Summertime Blues (for Zoe)

[RawDog33]

Tommy walked into a local watering hole, “The Library,” a tavern just off campus, found himself a barstool, and lit up a cigarette as the barmaid brought him his usual beer. It wasn’t his regular tavern, but he was in the neighborhood, and he knew the scenery would be decent. It had been a hell of a day, after all. He’d spent it helping his former house-mate, Brad, pack up all his stuff in a U-Haul.

Honestly, Tommy was glad that Brad was moving out. The dude was kind of a jackass. However, Brad had always had his rent money on time and had generally kept his drama elsewhere, which was pretty good considering some of the roommate horror stories Tommy had heard from his buddies.

The beer was delicious. Just what he needed. Brad had had a lot of stuff, and Tommy had worked his ass off helping him get moved out. He just wanted to have a few beers while he tried to figure out what to do next.

He couldn’t quite make rent on his house without some help, and that meant he needed a roommate. But it was the beginning of summer, and most of the local college students in this little college town in the middle of nowhere, Missouri were going back home for the summer. He could probably stretch his money out for the summer, if he really busted his ass, but he wasn’t sure. The extra cash he usually had from selling marijuana was about to dry up as well, with most of his customers being gone for the summer.

He took a long drink off his beer, and sighed as he drew on his cigarette. The bar door opened, and he turned his head to see who had walked in. He smirked when he saw the young woman. Ellen? Ellie? Evie? He couldn’t quite remember her name but he knew liked her. She’d gotten some weed from him a couple times, and she seemed nice. She was definitely nice to look at, that was for sure!

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie sighed as she walked into work, as the semester had finished up each night the place had grown quieter. Losing her cheap accommodation for the summer was bad enough, but with the number of students dwindling each day her prospects of being able to pay for even basic accommodation went with them. The school had been kind enough to give her till Friday to move out, but with landlords needing hefty deposits for a short term lease it was looking more like she would be sleeping behind the tavernl

She wandered over behind the bar, nodding to the manager as she did and headed into the back room. Quickly she pulled on a pair of heels, pulled her top a little lower and made sure her skirt gave the allusion of exposing her at any moment before heading back out.

There were a couple of guys propping up the bar, one was a regular of hers, he winked as she caught his eye, the other always seemed to be floating around campus, he had dealt to her and friends yet always had such a cool air about him.
”You shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for you.” She gave him the same friendly warning she gave to every customer who dared to light up at the bar.

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy smirked and took another drag. “That’s what it says on the box,” he pointed out. He tipped back his beer, finishing it and setting the empty down on the bar, and took another look at the new bartender as she bent over to get him a fresh bottle from the bottom of a cooler. Her short skirt clung to her butt in the most delectable way. He looked away, taking another drag, and then she was placing the bottle before him.

“Hey, don’t I know you… from that one thing?” he asked her, giving her a little wink. “I’m Tommy,” he said. “Is it… Ellen?” he asked her, hoping he was right. He did his level best to keep from glancing down at her displayed cleavage, although looking into her eyes made that easy.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” he said. “Gonna have to stop in more often.”

 

[rockinzoe]

She had blushed as he mentioned their brief previous interaction,
”Uhh yeah, that one time. I never did like the smell much. It’s Ellie actually but close enough.” She smiled slightly as she moved around the space, clearing empty glasses and wiping down spills.

”I’ve mostly worked the weekends, but with classes over I figure I may as well pack in the shifts, will always need the money.” She let out a slight laugh as she appraised him, there was something so laid back and cool about him.

Ellie moved out from behind the room, wandering between tables and stacking up glass on top of glass, tucking the occasional tip in her bra and memorising new drinks orders before she returned back to her safe space.

”So are you one of the many migrating students heading home this week?” She asked the stranger as she poured drinks and laid them into the trays.

 

[RawDog33]

“Ellie, all right,” he said, taking a drink from his new beer as she explained that she was picking up extra shifts since classes had finished for the summer. He watched the baseball game on the TV while she worked the floor, and then shook his head at her question as she mixed up fresh drinks for the group of graduate students at the six-top behind him. He watched as she shook up a mix of margaritas, smirking to himself as he noticed the way her breasts jiggled, just enough to draw his attention. He was quick to admit that she was quite attractive. Physically, she was exactly the kind of woman he often found himself fantasizing about.

“I’m here all summer,” he said. “I got a place here, and I work over at the Blue Note, so not much reason to leave,” he told her. The Blue Note was the college town’s biggest concert venue, which wasn’t saying much. “I guess you’re here all summer, too, huh?” he asked before tipping back his beer for another drink.

 

[rockinzoe]

She nodded her head to his question as she disappeared again, drinks tray held high on her shoulder for safety. It wasn’t till she returned she expanded on it,
”Yeah, I have a job at least here, no point giving it up to come grovelling back in a few months.” She poured a shot of tequila and lined it up on the bar in front of him.
”They bought me a drink, but I never take them so it’s yours.” She winked and held a finger to her lips, “Don’t tell anyone.” She grinned aware his eyes, like so many others, kept drifting over her. As long as it was just his eyes, it was no consequence to her.

”Do you want another beer?” She paused in front of him considering what he had already said to her, “Job must pay pretty well if you can afford a place on your own.” She added, this was possibly the longest she had spoken to a patron without them making some sort of obscene gesture or suggestion to her

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy raised an eyebrow at the offered shot of tequila, and held up his hands, shaking his head. “Thanks but I’m good,” he said, and shrugged his shoulders. “Tequila makes my clothes fall off,” he said, and took a drink from his beer. “Almost ready for another beer, though, sure,” he said.

“And are you kidding? I wish I could afford it. My old roommate just graduated and moved out and I haven’t been able to find a new one yet. I’m pretty sure I can make it through the summer, if I pick up some side-jobs or something, but it’s gonna be really fucking tight,” he lamented, and then finished off his beer and set the empty on the bar in front of him. He lit another cigarette. “Know any guys that need a place?” he asked her.

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie was slightly put out by his refusal, shrugging she lent over to grab the glass back, pulling the cigarette as she did,
”I end up smoking half of what you do.” She smiled carefully putting it out and handing it back to him.
”I might know a girl actually, depending how much you are looking for though.” She took the empty bottle, turning round to bend down for a fresh one to place in front of him.
”Though I am not sure I could recommend you, part of me assumes you live in a bit of a dive.” She laughed slightly before walking up to the other end of the bar to answer the waving note.

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy raised an eyebrow when she said she might know a girl. He wasn’t too sure about having a female roommate. Then again, he smirked as he watched her bend over to get him a fresh beer. She had a really nice butt.

“I mean, yeah, the house is over on Maple Street. That whole neighborhood has been mostly rentals for students for years, but it’s decent enough, I guess. I’m not a slob, after all. But it would be like five hundred a month, and that includes all the utilities, internet, blah blah blah,” he said.

 

[rockinzoe]

She had returned to him, nodding silently.
”I might be interested myself, if I could take a look first.” True it was risky to consider moving in with basically a stranger, but she was desperate and it only needed to be for a few months till she could return to the dorms.
She shrugged as she moved around, cleaning up more spills and moving empty bottles to the back room.

”I am quite pressed for time though, I only have till Friday before I need to move out. Would the room be available right away?”

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy smiled at her. “Uhh, yeah, yeah you could move in right away,” he said, taken back a bit. He definitely wouldn’t mind having her around the house. She was very easy on the eyes, after all, and he could see how attentive she was to cleaning the bar.

He grabbed an unused drink coaster and scribbled his phone number on it, and then slid it across the bar to her. “Give me a call when you want to check the place out,” he said, finishing his beer and standing up. “I gotta get over to the Blue Note for a show tonight.”

That was when an idea came to him. “Hey, you’re closing the bar tonight, right? I usually get out of there just before last call. You wanna check the place out tonight?”

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie picked up the coaster and slipped it in the waistband of her skirt without glancing at it.
”Yeah, actually that could be good.” Worst case scenario she didn’t like the place and she would still have a couple days to search for somewhere else.
”I’ll text, meet you outside yours once I am done?” At least if he was working same time as her he wouldn’t be disturbing her sleep in the morning and he wasn’t her type so it wasn’t going to get messy that way.
She moved away, off to do another round of clearing and ad hoc orders as he left.

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy walked the couple of blocks from the Library to the Blue Note and headed inside. The roadies had just finished setting up the band’s gear for the night, and he got to work dialing in the venue’s sound system. “Check, 1, 2, 3, check.”

The band tonight was some relatively new country-rock outfit from Texas. They’d had one song get some play on the radio, but they were a little too rock n roll for the country stations, and not enough for the rock channels. He’d listened to their record earlier, and had a pretty good idea what to expect from them.

Overall, it was an easy enough night at work for him. Everything went smoothly. The band was better than he expected. He found he was looking forward to spending some more time with Ellie, even getting a little nervous as he left the Blue Note after the show and looked at his phone. She hadn’t messaged him yet, but it was only just after midnight. The bar was still open for another hour, and then she’d have to clean things up.

He headed that way, and as he got closer, he could see that there was a good crowd inside, mostly folks that had been at the concert earlier. He went inside and got lucky, snagging a seat at the bar when an amorous couple got up and left.

“Having a good night?” he asked Ellie when she came up to him.

 

[rockinzoe]

It had been relatively quiet for most of her shift, Ellie had been pleased. She would be able to close up and be out sharp instead of having to chase stragglers out of the door.

Her night had been all going to plan until the place began to quickly fill again, patrons singing tunes she didn’t recognise kept her so busy she had almost forgot about her meeting later that night.

Until he sat back down at the bar that is. His appearance had frozen her on the spot for a moment before she continued what she had been doing,

”Hi,” She had smiled, “I thought I was meeting you later on, at your place? I’ve suddenly gotten unexpectedly busy and I have no idea why. How was your night?”

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy shrugged. “Just got out of work for the night and figured I’d pop in on my way to make sure we were still on,” he said. “I’d have a beer, though.” He looked around, confirming his suspicions about the crowd in the bar and leaned towards her. “The concert I was working let out about an hour ago, most of these folks came from there, I’d say,” he told her.

“We still on for later?” he asked.

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie grinned leaning in as she placed another drink in front of him, “Best be your last though, wouldn’t be a good first impression if I had to carry you home, would it?” She stepped back calling out to the crowd “Last orders folks, time to be finishing up and heading home!”

She moved away, attending to the rush of last drink orders before she started moving round the room, collecting drinks and cleaning empty tables as she went.

”I still want to see the place and tonight would be good for me, unless you don’t feel up to it?” She had came up behind him placing glasses on the bar, she couldn’t help notice the faint whiff of cologne from him, at least he kept himself clean. “I’ll have this place shut up in 30 minutes hopefully.

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy smiled and nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said, and finished his beer as the last of the other patrons started filing out. He set the empty bottle down on the bar and stood up. Once everyone had left, he gave her a hand sweeping up and mopping the floors. It wasn’t his first time closing down a bar, after all.

“My place is actually just a few blocks from here. You don’t mind walking, do you? It’s a nice night,” he said as she was locking up.

 

[rockinzoe]

Her face screwed up slightly as she looked down at her feet, wishing she had changed back into her flat shoes like she normally would.
”Yeah I don’t mind walking, just might take me a little longer than I normally would.” She replied posting the keys through a hatch in the wall, always feeling a little safer that she didn’t have to carry them home.

”So is your street safe? I don’t know the area too well and given how late I tend to finish I don’t want to have to start paying for a taxi,” Suddenly it occurred to her she was walking God knows where, Ellie grabbed her phone out of her bag and composed a quick text to a friend, saying where she thought she was going and with who, ending with “phone police if i haven’t called in 12 hours,”

 

[RawDog33]

“Safe? Uhh, yeah, the neighborhood’s pretty chill,” Tommy said as they walked along. The college town had grown pretty quiet at this point in the night. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

They walked a couple blocks down Main Street and then turned when they got to Maple. “It’s just up ahead,” he said, as they walked into the neighborhood. The houses around here weren’t in the best of shape, but it was very close to campus.

“Here we are,” he said, stopping in front of a small house with a covered front porch. There were a couple rustic rocking chairs on the porch, facing the street. Tommy opened the door and let Ellie inside.

The front door opened into a living room. There was a sofa and recliner and coffee table, and a television hanging on the wall. Rock n roll posters were plasters all over the walls. It seemed fairly clean and tidy, except for the ashtray on the coffee table with a couple of half-smoked joints in it.

“Home sweet home,” Tommy said.

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie had hesitated briefly before entering the house, before having a silent word to herself to be brave and she would probably be safe.

It was certainly cleaner than she had expected, by far, though she did incline her head to the ashtray,
”If I moved in, could you keep it outside or to your own room?” A bold ask perhaps but she didn’t fancy breathing it in, the smell clinging to her too.

She walked through the room to look at the kitchen, again pretty clean considering it has been occupied by two boys, it was larger than she had expected, with plenty of counter space and a small island in the middle. Not at all like some student digs she had seen.

”I am impressed, it’s nice.” She added following him upstairs.

His bedroom was at the top of the landing, the empty one beside it with the bathroom at the end. No en-suites which was somewhat disappointing but if she had shared a bathroom with 12 others in the dorms, surely she could share with 1 guy.

For the size of the house the bathroom had been quite big, with a glass shower cubicle behind the door, a good size bath and toilet with sink at the top of the room, diagonally from the shower. He must have a cleaner as it was nicer than any bathroom occupied by other students.

Finally she followed him into the unoccupied bedroom, it was simple with a white metal frame bed, a dresser and couple of bedside cabinets.

”I do like it,” She was hesitant, he may not want her to occupy now. “But what are you looking for as deposit, I really don’t have much saved,”

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy shrugged. “Deposit? I think my last roommate put down five hundred, same as the rent,” he said, letting her mull that over while he continued to show her around the house. “That’s my room there,” he said, pointing across the hall. He opened the door. His bedroom was a bit more chaotic than the rest of the house. There were a few guitars hanging on the walls, and a variety of speakers sitting on the floor in a corner. His desk had a laptop and big headphones, with scattered notes of what looked like song lyrics. The king-size bed hadn’t been made, and there was, curiously, a pair of handcuffs attached to the black metal headboard.

He led her back downstairs and into the kitchen, and opened a door that led to the basement. “I’m gonna apologize now, but the basement isn’t finished, it’s a little creepy in the dark, but that’s where the laundry machines are at,” he said. “Every once in a while I’ll clean it up a bit and we’ll have small parties down there, but that’s usually a late night thing,” he told her.

“And, finally, there’s the back yard,” he said. He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator as he crossed through the kitchen to another door, and opened that up. He flipped on a light, revealing a small wooden deck and a remarkably well-manicured garden. There was a round table with an umbrella and chairs on one side of the deck, and a hot tub on the other side.

 

[rockinzoe]

She grimaced slightly as he told her the deposit, she didn’t have that amount to spare, but stayed silent for now. Ellie was a bit disappointed, it was a well kept house and yet her search would have to go on.

The basement was creepy, combined with the glimpse of handcuff she still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him, but at least he wasn’t insisting on her going down to look, neither did he offer her a drink which whilst a little rude, it had come as a relief to her, she would need to refuse and it could have gotten awkward.

For someone not much older than herself, he had done well for himself, Ellie surmised the dealing side was going well.

”It is really nice, but I can’t afford the 500 on top of the rent.” She hesitated wondering if she could pick up a bit of extra work on the side quickly enough to make up the extra, “I could do 350 and pay it up to you? Or I might be able to get it in a couple of days time, but I am not certain.“ She only had one regular still near campus, could she persuade him to pay double, or risk finding a new uncertain character.

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy raised an eyebrow as he considered her proposition. He was immediately reminded of those cringey porno flicks where a landlord takes advantage of a tenant that can’t pay their rent. While Tommy had never done anything like that before, the thought certainly aroused him as he looked at her. She was a damn good-looking woman, after all. Nice curves, pretty face.

He didn’t really want to turn her away. He definitely needed the money, and really the security deposit wasn’t that big of a deal… he’d just have to give it back to her when she moved out, anyways, unless she damaged the place somehow. He didn’t expect that would be the case. But… he also didn’t know if she was crazy. That was always a possibility. He really didn’t know her very well, though she seemed nice enough.

“I don’t know,” he said, taking a drink from his beer. “I wouldn’t normally do that, unless you were, like, my girlfriend or something, but if you think you can get it together in a few days, then the room’s all yours,” he said.

 

[rockinzoe]

Ellie frowned, “I might, I’d need to see a couple of friends.” She paused thinking of the friends she would need to get in contact with, she had been looking forward to a bit of a break over the holidays afterall.

”Thing is I could totally pay it up, and I am a pretty good housemate!” She started thinking of anything she could say to get it at a discount, ”I’m quiet enough, clean, no trouble really,” Then the words came out before she had a chance to think about them,

”Could even suck your cock for a discount that big.”

 

[RawDog33]

Tommy listened to her plead with him, and then his eyes went wide when she offered to blow him and he nearly spit his beer out.

“Oh really?” he asked her. He could feel the blood flowing quickly to his groin. So she’s desperate and crazy, he thought as they looked at each other. She seemed in disbelief that she had actually said what she did. He had to smirk. “That would probably be a terrible financial decision on my part,” he said, taking another drink from his beer. Not that I’m all that opposed to the idea, he thought. “I think I’d want more than a blowjob for a discount that big, though,” he said, very curious to see where this was going.