A Bar Tender Tale by Melanie Tushmore Page B

would leave it at that but as always got carried away and added eyeliner. His favorite was the black Kohl pencil that already had silver glitter embedded in it. He worked it liberally along his lash lines and finally he twisted open a stick of condensed glitter, swiped it across his outer eyes to his temples and examined his work in the mirror.
    Hm, maybe a tad much.
    Nathan shrugged as he walked away singing, “There’s a staarr maaaaan waiting in the sky….”
    As always when he put on too much glitter, he thought of Bowie. Completing his look today was his smartest pair of navy blue jeans and a black T-shirt with actress Sheri Moon Zombie on the front. He slipped on his black Converse with the hotrod flames on, and roved around his room to locate accessories. It was like a pick ’n’ mix; any one piece of A Bar Tender Tale | Melanie Tushmore 87
    jewelry Nathan tried to grab was attached to a few others. He spent precious moments trying to detangle them, shoving on bracelets, bangles, and necklaces as he went. Then he picked up his wallet, keys, and phone, grabbed his jacket, and swanned out the door.

    FRIDAY was pretty dull and uneventful, considering what Nathan would rather have been doing. His daytime shift at Tequila’s passed slowly. Nathan was relieved to escape at 5
    p.m. and make his way down the hill to Rainbow’s.
    He picked up a pasta box from a deli along the way. He ate it as he walked along and picked around any salad that dared to have sneaked in. At least the busy bar work burned off most of the calories he was continually eating. He gobbled up the pasta box in record time.
    A pudding would go well with that…. Nathan looked longingly into the windows of cafés and patisseries that had their cake stands on display.
    How could they? Didn’t they know it was pure torture?
    A little flutter in his chest reminded him he might well be taking his clothes off in front of a new lover soon, and he should watch what he ate. Nathan tore his hungry eyes away and strode past with determination. After three steps he gave in and turned back to the patisserie.
    He had all good intentions of saving the chocolate caramel slice to share with Stuart. A pudding halved wasn’t as guilty, after all. But by the time he ambled his way down to Rainbow’s, he’d already eaten most of it.

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    Nathan skipped up the bar’s steps, now thankfully clean. There was an outside seating area with parasols, tables, and chairs, raised up from the street and protected by a Perspex wind breaker. Being a mere stone’s throw from the blowy sea front, they needed it. Nathan walked through the glass doors into the building. Rainbow’s was a very bright, modern bar.
    That said, there was a not-so-modern Cher classic currently playing on the speakers.
    At least it was reasonably quiet. The music wouldn't get loud until later on; daytimes were a chilled-out affair. The only customers there were sipping their cappuccinos and talking quietly.
    “Stuuuart!” Nathan called as he approached the bar.
    Stuart, who was still working his day shift, looked up from his job restocking the mixers. “All right, treacle,” he greeted.
    Mathew, their very buff and good-looking manager, was also at the bar with his ledger and a calculator. He looked up as well and smiled. “Nathan! I hear you went on a date with a straight guy?”
    “Stuart!” Nathan chided, dropping into the seat next to Mathew. “I’m glad I ate all this cake myself now, you gossiphound.”
    Stuart grinned. “We were saying how even going out with a straight is an improvement on Danny.”
    “Yeah, cheers.” Nathan frowned.

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    Mathew turned to him and said, “We only brought it up because the little pillock came in here looking for you earlier.”

“Oh?” Nathan was surprised. “What did he say?”
    “Not a lot,” Mathew shrugged. “Asked for you. We said you weren’t here, then we pretty