On the streets of... #11

Since Molly and I had agreed to meet in a pub, there was no dress code. I opted for a pair of dark blue jeans, a black shirt and my old leather jacket. It was my grandfather's back in the day. When he arrived from Poland he had nothing but an old journal in his pocket, his wand, a pack of cigarettes and this jacket. The old man was hardcore. He died a few years back when I was in the Academy.

The jacket was a little roomy but it boosted my confidence and had enough pockets for every annoying thing people carry nowadays: phone, pepper spray (I had to rummage my room for a little can since my new department saved money on equipment) keys, headphones, condom (what, better have it and not need it, right?) wallet. I pocketed my badge too, you never know when you are gonna need it. A policeman was never really off duty. I grabbed the plastic wand I bought for practice, too. Better be safe than sorry.

Before I left, I looked in the mirror. I could use Laila's help, but she was still working. It never even occurred to me to ask for Carlos’ help; he would have just given me some snarky remarks. Besides, his idea of peak elegance was cargo shorts and a t-shirt with Super Mario on it, so I was better off.

I left the apartment a few minutes before six. Even though the O'Malley's Pub was a mere twenty minutes cab ride away, I wasn't gonna risk it. Anything could happen. I could get stuck in traffic, get lost somewhere, murder hornets could attack me, the ocean could flood the city entirely… Yeah, I was kinda nervous. I didn't have any dates in a while.

I called an Uber, and I did get stuck in traffic all right but arrived almost half an hour early nonetheless. It was Wednesday evening, so the pub wasn't exactly crowded. A few tables were occupied, sure, and two cops were playing billiards in the corner. I knew they were cops; every movement, every look gave them away. Maybe it was the air of confidence around them, maybe the way they looked at me when I entered, assessing me right away, always looking for potential threats.

Maybe it was the badge and gun on their belts. Who knows?

The pub itself wasn't special at all. Booths at the wall, tables around, bar and kitchen at the back. The walls were covered by wood and there was a jukebox playing old rock. In general, everything seemed old: the customers, the furniture, the cook, even the bartender.

A new dilemma struck me as I was sitting there at one of the tables: I didn't want to wait for Molly empty-handed, but I had no idea what was her favourite drink. Or food, for that matter. She mentioned burgers and steak, but which one? What if neither? Does she want me to take charge and order or is that sexist? How about a beer? But what if she is gonna be late? The beer will go flat and warm… Maybe coffee? No, she could think I was expecting to stay up late…

'Whatcha thinking about?'

I looked up and there she was.

'Wow,' I said unwillingly. What a creep.

In my defence, she was breathtaking. She wore high-waisted, faded blue skinny jeans, so tight that they could have been painted on her. Tucked in the pants was a checkered red and black shirt, two upper buttons opened. She let her beautiful red hair flow freely.

'Wow yourself,' Molly smiled as she took off her long windbreaker. She actually looked all over me like someone who liked what she saw. Then she threw her coat onto the back of her chair.

'Let me get you a drink. Beer is okay?'

'I will get it,' she said. 'I wanna order some food anyway. Are you hungry?'

Food was very, very low on the list I was thinking about at that moment, but it would have been very lame and awkward if I just watched her eat, so I nodded.

'Be right back,' she said. She brushed my arm with her hand as she went. I watched her walk away and oh boy, ancient Greeks would have started wars for that view. That kinda was their thing anyway, right?

Molly said something to the bartender then stopped at the billiard table and talked to the old cops for a while. They were nodding along, making jokes, like old friends. She caught my eyes and sent a grimace when the men weren't watching and I grinned. Then when our food was ready, she said goodbye and grabbed the tray.

'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'Old friends of my dad,' she put the tray down. It had two bottles of Guinness and two plates, both with a cheeseburger and some fries on them. 'He will know they saw me with a man by tomorrow morning…'

'No worries,' I said. 'I mean, I'm the one he is gonna shoot at…'

Molly giggled. God, what a beautiful noise.

'No, he almost never does that,' she said. 'You might end up on the night shift until your retirement, but that's all.'

'Small price to pay,' I answered and she winked at me.

'So how was your first day?' she asked. 'Did you reevaluate your life decisions already? I hear Rourke has that effect on people who got involved with him.'

I shrugged.

'He is an asshole,' I said. 'But I had the feeling that he is also a good cop. I think we can make it work.'

'How romantic,' she said and I scoffed. 'My day was good. I got a newbie as a partner, which is kinda weird, because like a year and a half ago I was a newbie, too, but she is a smart girl, so that's okay. She is a little chatty, though.'

'Yeah, Rourke too, actually. Not as much "chatty", more like, can't shut up about how fucking great he is, but you get the idea.'

Molly grinned.

‘Just be careful around him,’ she said then, smile fading away quickly. ‘Rourke has a reputation of not giving a shit about rules. I don’t want you to get into trouble because of him.’

I remembered how he made sure that whoever attacked our vampire suspect got what they deserved, even if they didn’t do anything strictly illegal that we could have proved. Now, that wasn't exactly rule-following, but I could have gotten behind this kind of rebelling any time.

'I don’t know, as far as I noticed he actually talks a big deal about following rules,' I shrugged casually. It wasn’t exactly a lie but wasn’t purely true either. Looked to me that Rourke only liked to follow the rules that suited him. But I didn’t want to get into politics and rumours on my first day. Better just leave it at that for now.

'Anyway,' Molly said, raising her bottle. 'Here is to… erm… New friends?'

'Good enough,' I said and clinked my bottle to hers. We drank, and then she smiled at me with those red lips and I was lost.

Let me fast forward a little, because that's how I remember that evening: a blur of laughter and emerald eyes and waves of red hair. The cheeseburger was good, but nothing special. After we were done with the work chat, we talked about movies (Molly loved period pieces, and I loved… Not those, but thank God she kinda liked Star Wars so we were okay), then music (she was into jazz and rock, I like everything that isn't made on a laptop, so we were good on that front, too), then we drank some more, then we talked about exes, then worst dates, we laughed a lot, then we played some billiard and she kicked my ass, then we kissed and her lips tasted like the whiskey we drank earlier, then we played some more, then we danced for some slow rock ballad even though there was no dance floor in the pub, then kissed some more, then we decided to go for a walk and that's where the trouble began.