Bartender Therapy - 3. Troy

Troy is a friend of mine that bartends near me. We got to know each other over time by trading stories and having some drinks on his off shifts. The one story that I will never forget is the one where he ended up becoming a lesson not only to myself, but to any gay man at a bar who think’s someone is to good to be true.

“I was working one night and had this guy coming on to me my entire shift,” Troy was telling me as we sat at one of the tables in the pub. “He would flirt with me, leave me nice tips and seemed an all-around nice guy.”

“So let me guess,” I said with a knowing smirk “You fed into it and played it up a bit to get even bigger tips?”

“Damn right I did!” Troy exclaimed “First rule of bartending, flirt with the customers and tell them what they want to hear and if they really like you, feed their ego to increase the tips even more.”

“It had to have been awkward for you because I know it was for me doing the same thing flirting with women.” I said with a guilty smirk.

“Yea, but I didn’t really know the limits at the time and boy did I learn my lesson.” Troy said with a heavy sigh.

“Hey Troy!” Jacob said taking a his usual seat at the bar “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, kinda slow tonight, but overall good,” Troy said with a grin “Your usual Jack and Coke?”

“You know it!” Jacob said as Troy turned around to grab the Jack Daniels. Jacob watched as Troy bent over and marveled at the view Troy was unknowingly presenting.

Troy fixed up Jacob’s drink and leaned on the bar next to Jacob. They made some small talk, going over the weeks events, Jacob’s job and how the Phillies were doing this season. The gentle banter was interrupted a few times when Troy had to go and serve other customers that were coming in and also cashing others out.

Jacob watched Troy intently the entire time, gawking whenever Troy had to bend over or stretched his arms over his head, revealing a little bit of a stomach. The night continued like this until the worst thing a bartender could experience happened.

“What was that?” I asked him with a chuckle.

“The beer tap fell off and sprayed me with beer,” Troy said with a laugh “I got soaked in miller light.”

“That had to suck,” I said shaking my head “Worst thing to happen to me was when I had a case of Grey Goose and tripped over a rug destroying the case.”

“Okay so mine wasn’t so bad,” Troy said with a huff “But it got even worse after all this went down.”

Troy stood there, completely soaked in Miller light. Some of the patrons who saw this asked between laughs if he was okay, but Jacob just stood there, concern etched on his face.

“Troy you okay?” Jacob asked seriously “It didn’t get in your eyes did it?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Troy said and began to chuckle as he and the barback started to clean everything up. After a few minutes of cleaning up Troy disappeared into the back, leaving Jacob at the bar watching the door Troy disappeared into.

Troy emerged a few minutes later, a look of irritation hanging on his face.

“What’s up?” Jacob said after taking a sip of his drink.

“I thought I had a clean shirt in the back, but I remembered I took it home.” Troy told him with a dejected sigh.

“Hey, come to my car, I got one you could use,” Jacob said with a smile.

Troy’s face immediately brightened “Seriously? That would be awesome!”

They walked out of the bar after Troy checked all his patrons and having the waitress who was working cover him. They got to Jacob’s car and Jacob popped the trunk grabbing a bag that was in there. Troy stood there and started to take off his shirt getting ready to switch shirts.

Jacob turned around and inhaled sharply, “Oh my God, you’re absolutely gorgeous.”

Troy blushed and turned his head, “No I’m not.”

Jacob closed the distance between him and Troy, shirt in hand. When Troy reached out to take the shirt, Jacob reached his empty hand and touched Troy’s chest and he started to caress it.

An immediate look of shock crossed over Troy’s face and he jumped back, “Dude! What the hell?”

“Sorry,” Jacob mumbled quietly and tilted his head down “I didn’t mean to freak you out like that.”

“It’s cool,” Troy said after a few minutes of awkward silence. He put the shirt on immediately and turned to go back to the bar but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Troy turned around and came face to face with Jacob.

They stood there like that for a few seconds and Troy watched as Jacob leaned in and kissed Troy, grabbing him in a hug. Troy pushed away immediately and went on the defensive.

“What the fuck!” Troy yelled “I told you to back the hell off!”

“Oh come on,” Jacob said, eyes narrowing “I thought we had something, the flirting, the friendly conversations. I thought you were into me!”

Troy was taken aback by this new information and started to back away “It’s not like that, I’m straight.”

Jacob frowned and turned away, back to his car “You should’ve told me, so I wouldn’t have made an ass of myself.”

Jacob got into his car and started it but not before rolling down his window and telling Troy to keep the shirt and speeding away after.

Troy walked back into the bar, a frown on his face. He went back behind the bar and told the waitress what happened. “You should’ve known better.” She said with a pat on his shoulder.

“Seriously?” I asked shocked at what Troy revealed to me.

“Yep,” Troy said with a frown and a slight shudder “I learned so much that night it wasn’t even funny.”

“I bet.” I said taking a sip of my drink and watched as Troy took a swig.

“Did you tell your boss?” I asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Yea, he read me the riot act for leaving with a patron during my shift instead of having the patron bring me the drink, but once he was done with that he sat me down and coached me a little on how to work in a gay bar as a straight man.”

“I could’ve gave you some advice on that.” I said with a smile “I’ve worked in a straight bar and had to deal with women like that.”

“How did you deal with that?” Troy asked me as he took another sip of his drink.

“Easy. If I saw them getting to attached I showed them a picture of me and my boyfriend and would work that into the conversation of how amazing he is,” I said with a smile “It usually went good, but one time I had a drink flung in my face.”

“You gotta tell me that story!” Troy said laughing.

“That’s a story for another time” I said chuckling.