Madam Mayor

Chapter Two

It's stupid. Idiotic really. She hasn't a clue what she's doing here but she knows she can't possibly go home and sit in the emptiness with her thoughts. Just one more night alone but something is nagging at her brain this evening, an eerie sensation crawls maliciously across her skin and she can't allow this feeling to torment her anymore.

Truth be told, she rarely drinks. Of course, she is never one to decline a glass of wine when there's a special occasion to celebrate but lately, it's all she wants to do. That's why she's sitting in her car, parked outside of some dive-bar just over the town line of Storybrooke. The last thing she needs right now is for her town to see her wasting away at a bar, tossing back the harsh liquid to drown out her depressing thoughts. And dear god are they depressing lately. She just can't have the gossip train of her small town pull out and leave behind a trail of rumors. There's enough talk as is about the mayor and her sad life.

Today is day two where the new deputy unexpectedly showed up during her morning jog. The situation wouldn't be so bad if the woman didn't unintentionally stir up broken memories of her dead fiancé. She can't exactly pinpoint why this is occurring but she can't handle the idea of digging up those old wounds and trying to decipher what it all means.

So, here she is, working up the courage to leave her car behind and lose herself in a crowded bar where the music is too loud and the lights are almost nonexistent. A bar that still lingers with a stench of cigarettes, even if nobody has smoked in there in decades. She swallows, kicks open her door, and turns off her brain for the rest of the night.

When she enters, it's exactly how she imagined it but the best part is, nobody bothers to look her way when she slips inside. She breathes out a sigh of relief and sneaks over to the bar. She slides onto a red leather stool and desperately attempts to make herself invisible.

She fails.

"Hey." She swallows down her fear, ducking her head in a way that hopefully conveys that she doesn't want to be bothered. Out of her peripheral, he leans in closer. "It's awfully loud in here but I said, hey."

"Yes, I heard you the first time," she lowly snarks but before he can retaliate, the bartender is swooping in.

"Hey, what can I get you?" He shouts, placing a paper coaster down in front of her.

She hesitates. A glass of wine sounds delicious right now but she knows this kind of bar will only have something from a box. Besides, she came here to quiet all the noises in her head and for that, she needs something strong and that will work fast.

"I'll take your best scotch, on the rocks," she firmly orders, which for some strange reason has the man beside her chuckling.

The bartender nods, swiftly snatching up a glass and pouring some ice inside.

"Scotch? My kinda girl."

"I assure you, I am not."

"I don't know..." he murmurs in a flirtatious tone that makes her nose curl, "a classy woman like you, all dressed to the nines to impress but can hold her liquor. Sounds exactly like my type," he purrs, swaying closer and sending a nauseating aroma of stale beer to waft around her.

"I'm not quite sure what part of my ignorance and blatant avoidance of conversation with you, encouraged you to continue flirting with me but what it truly meant was that I would like to be left alone," she cruelly dismisses but of course this Neanderthal can't take the hint.

"Awe come on. A pretty woman like you doesn't waltz into a dive-bar like this in hopes to be left alone. She has one thing on her mind and we all know it. If you wanted to be left alone, you would have stayed home tonight but you didn't."