I shrug, “Buck’ll manage until the cops get here to round up the morons into the drunk tank.”

Gina smiles. “You called the cops?”

I don’t answer and quietly busy myself with rummaging through my pockets until I find a sucker I can distract myself with. I unwrap the grape flavored lump of hard candy and unceremoniously shove it into my mouth.

“You think Walt’s on duty?” Gina asks.

Her and Walt Higgins have been best friends since middle school. He’s also the reason I had to leave Sandy Springs behind the first time around. And if I’m being honest he might be the reason why I came back. He’s the only human who has even an inkling that I’m more than just an average guy.

My species has a variety of abilities that differ from person to person. We’re all born with telepathy, but some of us have a few extra gifts. When I was a little kid I gained my first ability besides telepathy. I always loved doing puzzles, making pictures out of seemingly random blobs of colors. I had quite a knack for figuring out how the pieces wanted to be put together. It wasn’t until my mother got me a 3-d puzzle of a building that I began to understand that it wasn’t just picture puzzles that my knack applied to. I begin to see the world as individual pieces that could put together as well and I had an innate understanding of how all of those pieces wanted to be put together.

As far as psychic abilities go this was a mild one to be sure. My dad claimed that my mother could see the future which was a rare and powerful gift. Even though I don’t know just how amazing this ability actually was since she still died. My father though had telekinesis. Handy for picking pockets and for a thousand other situations. It’s an ability I had hoped that I would develop, but with no such luck. Up until Walt Higgins my father and I both thought that my meek psychic abilities would be the only gifts I would ever foster. But fate had other ideas.

I hear the sirens in the distance and wait with bated breath to see who’s going to be coming through the doors. When I had returned to Sandy Springs I’d been disappointed to discover that Walt had moved away some years before. Something I should’ve figured out for myself. Who wouldn’t leave this place if given the opportunity? Walt certainly had. He’d gone to a police academy in Phoenix and trained there. He hadn’t moved back here until last year much to my secret pleasure.

The first ones to come in are the paramedics with the cops right in tow.

“Alright, break it up!” I hear the deputy shout trying to get the attention of the disgruntled patrons with Buck sandwiched between them. I peer over Deputy Knox’s shoulder and spot the familiar face of Walt and let out a breath of relief.

“Good evening handsome.” Gina says with a wide grin at her childhood cohort.

Walt smiles back albeit with a tinge more weariness. “All’s well.” He replies. “What happened here?” No time for pleasantries or chitchat.

Gina rolls her eyes, “Same old, same old. Big ol’idiots tryna crack each other’s heads open over a stupid game.”

Walt snorts and scribbles something down in his notebook. “They break anything?”

“Nope. We’ve got Matty to thank for that.”

“Mathew?” He glances over at me and I find myself real interested in polishing the glasses.

“Of course.” She continues on, “Matty’s a lifesaver. Can sniff out bar fights better than a dog can bacon.” I raise an eyebrow at her comparison, but don’t say anything about it.

Walt also seems a bit taken aback by her words and so just says, “Right…”

“Stay and have a drink with us!” Gina pleads with him.

Walt laughs, “Yeah right, Knox’ll have my head on the block if he catches me drinking on the job.” He shakes his head, “I’m off tomorrow though. I can come by and we can have some fun then.”

Gina smiles victoriously, “It’s a date then!” She crows in delight. “Oh, and we should order pizza and watch movies!” She carries on. Gina’s like that. Bubbly and energetic with a constant need to be around people. With her it’s in for a penny, in for a pound. She’ll drag you through hell and high water and will do it with a smile the whole way. But she’s also nice and honest. And in a town like this that’s a combo that’s nearly impossible to find.

Walt laughs, “We’ll see.” He looks over at the other group and I glance over too.

The paramedic is currently patching up the head of one of the men while Knox is railing into the other one. As if sensing the stares the deputy turns and shouts at Walt, “Stop gossiping with your girlfriend and come over here!”

Walt winces and gives us a pained smile, “Well, duty calls.” He pushes off of the bar and walks over to Knox.

I see Gina pouting in the corner of my eye, but I just turn to the sink and start washing dishes.

“You think he’ll actually come by?” She asks me while watching him talk to Buck.