Radio Rebel: A Musical Adventure

Any Ol' Barstool - Jason Aldean [Jian]

Another busy night, another packed house. Seems the universe was determined to make him shut out the thoughts currently cycling though his head right. Kian Lawley shook himself out of his stupor, hauling himself up from the stool he had positioned himself on in the back room and deposited the half drunk bottle of Malibu into the trash, stumbling back out to serve customers.

While Corey's Bar was only so big, it was one of the longest standing bars in town. Kian had been lucky that his friend owned it. He had been flat on his ass on the street for a good week before he picked him up and gave him a job after hearing about what had happened. He couldn't blame him for nearing driving him crazy by checking up on him every so often to see if he was okay and adjusting. It wasn't like his heart was broken or anything.

He poured a couple of shots for a group of girls with ease while Corey worked the other side of the bar, but stiffened when they asked why he had such a shiner of a bruise on his forehead. He just shrugged them off, muttered about falling over while he was hungover a day or two ago and didn't say anything seemed the tone of voice he used put them off, as the questions pretty much stopped as quickly as they had been asked.

They didn't have to know it was actually a ring that made it.

Other than a few rowdy customers, everything was pretty much quiet and him and Corey had been making good money until towards the end of the night, when a fight broke out between a couple of guys at the pool tables, who started getting the attention of the crowd as it started becoming physical. Kian, being the closest one to the whole ordeal, leapt over the bar, easily holding the guys away from eachother till one of them picked up a bottle and threw it.

In trying to catch it before it hit the ground, Kian was momentarily distracted just long enough for the other man, a rather large college linebacker or at least in sports of some sort judging by his jersey, to grab a stool and swing it towards the guy Kian was originally holding down.

Too bad Kian had gotten back up at the wrong time. The stool hit him, causing it to collide into his nose and break it. It also smashed the bottle in his hand, causing his forehead to be cut and his hand to be cut too, blood pretty much spilling from places it shouldn't be. He cried out, catching Corey's attention and causing him to rush around, bystanders helping haul out the instigators before leaving with the rest of the crowd, Kian being ushered to a seat so Corey could take a look at him.

After quickly finding the first aid kit under where they hid the till, Corey kicked the broken stool out of the way and settled down next to Kian, starting to clean him up. They made small talk as Corey pretty much reset his nose (holy fuck, that hurt) and starting cleaning out the wound in his hand, when the bell on the front of the bar rang, signalling the door opening.

"We're closed, I'm sorry. Gonna have to come back tomorrow." Corey called out.

"I know."

Kian's head shot up like he had just be electrocuted with a cattle prod and came face to face with the eyes that haunted his dreams. "...Hey."

"Hey." Justin Caylen, or as he was known around town, JC, stood there nervously. "I heard...uh...I heard you'd gotten hurt. Just wanted to see if you were okay. Seems you have it under control."

Oh. Kian licked his lips, seeing Corey's glare boring into JC from next to him and swallowed.

"Yeah, kinda. Wasn't the worst thing I've been though. Just a little banged up."

JC's lips quivered at that, hands fidgeting. "Cool, I just...yeah. I'll see you around."

"Yeah." Kian waited about 2.5 seconds before launching himself over to the door, grabbing JC's hand. "Wait."

"Kian, don't make this harder than it has to be." JC's voice was hard, but upset, hand on the glass of the front door as he been halfway about to push it open.

"Please." Kian begged him, voice desperate.

"I can't, I'm sorry." JC forced him to let go and left, door swinging shut behind him as Kian sunk to his knees, watching him.

He vaguely felt Corey's arm around him, sitting next to him, but that didn't matter now.

He'd just lost the love of his life.