It ended up being a busy Wednesday night, so between the drink orders and Nolan’s set, Penelope wasn’t able to talk to Marcus as much as she’d wanted to. But after last call, Penelope casually rolled up to the bar.

“So, legend,” Marcus said, smiling at her. “You owe me a story. Why did you leave, why are you back, and—” he points to Nolan jamming out on stage, “what’s up with you and him?”

“I’ll give you the short version,” said Penelope, seeing one of her customers gesturing for her attention. “Number one: my ex asked me to leave because of…male attention. Number two: he’s my ex now. I’m finally finishing school and I need money to do that. And number three…”

Penelope turned her attention to Nolan playing his last song on stage. He had stage presence, she had to give him that. And if he was still nervous, he was good at covering it up. Nolan was currently staring at a young woman sitting at a table close to the stage who was eating up his act. Penelope could see her glancing down to write her number on a napkin for him.

“Number three?” Marcus reminded her she was mid-explanation.

“Yeah, so I found this flier for a perfect place that was super cheap and beautiful, which of course was too good to be true, because…that guy found the same flier.” Penelope gestured to Nolan, who was now singing about “a cool breeze” into the mic.

Penelope continued. “Our landlord is basically making us fight it out, Hunger Games-style, until the end of the year to see who’s the best tenant and can keep the place. In the meantime, I’m also using it as part of my capstone project, so it’s--”

“Complicated?” Marcus asked.

“Yeah, exactly,” Penelope said, sighing. “I can’t afford to go anywhere else, so I’m trying to show Nolan and Flo -- that’s our landlord -- that I deserve to win.”

“Sounds like what you need is some intel,” Marcus said, eyeing Nolan.

“What do you mean, intel?” Penelope asked, thoroughly confused.

“You know—something you can use. Get inside his mind a little so you can know what makes him tick…and what ticks him off,” Marcus answered, with a grin.

“I like the way you think,” said Penelope. “Maybe we could team up?”

“What do I get out of it?” said Marcus, with a laugh.

Penelope’s customer was giving her a full-blown wave at this point, so she grabbed her tray to take the order.

“How about a drink? Outside of work,” Penelope said, as she started to walk away.

“I like the sound of that,” said Marcus, grabbing the cocktail shaker.

***

At the end of the night, while everyone worked to clean up and count their money, Nolan was riding high.

“Good show tonight, kid,” Jimmy said, as he shook Nolan’s hand and then handed him an envelope of cash. “See you next Wednesday.”

“Thank you so much,” said Nolan, beaming.

“And good to have you back, Penelope,” Jimmy said, smiling at her and heading to the back office.

“So how about that shot?” Marcus called out to them.

“Yes, one hundred percent,” said Nolan, beelining for the bar. Penelope noticed he had quickly pulled a crumpled napkin with a number on it in his pocket and was showing it to Marcus, proudly.

Marcus lined up shot glasses for himself, Nolan, Dahlia, and Penelope. As he poured brown liquor into them, he quietly leaned over to Penelope. “Trust me,” he said with a wink, and added more into the shot glass for Nolan, before Nolan could compare.

“To fresh faces,” said Marcus.

“And returning ones,” said Dahlia.

They all took their shots, clinking the bottoms of the glasses on the bar.

“Another, Nolan?” Marcus said.

“Why not?” Nolan said, still in a good mood.

Marcus poured into both of their glasses. But as Marcus started to put his near his mouth, Penelope saw him empty it over his shoulder instead. She smiled.

Marcus used a napkin to pick up a chewed plastic straw off the bar that someone had left behind.

“Man, that’s so nasty. I hate when people leave their trash behind,” he said, throwing it away. “It’s like my biggest pet peeve. What about you, Nolan? What drives you crazy?”

Now Penelope understood. Marcus was going to get Nolan talking. Hopefully Nolan would reveal something she could use to her advantage in the competition for the apartment.

“Eh, not much, honestly,” Nolan said. “But what did you think of my last song, man? Were you into the hook?”

“Yeah, man,” Marcus said, lining up more shots for them. “In fact, I think we should do one more to celebrate.

“Going hard on a Wednesday, huh?” said Dahlia, with mischief in her eyes. “Save some for me boys!”

But Marcus only poured for himself and Nolan and again, Marcus tossed his shot. Penelope tried to look busy, but kept one ear on their conversation. Dahlia tried turning on her pouty face, which no one noticed, so she went back to her cash out with a sigh.

This time, after Nolan did his shot, he closed his eyes for a minute. Bingo, thought Peneloepe.

“You know, Nolan, we’ve been roommates for awhile now, and I just don’t know that much about you. Why don’t you tell us something…interesting about your background. Like a fun fact.” Penelope tried, leading him back into private information.

“Oh, sure, here’s something. I come from a family of rodeo clowns,” said Nolan, solemnly. Penelope and Marcus looked at each other. “It’s a whole thing,” Nolan continued. “Dad wanted me to follow in the family business, but I don’t believe in cruelty to animals. So I took up music and haven’t talked to them ever since. They’ve never heard me play.”

Penelope thought she saw the hint of a tear in Nolan’s eye.

“Nolan, I’m sorry, that’s—” she started to say.

“What you want to hear, right?” Nolan said, suddenly looking very sober. “A sob story about my parents? That you can use against me? C’mon, you guys aren’t as slick as you think and are going to have to do better than some shots.”

Nolan took the bottle from Marcus, poured another shot, and downed it, looking right at Penelope the whole time. He pushed away from the bar and started walking to the door.

“I thought we were bros!” Nolan said over his shoulder to Marcus.

“We are!” said Marcus back. He then shrugged at Penelope. “I tried,” he said in a whisper.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to him, chasing after Nolan.

“Don’t forget your end of the bargain,” Marcus called out to Penelope with a smile.