The bookworm and the job she hates

“Hey toots, how about you come and have a couple drinks with us?”

“Sorry you guys, I’m a bit busy at the moment.”

*Sigh* Why did I choose this job, was I really that desperate for money? I, Whitney Tattle, am currently working in Pewter’s only tavern. The work offered here at the Rusty Nail pays well enough, but there are a couple drawbacks. One of them being the fact that I need to deal with men like these on a daily basis. Drunks like these are my least favorite kind of people, why do I need to put up with this?

“Oh come now, don’t be like that. You may not look as good as Lena, but if you took off those glasses-”

“Hey, you got a problem with my looks buddy!”

Hearing my raise in tone managed to shut them up, although it was then followed by laughter. I’ve never been much of a strong person, so even when I try to assert myself I end up failing. What’s the point of even trying? I tried walking to the back in order to finish my tasks, but the man who was hassling me decided to grab my arm.

“What are you doing, let go of me you drunk.”

“*Hic* All I want is to have a little chat.”

The man was in such a drunk stupor he couldn’t control himself, the look in his eyes made my skin crawl. I thought I was gonna have a panic attack, but luckily for me I wasn’t alone. Out of nowhere a fist came slamming into the face of that creep. The patrons watched as the man went rolling into the table he was sitting at before. Once he shook off the damage, the man became livid.

“Who the hell just punched me?”

“That would be me bub.”

The man looked shocked to see an eighteen year old woman standing there flexing her arm muscles. My defender was Penma, and she’s my best friend.

“Are you okay Whitty?”

“I’m fine Penpen, I’m more worried of how the boss will react to all this damage.”

It took Penma a moment to realize the gravity of her actions, she started freaking out realizing how pissed Boss Stahn would be after he finds out she hurt one of the customers. After realizing the guy got socked by a woman, the patrons laughed at his stupidity. This angered the man and led to him reaching into his pocket.

“You dirt caked bitch, I’m gonna teach you your place.”

“Dirt caked? Bastard, I’ll have you know I take five baths a day. Especially since I deal with s***heads like you.”

Penma rolled up her sleeves and stared daggers at the drunk, and the drunk pulled out a knife from his pocket. My face turned pale realizing how fast the situation escalated, but Penma looked excited. She’s always been a bit of a tomboy, sadly she’ll never land a man if she keeps this up. The patrons inside started chanting for a fight, Lena came from the back with a wet dish in her hands. Even she turned squeamish when she saw the knife.

“Whitney, you got to stop her.”

“Sorry, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he called her dirty.”

Lena covered her eyes, I could understand her frustration. Penma comes from a farmer family, because of that she has naturally tanned skin. Knowing her background, when she was little the neighborhood boys would say she was dirty like the cows she fed. You can guess the response she had. Penma takes pride in her heritage, and won’t allow anyone to make fun of it. That even includes me as well. Penma began walking towards the drunk, like a lion walking towards its prey. The drunk prepared to lunge, but before he could act…

“Now now, let’s settle down, everyone.”

A calm and alluring voice echoed through the establishment, it was Kiara. While Penma was the muscle of our establishment, Kiara was the looks. When it came to satiating the customer's egos, she was the one to call. She walked up to the man and held the hand he held the knife with.

“Please sir, I’d hate to see you get hurt while holding this.”

“Oh, right my mistake.”

As if brainwashed, he put his knife away. Kiara made a smile at this, and looked towards Penma.

“I know you’re upset, but you and I both know you’re better than this.”

“...*Sigh* Dammit, I hate it when you ruin my fun.”

Thanks to her intervention, we were able to avoid anyone taking serious injuries. However, that didn’t stop the boss' mouth later that day.

****

“Dammit you two are killing me here!”

“The jerk was trying to touch my friend.”

“It wouldn’t have hurt if Whitney obliged him a little.”

Penma started butting heads with Stahn. Lena tried to cool them down, but once those two get riled up there’s no slowing down. This led to Kiara stepping in again, luckily Boss Stahn is weak to charms. However, that still didn’t stop him from putting his two cents in.

“See that, why can’t you two be money makers’ like Kiara. Even my own daughter is getting the skills needed to handle customers.”

Penma was ready to clock him, but I stopped her. Lena scolded her father for his reckless words, and a few minutes later we had finally left the room. Right before I went back to work, Kiara and Penma stopped by to chat with me.

“You sure you’re okay, Whitty?”

“I’m fine Penma, just focus on finishing another work day.”

“*Sigh* Alright, still I don’t know how you do it Kiara.”

Penma was referring to how Kiara is always able to control men the way she does, out of curiosity I lifted my head from my book keeping and showed interest on the topic. Maybe her advice could help me survive this job better. Kiara responded with a smile and gave us her answer.

“There’s nothing much to it girls, all I needed was some help from my little helper.”

Little helper? Curious, I decided to ask what she meant.

“So, who’s this little friend of yours?”

“Oh, well it’s Lena of course.”