Ice Cream Bar, Book 1: Keep Lucky (🔥🔞 Spicy Version)

Chapter 9 - Keep (Saturday morning)

I'm relieved to see that Lucky is now able to sit up and he's drinking some water. Since coming to check on him, Cake, Mint, and I have all ended up sitting together on Cake and Mint's giant guest bed with Lucky. I make a mental note to try to talk to him later about what happened, so we can prevent it from happening again. But for now, I've got business to talk to Mint and Cake.

"Where's JiHoon?" I ask, since he and I were the masterminds that did all the brainstorming in between reps at the gym the previous day.

"You just missed him. He went to a Taekwondo class," Mint answers with a smirk, "...with ChaMin."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise but I spy Cake giving Mint a knowing grin and he chuckles. This sounds like a story for another day. I'm too excited to share these ideas right now to hear about it. No time for this tangent. I need to focus.

"Okay, well, JiHoon and I were at the gym yesterday and we started to spitball some ideas to help the bar. Not every idea was gold but some of the ideas we got were pretty good." I pause to try to read Mint and Cake's faces. I know it must hurt their pride a bit but they have to know that JiHoon and I see them as family and we just want to help. They both look serious but not upset so I continue.

"Anyway, while talking, we realized that what Ice Cream Bar has going for it that other, newer bars will never have is the history with the community. Look, we can't go back in time so we can't compete as a new and trendy bar. We just can't. But it's okay."

I pause again because this truth must be a little hard to hear. Cake looks up to the ceiling and blows air from his lips. Mint looks down at his lap and sighs. But then they look at each other. They take each other's hands and give each other sad smiles. It doesn't seem that long ago that Ice Cream Bar was THE spot to be on Homo Hill. We were always packed to the gills on the weekends. And those nights were wild! It was like gay Mardi Gras and Rio Carnival rolled into one every Friday-Saturday night especially. God, we really did have so much fun. They aren't the only ones who miss it.

"It's okay because," I begin again, "we can lean into our image. There's nothing wrong with what we are. In fact, we should feel pride in our history. Just like people are now leaning into their more quirky identities as 'nerds' or 'trash' or 'basic' or whatever. We could reclaim being the neighborhood bar. We could own being a 'towny bar'."

Mint, Cake, and even Lucky look back at me with pursed lips and scrunched foreheads. Who wants to be a towny bar? I know it sounds like an insult but suddenly, I'm not worried anymore. I believe in our ideas. They don't get it yet, but they will. I put up my hands defensively.

"Look, I know this sounds crazy at first but hear me out! These new bars coming in are fresh and shiny and we don't have the money for updates like that...yet. But! We have a reputation for being a comfortable and safe place for the community. This is what we lean into to set ourselves apart from the new bars popping up everywhere. This is how we counter the power of the chain bar."

The other three men on the bed are leaning in expectantly now. I've got their attention and I start to feel even more confident.

"So drinking at home and drinking at a bar are different, right?" I resume explaining. "And drinking in a towny bar is different from drinking in a trendy bar. A towny bar takes all the best parts of drinking at home and all the best parts of drinking at a bar and puts them together." I held up one finger. "When you drink at home, you are comfortable and you know everyone there - you don't have to worry about any weirdos." I smile and then hold up a second finger. "But when you drink out at a bar, you get cool music, friends, a variety of drinks, food, and atmosphere." I pause for effect. The men in the audience nod in agreement. I start counting on my fingers again.

"When you drink at your regular neighborhood haunt, you get all of those things together - comfort, familiarity, good drinks, good music, good food, and so on." Everyone nods again.

"So what's so bad about being a towny bar?" I ask with a dramatic shrug. "I say, we lean in. Make it even more of an exclusive, everyone knows each other kind of party. We emphasize the contrast. These other bars are cool, sure. But we're family. We're safe. We value you because we know you." Now I'm the one looking at them expectantly. Nobody says anything for a moment. Nobody moves.

Then Lucky suddenly bursts into applause. I can't help but give him a wink of appreciation. He squeaks in surprise and turns bright red. The other guys start cheering, too. Cake and Mint exchange another look, but it's a look of hope.

"Okay..." Cake says slowly after we quiet down. "But how do we do that? How do we send out that message? Don't our regulars already know that about us?"

"Yeah," Mint chimes in. "It sounds like you're saying we just need more regulars."

"And their friends," I reply. "And we get them in the door with events and specials. Not these lame 'No cover before 10:00 PM' trash that all bars do. More drastic. Like, no cover EVER."

"No cover ever?!" Mint hollers in disbelief. "We're trying to MAKE more money, not give more away for free!"

"But you don't charge your friends to come over to your house to drink," I point out. "This is the vibe we want to replicate. Plus, if we get enough people in the door, we'll make that money back in drinks and food."

"You keep saying food," Cake points at me. "We don't serve food. We don't have a kitchen."

"We can partner with restaurants on the street. Another benefit of being a 'towny bar' - we're friends with all of the restaurant owners in the neighborhood! We can take and place orders. The restaurants can deliver them here. We collect the money from the customers upfront for the food, the driver fee, and...the finders fee." I point to myself.

"So there'd be an extra fee that we'd take?" Cake asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Exactly!" I pointed back at him. "But that's just one part of it. We have lots of other ideas. We should go old-school gay bar with theme nights. A lesbian ladies night - every woman that comes with a female date gets one free drink. A night for every ethnicity on the hill - Thai, Chinese, American/Canadian, Filipino, Vietnamese, and so on. But they have to be wearing some kind of clothing that proves their ethnicity. Or they have to say a pick-up line in their language in front of everyone. It could be a fun competition!" I'm starting to ramble a bit in my enthusiasm. I take a breath to calm down. Do I sound crazy? Am I going too far?

But I realize I have nothing to dread when I see the pleased expressions on the owners' faces. I can see the wheels turning in their minds. They like the ideas. They can envision it, too. But I've got more, so I just keep going.

"We could do a Guest DJ night where people pay to be entered into a drawing to win what I'm calling a 'power hour'. The winner would choose the music lineup for that hour. We could do a similar drawing for a guest bartender, except they wouldn't really work behind the bar. They would get to choose which drink goes on special that night. And what about speed dating? Would people be into that? Maybe on a night that's normally pretty dead anyway-?"

I'm cut off because Cake and Mint have pounced on me. They lift me up off the bed and are jumping up and down and howling with giddiness. Lucky is applauding again but he stays comfortably on the bed. I'm not sure he has the strength to get up yet. I better make sure he eats something.

"You're a genius!" Mint cheers.

"I think you just saved Ice Cream Bar!" Cake agrees with equal fervor.

"Bravo!" Lucky continued to clap in alliance. When I look around at their happy and hopeful faces, I can't help but feel a sense of pride. More importantly, I feel relieved. I have faith in this plan. Our crew can do this. This family can save our home.