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The Most Awkward Love Story Ever Told

Haley and Justin are college students when they meet on New Year's Eve at the bar where Justin is a bartender and Haley is performing. They are both single and end up together, but things do not go as planned.

Haley is pretty confident. She's a singer and is majoring in music, however when it comes to relationships, she's lost.

Justin is a smart guy who hasn't had much experience with dating. He's kind of dorky, but Haley falls for him anyway.

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New Year's Eve, 2017 changed everything for me. I got a gig singing at a local bar. It didn't seem to go too well at first. Sometimes it's hard to get people's attention but I cleared my throat into the mic. Mostly everyone looked my way. The bartender was wiping the inside of a glass and he met my eyes for a second before looking down.

"Hi, guys. Um, happy new year," I said. "I just wanted to say, I take requests." I adjusted my guitar on my knee. The stool was digging into my tailbone. Or maybe my tailbone was digging into the stool. Either way, it hurt and I wanted to go home.

"Sing Taylor Swift!" some guy shouted.

My fingers strummed the first chord of You Belong With Me, then I thought better if it. "Any particular song?" I asked, nervously.

"The new one!" another guy shouted.

"Oh, okay." I played Look What You Made Me Do, which was a little strange to play on an acoustic guitar, but the drunk guys seemed to like it.

When I finished, the owner came up to me. "You can take a break," he said, voice gruff.

I nodded and put my guitar on its stand before going to sit at the bar. Up close, I saw the bartender's name tag. Justin. I asked him for a water.

"Sure thing."

When he slid it to me, he said, "You're really good."

"Thanks. I'm actually a music major." As if I were trying to impress him. Why am I trying to impress this bartender?

"That's cool. You go to Berkeley?" he asked.

I nodded and sipped the water. It was like a fire in my throat was being extinguished.

"Me too. Math major," he said. I couldn't help but notice he seemed a little uncomfortable saying it.

"That's cool," I said, because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What's your name, by the way?" he asked.

"Haley."

"Nice to meet you. Justin." He gestured vaguely to his name tag. He must have known I had seen it. I took in his appearance. He had short, curly brown hair and a kind smile. I couldn't tell what color his eyes were, since the lights in the bar were dimmed, but I was pretty sure they were brown. He didn't have a super strong jaw, but he wasn't ugly. He also wasn't the hottest guy I've ever seen. He looked like the kind of guy you'd want to take home to meet Mom and Dad.

"Not drinking?" he asked suddenly.

"Oh, no. I'm driving back to my dorm." My eyes dropped to his hands fiddling with a white cloth. I assumed it was the one he wiped the insides of glasses with. He grabbed a glass and started cleaning it.

"You live on campus?" he asked, not looking at my face anymore.

"Yeah. Why? Do you?"

The glass slipped from his hands and I could it shatter over the voices of everyone in the bar.