A Toast and a Drink

Act 2, Pt. 1: An average day as a Bartender

Author's note: It has now switched to Sparkling's point of view a few hours before the party started. If you guys would like to contribute to how the perspectives change, check out my announcements as sometimes I will ask for your opinions and if you answer I might just take you suggestions. Alright, onto what you guys have been waiting for, the next part to "A Toast and a Drink" :)

Time: A few hours before the party, 2 p.m.

Pov: Sparkling's

Holy sh- this house is big.

I have just arrived at the house I'm supposed to be bartending at for a party at 7 p.m. and I was asked to arrive early and to help set up for the party. I knew they were rich because they paid my expected amount of money. With, uhm, about a $5,000 tip on top of my regular pay. So yeah, pretty rich. Apparently the girl's holding a college party for all of her college friends. That's nice I guess.

I never really got to go to college. If I'm being honest, I really liked it for the amount of time I spent there. And if it wasn't for the... series of unfortunate events, I would probably still be in college. I was studying to major in dance, but... something came up and I ended up dropping out of college. And so, I decided to go into the alcohol and bartending industry. I set up a personal bartending gig, and so far it's been going pretty good. I've made a good amount of money so far, and I think if I keep on this path, then I'll be able to quit my job soon and go back to college. And that's my goal, to finally save up enough money to go to college again.

I check my bag to make sure that I have everything. I have my ice shaver, my cocktail shaker, some flavoring of my own, and a few bottles of beer. I brought a few things just in case they didn't have them at their house but now that I've seen how big it is, I doubt that I'll need any of my bartending supplies. I proceed walk up to the front door and I kind of just blank out. Last night I got absolutely no sleep because if I screw up this job I'm doomed for the future. I shift my weight from left to right. Before I can knock, someone opens the door. "You must be... Sparkling the bartender?" a tall man answers. I nod, and then ask, "And you are...?" He chuckles at my stupidity, and then he says, "Just call me Mr. Lee, I'm Parfait's dad." I nod, unsure of what to do next. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come inside!" he says, and then he steps aside, signaling me to come inside of his house. I walk in, and then he closes the door behind me.

Oh my god, this place is bigger on the inside than it looks like on the outside. Holy mother of god. I just can't get over the size of this place! It's way bigger than my house. It's very impressive that a dude like Mr. Lee can afford such a luxurious house in such a small town. And is it bad that I've never seen this house in my life? Like since this is such a small town, you think a big house like this would gain more traction. But no, it's like it doesn't even exist!

I think Mr. Lee can tell how shocked I am, because he nudges me and says, "This is what money can buy, son. And maybe someday you'll be this rich too. Although, I kind of doubt it." He proceeds to chuckle at his own snarky remark. I chuckle politely, and then I say, "So, where am I gonna be bartending sir?" His face gets all serious. Geez, that was a quick mood change.

"You'll be serving drinks down the hall. Now listen very carefully," he says. "Go down the left hallway, and it'll be the room across from the gaming room. You'll know you've got the right one if you enter the first door on the right." I nod. I make a mental note to myself. "Do not, and I mean do not, go into any other rooms besides that one. If we find that you've snuck out into one of the other rooms while you're on shift, you'll be done and you'll have all of your money taken away from you, no matter how good of a job you've done, got it?" By the time he finishes, he's in my face and he's giving my the scariest death glare I've even seen. "Y-yes sir!" I say, struggling to speak. "You better not do anything to ruin my daughter's first college party, or else your head will be on a platter," he says, making the beheaded movement. I can feel myself sweating literally everywhere while chills are running down my spine.

I guess he can tell I'm uncomfortable because he laughs and remarks, "Ahahah! You'll be fine, I can tell that you're an experienced young man and that we won't have any problems with you!" I let out a breath of relief. "Yes sir, I won't let you down. I will make the best drinks you've ever seen!" I say, my voice still trembling a bit from the pep talk he just gave me. Thinking about his words would just send me into a panicked state.

"Alright, well go decorate the bar however you'd like! Chill the drinks, prepare the ice, whatever you need to do to ensure that you're drinks are at your 100% best!" he says, and then he heads of in the direction of what I believe to be his office. When he's out of sight, I collapse onto the floor of the big room and just stare up at the ceiling. There's glass so you can look through the top, and so I just go cloud-gazing. I look at the different cloud shapes for a good 5 minutes, and then realize I'm here to bartend, not just lay here clueless. And so I head out in search for the bar room.

It didn't take me long to find it, as I have a somewhat good memory and a great sense of direction. When I enter the bar, I can smell the fresh scent of beer wafting through the air. I guess they must've used the bar recently. Everything is made of wood, and it's giving me a sort of log cabin feeling. There are shelves on the wall filled with all sorts of beer. The chairs are replace with barrels, and the tables perfectly match the height of the chairs, not too tall so it's hard to reach, but also not too short to the point where you bang you legs on the tables. The lighting is yellow and faintly lights up the room. The room amazes me. I can already feel myself growing an attachment to this room, but I have to remind myself that this is not my home and that I am only here to serve beer.

I go behind the counter to check if they have all that I need. Behind the counter they have a minifridge that's holding all of the ice, a bigger fridge with a bunch of different branded drinks such as Smirnoff, Crown Royal, Bacardi, Fireball, Patron, and a bunch of other brands. They also had a separate fridge for non alcoholic drinks such as pink lemonade, cherry lime spritzer, cotton candy punch (lowkey one of my favorite drinks that people judge a lot), and also a bunch of ingredients to make floats such as creamsicle floats, rootbeer floats, vanilla cream floats, you get the idea.

I change into my bartending outfit which consists of a white dress shirt (sleeves filled up because holy mother of god it's hot), a wine red and goldish yellow bowtie, wine red suspenders with camo green straps, black leggings, and a pair of gloves because people are nasty. I look in the mirror and I part my hair and swoop the left part of it to one side. It's my iconic bartending look, so I can't be seen without it while bartending!

I go back to the bar, load everything up with the drinks and ice and stuff, and after I finish decorating the room to fit my style, I start practicing my bartending skills. I decide that today I'm feeling like a root beer float, and so I get to work! I know a root beer float isn't really bartending, but it's what I'm craving right now and you've gotta treat yourself for good work once in a while. I get icecream from the fridge and I slowly scoop two spoonfuls of vanilla icecream and I gently place them into the milkshake glass cup. I then put the ice cream back, grab a bottle of root beer, and I start pouring the root beer in. After a bit of pouring, I put the root beer back, top the root beer float with whipped cream and a cherry on top, and wallah! I finished making my root beer float. I quickly snap a pic for Instagram, shove my phone into my pocket, put a straw into my creation, and start drinking up the root beer float.

Hey, being a bartender isn't that bad all the time.