Four hours into my shift at The Dartfish, I was surprised to see Landon come in. He spotted me behind the bar and smiled, making his way over to sit at one of the empty bar stools. It was early afternoon and it had been fairly constant all day, as it was a Saturday. I’d been filling drinks at the bar and tidying up in between, whilst trying my best to tolerate Tiffany and her nauseous behaviour towards anyone who laid eyes on her. She and I still didn’t get along, but she now knew that whenever Walter was there, he was off limits to her shameless flirting. Landon, on the other hand, may have even played along.

“Nice to see you here,” I said to him as I wiped down the small spillages on the side. “You okay?”

Landon nodded and smiled again, “How are you doing?”

“Better now that you’re here,” I chuckled. “Today has been long and tiring. I could do with someone to make me smile. Not that I’ll even have much time to talk.”

“That’s fine,” Landon said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble anyway. I just needed a break and thought I’d come here and see how you were doing.”

“That’s so sweet,” I smiled at him and Landon half smiled back, seemingly amused by how happy that had made me.

Tiffany, who had been coming out of the kitchen in the back carrying bowls of chips and onion rings, saw Landon and immediately pushed her chest out. Her shirt was already very tight on her and the buttons were undone pretty low. Landon glanced at her full cleavage before looking away, uninterested it seemed. That was a change.

“Would you like anything to eat or drink?” I asked him, ignoring Tiffany as she flaunted past to serve orders.

“A beer would be nice,” Landon said, reaching into his pocket for his wallet.

I got out a clean beer glass and filled it up to the brim. Setting it out in front of him, Landon thanked me and took a gulp. He put the glass back down and sighed. He didn’t look as cheerful as he usually was.

“What’s wrong, Landon?” I frowned faintly.

“Nothing’s really wrong,” he replied. “Don’t let me distract you from your work.”

“It’s fine,” I insisted. “Tell me what’s up.”

He sighed and leaned his elbows on the side of the bar top, rubbing his hands down the sides of his face. He had a graze across one of his cheekbones and a dark bruise under his other eye. His lip ring was still intact, and I was pretty sure he took it out before every fight. I wouldn’t have put it past any of the Santiagos to pull it right out of his bottom lip if they had the chance.

“I just kinda feel like shit,” Landon mumbled. “I hate breaking it off with them, it’s the worst part.”

“Oh,” I realised what he was talking about.

In a way, Landon’s lifestyle was a bit like Tiffany’s, yet I disliked her and I liked Landon. Maybe that was because Tiffany wasn’t as friendly as Landon was, or perhaps it was because I knew Landon and I didn’t know her. To me, Landon was more than just a player, he was like a brother. I had completely no clue about Tiffany’s life outside of what I saw at work. In an essence, I was realising that maybe I shouldn’t judge her so lowly when I barely knew her. Was this me saying that I should actually try to get to know her?

“Coral,” Tiffany returned to the bar with a scowl on her face as she snapped at me. “That guy over there is waiting to be served.”

Then again, maybe not.

After serving a couple more customers, I managed to get back to Landon’s side to continue where we left off. He was drinking his beer as he looked off into space.

“Who was this last girl?” I asked him.

“Just a girl I met in town,” Landon shrugged. “Very pretty and she knew it. It didn’t take long to get into her pants, she literally forced herself onto me...but even so, I hate it when they cry. It makes me feel so bad.”

“Have you ever been in love?” I deeply surprised Landon by asking.

“What do you mean?” he stared at me with his wide brown eyes.

“Out of all the girls you’ve ever been with, have you ever been in love with any of them?” I rephrased.

“Well...” Landon blinked. “I-I don’t think so. No. I haven’t. Why?”

“Well,” I sent him a little smile. “I think one day you’ll meet a girl, a girl who doesn’t want to just sleep with you, a girl who wants to actually get to know you. What I’m saying is, you’re going to fall in love someday and all the things you’re doing now, you’ll stop doing. You’ll stop breaking people’s hearts and you’ll stop hurting yourself too, Landon. I know Walter tells you all the time that sleeping around isn’t good for you. I think so too. Psychologically, I think you’re damaging yourself. You can even end it now, if you wanted.”

“It’s hard,” Landon sighed after listening to me silently. I could tell he’d really been thinking about what I’d just said.

“You don’t have to stop right away,” I said with a soft smile. “Take it step by step.”

“I don’t want to stop at all,” Landon looked down. “I like the sex part, but not when they get clingy.”

“Would you ever want a long-term relationship?” I questioned him. “Like a real girlfriend, not one of your ‘one week’ ones?”

He paused as he thought about it, “Yeah, I guess someday.”

“I’m telling you now, that kind of relationship is better than what you’re doing,” I sent him an encouraging smile. “As long as you get the right person.”

Landon finally cracked a smile, “I see all this counselling you’ve been having has made you an expert. Thank you.”

I widened my smile, “No problem, I just want to help.”

Landon nodded and tipped the last of his beer down his throat, “When do you finish?”

“Two more hours,” I replied.

“I’ll keep you company,” he said.

I glanced over at Tiffany who was watching Landon as she filled a glass. Landon followed my gaze and Tiffany looked at him through her lashes and chewed on her bottom lip as if that was the most attractive thing to do.

“It looks like I won’t be the only one who’d like that,” I turned back to Landon and we laughed.