as important as I thought it was because I had already moved on and grown up—without even realizing it. Funny, really,” I said. I sounded much calmer than I felt, but all I wanted right then was a Bacardi Breezer and to talk to Brendan. The sound of his voice made me feel happy.
    â€œI’m glad for you, Sam,” Brendan said. “You deserve to be happy.”
    We watched the dance floor for a second. Joy had wound her arms around Sean’s neck and looked like she was hoping to pin him to the nearest wall