I Miss You More Than You Know

Part One

I Miss You More Than You Know

Part One

"Yeah, I know that I said you'd be easy to forget

But I know I'll never get you off my mind."

—"Miss U More Than U Know" Sofia Carson & R3HAB

Was it just him, or were bars in New Mushroomton just getting more crowded?

Aeric squeezed his way to the counter, exhaling as he pushed his Wayfarer glasses up his nose to get a better look at the place. The whole "gastropub" aspect of pretty much every bar downtown started to all congregate into one entity, no matter where Aeric found himself: low lighting from hanging bulbs, rustic red wood counters and walls, mirrored walls boasting an impressive liquor collection. It was like this in Crystalwood; it was like this in the Northern Realm. Even the name had a twinge of slightly hipster, yet generic ring to it: New Mushroomton Aleworks.

Whatever brought patrons in, Aeric supposed, fighting to get one elbow on the counter so he could flag down one of the bartenders, a pixie flying around a mile a minute as she opened up tabs and handed out drinks without spilling a drop. He found himself fighting for room between a centaur and a troll, and even for a tall elf, he was completely dwarfed and ignored for a good five minutes before the bartender lavished any sort of attention on him.

"Opening a tab?" she asked, taking the card Aeric had held out for what seemed like a good ten minutes (but in reality, probably only a minute or two).

"Yeah, I'll have a pint of Dragon Ate My Homework," he decided, reading off the one beer on the menu that was legible enough for him to see under the troll's elbow, figuring it'd do. A saison, fruit-centric beer usually wasn't his first go-to, but for a beer the alcohol content was high enough for him to figure knocking down a few of these would open him up to... someone.

"You got it," the bartender promised, nodding as she rang his card up. Once he had his card back, the pint in his hands, Aeric stepped back, allowing himself a little bit of space as he took his first sip. Damn, that dragonfruit-blackberry flavor really came through, and yet... the strength of the alcohol wasn't diminished. Sometimes the strangest beers, though, surprised him greatly—but maybe that just came with age. 26 was a world away from fourteen, when Tina first thrust a plastic cup in his hands with the crappiest keg beer imaginable, and at the time, Aeric downed it just to even think about talking to the cute guy in the corner.

But maybe this wasn't much different. Sure, Aeric had a suave set of glasses now, and a way better affinity for subtle flavors in beer, but he still scanned the loud bar like it was his first party, reading the body language of each patron with the sole purpose of mustering up the courage to talk to them (and perhaps, well, a little more). Also, it'd been almost five years since he last lived in New Mushroomton—obviously things had changed, especially with why he'd moved back.

The guys, though? That, he doubted.

Sure, he could hang with the guys with the matching Fjørn's Glenn shirts, but how low would it be to hook up with someone like that on his first real outing since he moved back? Not that that hadn't happened in other towns, but...

But gods, that elf from the back might be able to—

Aeric turned his back to the group quickly, taking a long swig. His beer goggles weren't even on yet, and he was already thinking about that. He should just talk to that nice troll in the corner, texting with perhaps some purpose of meeting up with someone on the way.