Sasha Paradeevich

"—Bar, step out for a moment, I need to talk," Anya asked as she approached me, and I agreed.

Akulich had suggested working as a bartender just for fun, since I had nothing better to do anyway. Streams, TikToks, Twitch, Instagram—it all gets tiring after a while, but I don't intend to quit entirely. Firstly, the money; secondly, this is my life, I live for it, enjoy it, and try to climb higher every time. Stepping out of the tiny storage room, I opened the door and loud music hit my ears. A club, crowds of people, booming music, alcohol—every day the same thing.

"—A mojito, please." A guy sat down at the counter looking very sad; usually, people come to clubs to have fun, but apparently not everyone does. As I pushed a small glass of green liquid with a piece of mint toward him, he pushed a bill back to me, watching my every move. "Tired of working?"

"—No, I like my job, why do you ask?" We were shouting slightly since the loud noise in the background made it impossible to speak in a normal voice.

"—Sorry, I just have no one to talk to." The guy was upset; now I was absolutely sure of it. But why, out of all the people in this room, did he decide to talk to me?

"—Why? Did something happen? I don't mind talking to someone, since I'm forbidden from calling loved ones at work, and all my coworkers are suffocatingly boring, except for Anyuta."

"—I was dating a girl for almost four years; we broke up the day before yesterday."

"—Because of what, if it's not a secret?" I thought that if he had trusted me with something, he might go deeper into the topic, and I was right.

"—Lately, we had a lot of fights that we couldn't handle." He was lucky he started talking to me; it was as if the guy had read the last two weeks of my life.

"—Do you still love her?"

"—To be honest, not really. I started realizing it during the final days of our relationship. The constant fighting wore me down, and I'm mentally exhausted from it," the guy shared, taking a sip of his drink.

You are a girl, Arina.