Getting some drinkies. Who: Evan and Alejandro When: 9:30 PM and on Where: Anywhere but here
Evan decided that tonight was one of those nights where he'd let off some steam. Not that he really had much to let off seeing as life was pretty damn good currently, but nevertheless, he still ended up at a bar. Parking outside, he made his way to the counter and plopped himself down on a stool, waiting for the bartender to come over before looking at him and giving him a smile. "I want whatever you got that'll get me wasted after just a couple orders of it." Yes, Evan, goofy Evan, was here on a mission.
Alejandro was doing better tonight than usual-- and that was due almost entirely to having downed one of his doses of angel blood before coming to work. He'd spent all day feeling ill and exhausted, even after sleeping most of the day, as a consequence for sunbathing for almost an hour in that damn park.
The angel blood was what he had on hand, other than the fire elemental blood, which he hadn't wanted to waste on something just to make him feel better, so that was what he drank.
And feel better he did. Alejandro had come to work in a better mood than he had in weeks-- pretty much ever since he'd started working here, for that matter. So when Evan asked him for something that'd knock him out, he grinned, only barely tightly enough to keep the fangs under wraps, and said, "If that's what you want, I'm sure I can figure out something. Got any prefs as to what alcohol type?"
Evan shook his head. He didn't care what it was as long as he got a little plastered. He was always so good about being good... or as close to it as he could manage. Tonight he wanted to be a little bad and so drinking was his way of doing so. "Anything you wanna give me. My drinking is in your hands. Just make sure I call a cab on the way out." he chuckled.
"Calling cabs is part of a barkeep's job," Alejandro chuckled, and he set about pulling up drinks. He was going to make Evan something fruity enough to hardly taste the alcohol, but hard enough that even if he didn't taste it, he'd be feeling it. "Any particular reason you wanna get drunk, or did it just feel like the thing to do tonight?" He'd had a few people coming in, already, "celebrating" the teenagers' rescue.
Shrugging a little, Evan flashed another grin. "I'm usually on the straight and narrow." he explained. "I work my ass off all the time and I just felt like coming in and doing something irresponsible I guess." he told the guy. "Just felt like the thing to do tonight I guess. I'll probably be regretting it in the morning, but oh well, I'll be happy tonight."
Well, he'd definitely be regretting it in the morning, Alejandro knew that well enough. He stuck an umbrella into his creation and set it in front of the guy, smirking. "There you go. You said your drink was in my hands, so you get what I feel like making. And I felt like making something fruity. Hope you like mango."
Fruity. Lovely. "So you were feeling a little fruity?" Evan teased as he picked up the glass. He could care less what it was he was drinking so long as it tasted good and got him smashed. This drink tasted damn good he decided as he took a long drink from the glass. "Guess I am too apparently because that shit's awesome."
"I felt like making you like fruity," Alejandro countered, amused. "Looks like I managed it. You like it?" Yeah, okay, fishing for compliments a little, since he pretty much just threw that together with some fruit juice and vodka, but hell, he was allowed. This was the thing he did well, after all.
Evan nodded, taking another sip before finally setting the glass down, certain it would only be a second or two before he picked the thing up again. "Hell yeah." he nodded. "Fruity or not, tastes damn good." he smiled. "I'm Evan." he said, offering out a hand. Why the hell not? Bartender dude probably got bored not knowing people that he served too. "Evan Forsythe."
"Alejandro King," he answered, giving a handshake back that was cool but hopefully not suspiciously so. Maybe, like some people in here, he'd blame it on handling chilled bottles and ice. "And I completely made that drink up on the fly, so I hope I can remember how to make it again if it's good."
Evan didn't pay much attention to the coolness of Alejandro's hand. He was a bartender and worked in ice and drinks so he wrote it off as that. "Good to meet you." he said. "And you'll have to remember how to make it again because I'm thinking I'm gonna be wanting another one of these. Guess they did good hiring you if you can concoct things like this out of the air."
"Maybe if I make you three in a row tonight, it'll cement it in my brain," Alejandro smirked. "Then I'll have to give it a name, or something. Royal Mango, or something shitty like that. Got any ideas?" Hell, the mixed drink skill was probably the only reason he still had this job. Given he was an asshole most of the time to his customers.
Evan shrugged. "I'm shitty at being creative, especially when it comes to naming it. Mango Madness is the shit I'd come up with." he chuckled, lifting his glass and downing another long sip from it.
"Ugh." Alejandro made a face. "Not mango madness. That makes it sound like something a kid would drink. I'll think on it. You wanting another, then?" How much mango juice had he added? And how much cherry syrup? He eyed the color of what was left in Evan's glass.
Evan chuckled. "Told you I wasn't creative." Far from it, at least when it came to naming drinks. "It sorta does sound like some fruity little drink a kid would have. One of those juice boxes." God he was a loser. "Yeah, I think I will have another." he nodded, taking another long drink from his glass. There wasn't much in it at this point, not with him sucking it down like he was.
Nodding, Alejandro set about mixing another one up, this time paying closer attention to what he put in it, when, and in what amount. He hoped it managed to get it together the same way. "A really good drink name needs to sound dirty," he commented almost absently as he worked. "Then people will wanna try it just to see if it tastes as dirty as it sounds."
Evan chuckled, finishing off the rest of his first drink. "Well we'll have to come up with something really dirty then, won't we?" he said. He tilted his head, falling deep into thought. Well, as deep into thought as someone like Evan could go.
Alejandro doubted Evan would come up with much of anything. He'd probably stick with the "royal" something. Most of his drinks had a play on his last name in them somehow, when he bothered to name them. He set the next glass in front of Evan. "Maybe more alcohol will stir up the creative juices." Or not. Usually it just made people stupid-- only, sadly, they thought they were being brilliant.
Evan wouldn't come up with jack and he knew it. Whatever, like it mattered. He was certain that Alejandro would come up with something fitting. "Maybe." he said. "But I won't count on it. If anything it'll just get me spewing every thought that comes into my head." Evan wasn't a creative drunk, just a goofy one. Not that he wasn't plenty goofy even when he wasn't drunk, but that was completely besides the point.
"At which point I'll start ignoring you," Alejandro said with a little chuckle. He was used to drunk people of all kinds, in this line of work, after all. "Let me know how that tastes, compared to the last one. I think I got the mixture close to how it was last time." It was the right color, anyway.
Evan lifted the second glass and took a sip. "Close." he agreed. "Don't think it's exactly the same, but it's like right there in the neighborhood of what you made last time. Still awesome though." he said, taking another sip as if to prove that statement true.
"Huh. What's different?" Alejandro asked with a little frown. He wanted to know specifics-- probably stupid to want out of a man who was getting himself drunk, but he figured he might as well try. "Sweeter? Less sweet?"
Evan took another little sip and assessed the flavor of the drink. "This one's just slightly less sweet than the last." he said. "Not much though. Like a smidge really." He was surprised he could taste the difference, but he wasn't quite tipsy enough to be unable to decipher flavor.
"Probably less of the cherry, then," Alejandro mused. "All right, thanks." He reached for a napkin to write the recipe down, so he'd be sure not to forget. He probably ought to come up with something more to talk to the guy about, but he figured that was Evan's job: he wanted to talk, Alejandro would listen and respond. That was what bartenders did, right?
For a long moment, Evan was more concerned with his drink that conversation, the way he finished off that second drink and ordered up another said so. "So, you like bartending?" he questioned, arching a brow at the guy. He was starting to feel the effects of the drinks now, a nice little buzz taking over him.
In the meantime, Alejandro had his recipe written down and tucked away in a pocket to copy someplace more permanent later. He started on the third drink, this time with a tiny bit more cherry syrup, as he answered. "I like mixing drinks," is what he said-- which was sort of an answer.
Evan took a sip of the third drink and nodded as he swallowed. "Yup." he said. "That's it. Perfect." he smiled. "If you weren't mixing drinks what would you be doing then?" he questioned. He wondered if that was the only reason the guy was a bartender. Of course it wasn't really his business what the guy wanted to do as a job.
Killing people? was Alejandro's first thought, and he was glad he couldn't really flush anymore, because even thinking that made him want to wince. Instead, he shrugged. "Dunno. This is probably the only thing I'm really good at. Probably have some shitty grocery store job, or something. This is better." Even if people wanted to tell him their sob stories all the time.
Evan chuckled a little at that. "Yeah, I'd say I'd rather be mixing drinks and listening to drunks than stuffing groceries into bags." he nodded. "Guess you lucked out then with this job instead of that crap."
"I'd say I got lucky to get this job, even if it pays shit and I don't get to work the good nights," Alejandro agreed with a little grin. And he was lucky; his employer could've figured out the vampire thing, or thought he was too rude to be a good bartender, or not even had a position open. "I do all right, I suppose." Aside from being in debt. Damn. "What do you do?" It only seemed... well, polite, to ask back, since Evan knew what he did and seemed to be taking an interest.
"Guess you'll have to prove yourself." he grinned. "Keep making up drinks and they'll bump you to the high dollar nights." Evan assured. Hey, it was probably true. Maybe. He wasn't sure, but it sounded good. "I work with dead people." he smiled. "Preparing them for burial. Embalming."
Unless Alejandro had angel blood in him every night, he was pretty sure he was staying on the low-paying nights. He knew he wasn't personable enough for the better ones. He started pouring a black russian for another customer, but stopped and stared mid-pour at his "I work with dead people". For one wild minute, he was sure Evan meant vampires, but then he register the rest-- and spilled vodka on his fingers. Swearing, he shook his hand off and stopped pouring. "You embalm? That's... that's a weird job," he finally said lamely.
Evan arched a brow at the initial pause and staring that he got. He knew he should have verified that he worked with embalming and not quite put it the way he had. He realized now that it sounded a lot like he worked with vampires when worded that way. He wondered if Alejandro liked vampires, was one or hated them. The only three options really for his reaction. "Runs in the family." he explained. "My parents own the funeral home. My sister is the M.E."
Rinsing off his hand and tossing the wasted drink down the sink-- he'd have to start over for the customer, and it wasn't like he could drink it himself-- Alejandro said, "What a family business. You don't look like the stereotypical mortitian or whatever." He was too... perky.
"Yeah." he agreed. "Guess I don't fit the description... but..." he shrugged. "It's a job and it keeps the bills paid and I'll never run out of work." Not when people were always getting old and dying.
Alejandro snorted. Never run out of work.... "Suppose that's true. You and me, both. People are never gonna stop dying, and never stop wanting to get drunk."
"Or paying taxes." Evan grinned. "So long as we're in one of those three professions, we'll never be worrying about getting laid off." Damn recession.
"I don't think you'd have to worry, anyway," Alejandro pointed out, finally serving up the black russian to another customer before coming back. "Family business, and all." Like he probably would never have worried about that if... yeah.
Evan nodded. "Yeah." he agreed. "Unless I really become a delinquent or something, they aren't gonna give me the boot. The one good thing about family businesses." At least he wouldn't have to worry about getting fired or laid off so long as his last name was Forsythe.
"Best be careful," Alejandro warned, half-jokingly. "Going out and getting shit-faced on a weeknight is probably the first step to turning into a delinquent. Speaking of which-- you want another?" After a potential fourth drinks, he'd probably be pretty drunk. Alejandro started trying to decide how much to charge for this new creation, what it would count as an equivalent to on the current menu.
Evan chuckled and shook his head. "I can always fake sick. Well, maybe not. My mom'll see straight through that shit." And boy would she. She'd have his head on a platter for lying and not working. "I think one more'll do it." he smiled. He was already feeling the buzz after all. Wouldn't take much more.
"Want anything new and different for your last drink of the night, or one more of the same?" Alejandro asked, taking the third empty glass from him to dump it into the tray for the dishwasher.
"How bout new and different." he grinned. "Let's see what you can come up with this time." Evan was certain whatever it was, it'd probably taste awesome! But that was besides the point. Anything would taste awesome when he was slowly approaching wasted.
"New and different." Alejandro thought a moment, then started pulling out the ingredients for a white russian, only he got out whiskey instead of vodka. That ought to be interesting. "And don't forget you're calling a cab home." After this, he'd definitely need it.
Evan had every intention of calling a cab home. Well, to Dorcas's probably. Otherwise he'd have to call another cab first thing in the morning and that would just blow. Sigh. "Mhm." he said with a nod. "Cab. Calling the cab." he said. Yup, closer and closer to drunk with every moment that passed.
Alejandro chuckled, finished up the drink, and offered it to him by setting it on the bartop in front of him. "There. Tell me if it's disgusting, and I'll try coming up with something else if it is." Which was not a way to get a free drink; if it was disgusting, Evan wasn't going to drink it.
Evan picked upt he glass and took a sip. If it was bad or not, Evan wasn't sure, he drank half of it in the first gulp. "Fine." he said with a grin. Definitely already three sheets to the wind, anything would have tasted good at that moment.
It didn't look like Evan even tasted it. Alejandro hated when people got so drunk they couldn't appreciate what they were drinking. "Maybe I should ring up your check now," he suggested, moving over to the register.
Evan took another little sip and nodded a little. "Yeah." he said, drunkenly sifting through his pockets for his cellphone. "Got a number for a cab company by any chance?" he questioned.
"As a matter of fact," Alejandro said dryly, "I do." It was one thing a bartender always had: the number for at least one cab company. Alejandro usually had one on his person, too, just in case his car broke down, like he half-expected it to any day. He pulled one of the business cards from behind the bar and offered it to him.
Evan took the card and dialed the number, setting up a ride for a few minutes later and tucked the business card away. He'd have to keep that somewhere for next time he got plastered. "Thanks." he smiled as she put his phone away. "For the drinks too." He fished through his pockets and found his debit card in his wallet and handed it over to Alejandro.
"Hey, my pleasure. I like experimenting, so having someone who wants to try 'em is nice." Alejandro rang up the card, picking a similar drink already on the menu for the ones he'd made up-- the more expensive of his options each time; he wasn't above making as much money as he could off a drunk guy who didn't care-- then gave the card back with a receipt and a line for an added tip. Like hell, he wanted his tip.
Evan signed the paper and wrote in a five for the tip, then reached into his pocket to pull out five more ones and left them on the table. "Nice talking with you." he smiled. "Maybe I'll come in on another weeknight and see what else you're... concocting." he chuckled, tucking away his card and slipping clumsily from his stool. The beeline he made for the door was more wobbly than he would like to have admitted. Especially with his lankiness. But hell, it was probably funny to watch.
Not sure whether the way he'd said concocting was meant as some kind of joke or slur, Alejandro decided it probably wasn't a slur when he got a halfway-decent tip. Four drinks, ten bucks-- pretty good, actually. "Don't run into anything on your way out," he called after the guy, amused.
Yeah, it was pretty funny to watch, all right. At least watching drunks try to walk straight never got old.