Virtues of Saints & Angels   

Chapter 9 – Shorts

It was two weeks of “unplanned & casual” meetings for Orlando and Beth to admit to themselves that maybe there was something that Angel had seen from the beginning.  Their similar interests and tastes in many things was only the beginning of their connection.  When Orlando had a free night from working at the club or when he knew Beth was on he would turn up at the café to chat as he helped her clean the tables. 

Beth suggested to her friends from college during a night out that they try The Haven and when they walked in on the following Saturday night she looked around the club until she found Orlando working behind the bar.

“Beth, hello Love, what are you doin’ here?” Orlando was so pleased to see her that he leaned over the bar and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

Beth was surprised for a second, thanking the flashing lights in the club to hide the colour that she felt flood her cheeks.

“The girls from college wanted to come here so I thought I’d tag along and see what you get up to on the nights when you’re not helping me in the café.”

“Who me? Working hard all the time, you know what I mean?” he gave her a cheeky wink as he expertly filled the three beer glasses he held in his hand.  “I tell you, I’ll be glad to finish tonight and get home to sleep, I’m absolutely knackered.  So, you been anywhere else tonight?

“Yeah this is our third stop, I think the girls are trying for a record.  This will be my last one I think, with the early shift at Angel’s this morning I’m done in too.”

“You make sure you take one of your friends out with you to get a cab home when you want to go.  If you need to come get me and I’ll walk you out, OK.”  With the end of summer heat and the booze flowing Orlando knew that some of the local lads would consider Beth to be an easy target for their advances.

“I promise.”  Beth thought he was such a sweet guy that she could not understand why he wasn’t with someone.  When she had asked him the other day he had laughed off his response telling her that he just had not found the right girl yet.  She thought about some of her friends sitting over at the tables and then dismissed all of them as being not good enough for Orlando.  She knew that would sound harsh to some but he was special and deserved someone equally as special to be with.  Her next thought was she did not want to share him with anyone just yet as he was the only person her age away from college that she spoke to.

The crowd around the bar started to increase as Orlando said he better get back to work, telling Beth that when he had a break he would come and find her.  Beth took her drink back to the table and sat with her friends who were all curious who the good looking man was that she had been chatting with.  She quickly told them that his girlfriend was a friend of hers so they would not think about trying to chat him up. 

Orlando looked over to where Beth was sitting and smiled to himself, pleased that she had come to the club.  He wished these rotten drunk bastards would go away so he could take a break to go and talk with her.  He continued to fill the constant stream of drinks orders as he kept watching to see what his friend was up to.  The four girls went to the dance floor after they finished their drinks and he kept up his surveillance of her every move as they laughed and partied across the room.

A frown began to crease Orlando’s forehead as he watched one of the regular customers work his way towards the girls and start dancing with Beth and one of her friends.  The girls moved away from him and began to dance again as he moved towards them, trying to work his way into their conversation. 

Orlando looked around the club until he saw the person he was looking for.  He reached behind him and grabbed the two way radio as he kept watching the dance floor.

“Craig, could you come over, we got a problem one,” he spoke into the radio and watched the large security guy move towards the bar.  He quickly told him about the guy causing the girls trouble before Craig moved through the crowd and worked his way through the dancing throng. Orlando watched, feeling calmer and happier as he saw the trouble maker escorted from the club.

“So, which one is she?” Orlando turned to the voice behind him and looked at Patrick, the head barman.  Patrick was a quiet, understated type of guy who, as Orlando thought, could probably rip your arm off and beat you with the wet end before he calmly sat down to fish and chips for dinner.  Orlando liked him and his low-key sense of humour, often finding the patrons at a loss with his droll comments about their stupid behaviour.

“Beth, she’s a friend of mine, I just don’t want anyone ruining her night out.  She’s the one with the long hair in the black dress.”  Orlando told him as they watched Beth and her friend go back to the table where their other friends were sitting.  Orlando continued to watch as Beth stood behind her chair and picked up her handbag, slipping it over her shoulder.

“Cute.” Patrick said, picking up the dirty glasses that were littered across the bar.  “Why don’t you take your break and go and talk to your friend before she disappears on you.”

Orlando thanked him as he dropped the cleaning cloth back into the sink behind him and walked away from the bar.   He made his way towards the table, stopping before he got there and not wanting to interrupted conversation with her friends.  Beth turned away from the table and saw him waiting for her. 

“Have you finished for the night?” she asked when she stood in front of him. 

“No, I'm just on a break.  Are you leaving?” he answered leaning towards her so she could hear him properly above the loud music playing.

“Yeah, it's getting late, so I thought I would go home,” she replied stretching up to talk into his ear so she could be heard too.

“I’ll walk you out if you like and wait with you until you get a cab.”

“That’d be nice, thanks.”  Orlando turned and fell into step next to her linking her arm into his as they made their way thought the crowd.  “Have you seen that new Johnny Depp movie yet?”

“No, not yet, but I want to when I get a chance.”

“Yeah, me too, I like to get there early enough to get a good seat right in the middle, how about you?”

“Definitely, plus you have to be there to watch the shorts and the previews.”

“That's the best part of going to the movies, that and the popcorn” Orlando leaned closer to Beth as the music volume increased.  His mind was racing ahead as he tried to think of a way to ask her out. 

“Oh yeah, have to have popcorn at the movies,” she almost yelled to be heard over the incessant beat.

Orlando stopped and turned to face Beth, trying to will his stomach to stop churning with worry.  He knew he wanted this to go further then friendship and he hoped that she felt the same way.  He took a deep breath as he moved closer to her.

“Beth, would you like to go out with me on a date?”  He did it, he finally asked her what he had wanted to ask for weeks.

“Sorry, what was that, I couldn’t hear with this music,” she answered. 

Feedback        Chapter 10        Back to Main