Monday nights sucked. So did Thursday nights.

Because on these days I had to work at the Lion's Head, a small bar slash pub slash filthy room with billiard tables. It was a hot, fuggy space that usually smelled like cigarettes, alcohol and cheap perfume, where old men and occasional students came to drink their heads off.

I mentally prepared myself for another wasted evening. If I wouldn't have needed the money, I would've quit the job long ago. But the truth was, that I needed it. I wanted to buy a camera, an actual, good one, something better than the one my parents had bought me for Christmas two years ago. Photography was the thing I loved the most besides drawing, the only thing I was really good at. I wanted that camera.

So here I was, unlocking the front door of the Lion's Head and preparing everything. My boss, Ricky, was late. Like always. Sometimes he'd only be two minutes late, sometimes two hours, leaving me alone with dozens of drunkards. Yeah, he was an asshole, but he was also the one who transferred the money to my bank account every month, so I had to grin and bear it.

Soon the room began to fill and I was busy serving drinks and taking orders. Ricky came after around twenty minutes, bringing the reek of alcohol with him and just leaning against the counter doing nothing while I did my best to keep up with the steady flow of new arrivals.

There were seven full tables, so I didn't notice them at first, especially since I had my hands full.

But then I saw them: Hunter Adams and his two friends crossing the room and sitting down in one corner of the bar.

My mind went blank immediately. What were they doing here? People from my school rarely came here, and I definitely couldn't remember ever seeing them.

I ignored them and pretended I hadn't seen them yet for solid ten minutes, but truth be told, I secretly had an eye on them the entire time. I watched as a blonde, actually really pretty girl joined them and sat down next to Hunter, who hugged her. And he smiled, showing teeth and dimples in a way that wasn't condescending or sarcastic for once. It was the first genuine smile I had seen on his face, and it was throwing me off completely.

Hunter must've felt my gaze on him, seeing as he now turned around to glance at me... And there the smug grin was again.

I groaned in frustration about the embarrassment this evening would inevitably bring and slowly walked over to their table, feeling Hunter staring at me all the way.

"Hi. What would you like to drink?" I asked and did my best not to look him in the eye.

I was more than aware of the black waiter's apron I was wearing and the wet towel that hung across my shoulder. My cheeks were flushed thanks to stress and the rising temperature in the bar, my hair was a tangled mess. Meanwhile, Hunter and his three companions all looked flawless, every single pair of eyes trained on me.

"Hi! I know you!" the girl said with a wide smile. Her friendly tone caught me off guard; somehow it didn't fit in with her friends at all. "You're the one who got the arts award at school last year, right?" She tilted her head and I was surprised to see genuine interest and a hint of admiration in her blue eyes.

"Yeah, that was me," I said and dared to smile back at her. "But it was nothing special, really. It was just a pretty lame portrait."

The guy with brown hair (I was pretty sure I had heard Hunter call him Liam) rolled his eyes theatrically. "Dude, don't lie! I saw it and it was amazing."

Next to him the blonde guy, the mysterious one that hadn't said anything when I was around yet, rolled his eyes too, but he seemed actually annoyed. "We get it, he can draw. Just bring us some beer, will you?"

"Don't be rude, Adam," the girl groaned, then she sent me an apologetic glance. "We'd like to have a bottle of beer each, please."

Technically, I wasn't allowed to do that. But Ricky aka Mr. Everyone-who-can-pay-gets-a-drink didn't care about the legal drinking age or the fact that I was only seventeen and not allowed to serve alcohol if that meant he'd make more money.

So I just nodded and quickly fled from their table.

Ricky, who was still sitting at the bar and hadn't moved an inch, was eyeing me warily. "Hatcher, you're getting paid for serving drinks, not for chatting with your little high school friends."

I decided not to answer and got behind the counter to get the beer from the fridge.

"Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" he said, too loud for my liking, attracting several stares.

"Sorry," I mumbled and turned to face him. From the corner of my eye I caught Hunter watching, leaning back in his chair, one hand resting on the table in a fist.

"You're the lousiest worker I ever hired here... Give me that beer," Ricky spat. "Now do your damn job!"

He snatched one of the bottles from my hand, so I had to walk over to the fridge again to get another one. In my head I yelled every swearword I knew at him, but on the outside I tried to keep calm. These kinds of rants weren't unusual, especially when Ricky had a bad day and a few bottles of beer intus.

I told myself to ignore him and walked over to Hunter's table, silently setting the beer down in front of them. Hunter still didn't say anything to me and continued talking to the girl instead. I suspected it was because he was probably still pissed that I had tried to steal my hoodie from his bag.

"Do you already know who you're sharing tents with next week?" the girl now asked him and smiled at me as I handed her a bottle.

I knew what they were talking about right away: it was about the annual camping trip the Biology classes took.

Field trip to study the local biotopes, as our Biology teachers called it.

Competition on who can smuggle the most alcohol with them, as students called it.

"No," Hunter said, "Too bad we can't sleep in a tent together."

I frowned slightly as I walked over to a nearby table and began collecting the empty glasses it was littered with, all the way unable to take my eyes off them. Were they together? Their body language didn't allude to anything (they were sitting next to each other, but there was plenty of space between them and they weren't holding hands or anything). There was, however, an unmistakable air of affection between them, obvious in the knowing smiles they exchanged and the way they talked with each other in such a comfortable way.

The girl just raised an eyebrow. "You think? I can imagine a more pleasant tent mate to be honest. One who doesn't snore and drool in his sleep and complains about bugs all the time."

On the opposite side of the table, Liam gave her a high five. Hunter pressed one hand to his chest, pretending to be deeply offended. "Ouch, honeybee, that hurt," he snorted. "I can't believe you can't be considerate of my phobia of insects, you bully."

I caught myself being so interested in their conversation that I was still listening, so I hurriedly retreated to the counter.

Ricky had nearly finished his third beer by and I was seriously starting to worry. When he got drunk, he got unpredictable and kind of scary. Even scarier than he usually was; he was a really short, fat white guy with dreadlocks who probably grew weed in his backyard and knew how to take you down in seconds.

"Didn't I tell you to hurry?" he barked as I returned to the counter. "If you don't move it, I won't pay you this week, you understand?"

I gritted my teeth to stop myself from saying anything stupid and nodded before walking over to take the order from the new guests who had just entered. Just three more hours and I'm home. Just three more hours and I'm home. Just three more hours...

"Hi. What can I bring you?" I asked, forcing a smile onto my face. Three hours and I'm one step closer to buying the camera.

Once I was done serving them, the blonde guy, Adam, waved me over to their table again. I went reluctantly.

"One more round for all of us," he demanded.

The girl rolled her eyes, but didn't bother apologizing for him this time.

Instead she asked, pointing a finger at Ricky who was watching me with narrowed eyes: "Is that guy your boss?"

"Yeah," I sighed and turned back to her.

"He's an asshole," she stated. I was surprised how easily the swearword rolled off her tongue. With her painted nails and the flawless make-up she didn't seem like the kind of girl who cussed. Then again, she was friends with Hunter, so I probably shouldn't have been so surprised. "You really shouldn't let him push you around like that."

"Listen to the woman," Liam agreed.

I tried to shrug it off. "I can't really do anything about it. He's my boss and I need the money, so my options are pretty limited."

The girl frowned.

"Dude, that guy seems even more bad-tempered than Adam here," Liam said and shoved the blond guy with his shoulder. The only reaction he got was an exasperated growl, but Liam continued to grin widely, apparently used to his friend's temper.

Suddenly, the girl cleared her throat and smiled at me. "Hey, can I get your number?" she asked. My eyes widened in surprise, but before I could reply, she quickly added: "Oh, I don't mean it like that! I know you have a girlfriend. Emily... She's lovely."

"Oh, sure. Yeah, she is," I said, trying not to seem too relieved. I honestly had no idea how I would've said no to her, since I had no experience whatsoever with being flirted with.

Next to me, I caught Hunter rolling his eyes at our conversation.

"Here you go." I quickly scribbled my number down on a napkin.

"By the way, my name is Alexis," the girl introduced herself.

I opened my mouth to answer when Ricky called me over. "Hatcher, you blockhead! Get your ass over here!" he yelled across the entire bar.

I stiffened as I felt everyone's eyes on me. Stay calm. It'll be fine. Just pretend they aren't there. I forced myself to breathe in and out slowly, trying to fight down the anxiety taking over my body. Then I quickly did what he told me and crossed the room.

"Who do you think you are?" Ricky yelled into my face.

I fought down my gag reflex when drops of his spit hit me.

"This is the third time I caught you just talking with your friends instead of working. This is my bar, you moron, and you'll do as I tell you, you understand?"

His head turned bright red as he proceeded to shout. I could feel my nails digging into the palms of my hands, which were formed into fists while I tried to keep calm.

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't...They ordered me over and wanted more drinks, I just-"

This seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Ricky's face turned from red to violet and I started to get seriously freaked out. He was drunk, completely wasted. I didn't know how much he had drunken tonight, before he arrived here and afterwards. All I knew was that this was not good.

"Stop lying to me, you little prick!"

I took a few stumbling steps backwards, wanting to bring as much distance as possible between us, until I stood in the center of the room. I glanced over in the direction of Hunter and his friends, but immediately turned back when from the corner of my eye I saw Ricky grabbing one of the empty beer bottles that were on the counter.

I wasn't prepared for what followed, not thinking for a second that he would really do it. Even when he lifted his hand and threw the bottle, I couldn't quite believe it.

The bottle missed me by just an inch or two, and shattered at the wall. It had only lightly brushed my cheek, like the touch of a butterfly's wing. Only that it hadn't been a butterfly but a beer bottle, aimed directly at my head.

I looked at Ricky, my eyes wide and my body unable to move in shock. My heart was beating so fast I was convinced everyone in the bar could hear it thrumming. By now, every conversation had stopped. Everyone watched as one of my hands moved to touch my cheek in disbelief.

"Now do something useful and pick up the shards!" Ricky yelled.

There was a weird flickering in his eyes, something that made me believe he would continue to throw bottles at me until one of them didn't miss me if I didn't obey. So I turned around and walked over to the wall.

Seeing the shards scattered on the wooden floor, glistening like crystals in the light of the ceiling lamps, suddenly seemed surreal. My blood was swooshing in my ears as I crouched down like I was in a trance and reached for the broken bits of glass. I slowly picked them up one by one, grabbing them with my right hand and collecting them in my left, until someone captured my wrists and held them.

I looked up to see Hunter's face hovering just inches away from mine. His eyes stared into mine, torn between pity and anger. Anger won.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked and looked down at my hands.

Just now I realized there was blood dripping down my fingers, from where the shards had cut into my skin. But I still didn't feel anything. Everything was numb, so I just watched as the blood trickled from my fingertips, strangely fascinated by the way it hit the dirty wooden floor.

And then my field of vision seemed to shrink and dark spots were dancing in front of my eyes. Hunter was still not letting go of my wrists and didn't break eye contact.

My lips parted and I realized I should probably say something, explain myself, but I already felt the room swirling around us. I was tongue-tied and couldn't tell him what was happening.

His eyes widened. "Fuck," he cussed, his voice strained. "You can't stand the sight of blood?"

I nodded breathlessly. Hunter quickly pulled me towards him until my back was leaning against the wall. He was kneeling next to me, strands of hair falling into his face. He pushed them away impatiently.

"Alex," he said. He only slightly concerned. "Can you get him a glass of water? And look for the first aid kit."

"It's behind the counter," I murmured.

I couldn't hear a response, just the clicking of her heels quickly receding.

Hunter took hold of my wrists again, as if he was scared I might try to pick the shards up again. "Just don't look at it, okay? Everything will be fine."

Something about his voice was strangely soothing, so I just nodded and looked up at the ceiling. The cuts had started to burn and I could taste blood in my mouth from biting my lip too hard.

"You're such an idiot," Hunter groaned. "Why would you just pick up the shards like that? Did your mommy never tell you not to play with sharp things?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what I was thinking. Probably nothing."

Hunter's only reply was a quiet huff and for maybe a minute or two we were just sitting there in silence next to each other.

Next to me, Hunter sighed in relief as Alexis returned. I opened my eyes to look at her as she kneeled down beside me and held a glass of water to my lips.

"Here, drink this," she ordered. Then she started carefully inspecting my hands. When she had made sure that there were no glass splinters in the wound, she took a muslin bandage out of the first aid kit and began to wrap it around the palms of my hands. A few moments later, she was finished.

"Thank you," I said and smiled weakly at both of them.

Hunter only rolled his eyes and got up. "Just don't do that again." Then he walked away and said, without turning around to me: "Oh, and if I was you, I'd quit this job. Good night, idiot."

"Good night," I said, too late and too quiet for him to hear.