One more fare

The phone hadn’t stopped ringing for three hours.

If it wasn’t Maya’s school asking for donations, it was the hospital collections department threatening to halt treatment over unpaid bills.

Then the power company.

The water company.

The bank reminding him foreclosure was still very much on the table.

Evan finally silenced the phone and rubbed both hands over his face.

He was so tired.

He’d already emptied the last of his savings trying to keep everything afloat, and it still wasn’t enough. And he didn't want to think about the official letter sitting at home saying he was officially unenrolled from university and had that debt to deal with later.

A labor job during the day.

Dock work in the evening.

Bartending at night.

Sleep came in scraps between shifts.

Evan had barely clocked into his bar shift when Hayden spotted him. " You look like shit, man. Did you get a nap in at all today?" Hayden clasped his shoulder and guided him towards their breakroom. Hayden was one of the few people who knew how bad things had gotten. They had gone to school together and continued into university as roommates; things had been great between them.

They’d drifted a little during university after Hayden started dating seriously and everyone suddenly expected Evan to do the same.

Back then, staying quiet had seemed easier than coming out.

“Nah. Framing job ran late before the rain hit. I barely had time to grab food on the way here.” Evan answered him after dropping his bag into his locker and shutting it.

"Shit, you're gonna end up in the hospital next if you don't start caring for yourself, man. All I'm saying is you should be home finishing your thesis instead of being here feeding watered down tequila to these tip twats." Hayden meant well, Evan knew that, but it was still easier said than done.

“Yeah? Sure i'll get right on that." He sighed and walked away before he ended up in another fight over why it wasn't his responsibility with Hayden.

The conversation died as soon as they stepped onto the floor. Tonight was Trouble Tuesdays, they had theme nights on Monday to Saturday. Trouble Tuesdays meant cheap tequila and a mechanical bull. That was just the Tuesday part; the trouble came when the ladies started discarding their clothes on the bull, and then the men got rowdy. Overall, he usually got good tips.

A blonde in a glittery top stumbled up to the bar and nearly missed the stool trying to sit down.

She pulled a credit card from her cleavage and waved it at him triumphantly.

“Heeey, handsomeee I need more bar stuff for me. Oh and for my other Me's, I mean my people, friends! Do you have tachos? I mean tachos..no fuck ta-na-tacos! Yes tacos! Or nachos or both oh god they would be soo good right now!"

Evan stared at the girl who was swaying dangerously on the stool and reached out gently to grab her arm.

He expertly reached behind the bar and scooped up a glass of ice and filled it with water before throwing a little straw in it and settling it in front of her.

"Sugar, it's time you had this for a while, alright?" He could assume her friends were just as wasted as she was, which meant she would need more water.

"How many friends do you need drinks for?"

The girl was tickled pink by the little straw in her water and started to sip her drink.

"Who cares, their more worried about a car ride to a billioon.. gazillion man's house, I told her to just Uber it."

The girl sucked back more of her drink and pushed her card towards him.

"Can you open a tab and put more of these on there? They are so good!"

Evan had no idea who her friend was or what a gazillion man was but that was the life of a bartender.

"That's alright, tonight those drinks are free on the house. In fact, why don't you show me where your friend is so I can give her one as well!"

He had loaded a tray with a few more glasses of water and stepped around the bar.

"That sounds like awesome! Come let's go find Mary and Lizzy!"

The girl stumbled from her stool and wobbled her way on high heels through the crowd towards the bull gathering, she started to yell for her friends over the loud music and crowd when a hand landed on her shoulder. A redhead and a brunette sidled up next to Evan and her.

"Lizzy! Look free drinks!"

She flung her arms around the red head and pulled her into a tight hug. Evan had taken a step back to prevent the drinks from falling.

“Your friend might wanna slow down before security notices,” Evan said.

They both seemed more sober and gave a sympathetic pat to the blonde's head.

"She's just dealing with a bad breakup; we're here for a girl's night out to take the stress off. We'll, feed her some water before we take off." The brunette said apologetically.

"No worries, happens more than you think! I mean the drinking, and yeah, probably the breakups."

Evan gave a small grin and set the tray on the table beside them.

"Anyways, you girls have a good night, and good luck with the ride to the be... gazillion billion, whatever she was saying."He laughed lightly and turned to leave. He only got as far as taking a step before a hand was on his shoulder turning him back.

"She mentioned that I needed to go to the countryside?" The redhead looked kind of worried as she glanced at the blond and the brunette.

Evan rubbed the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Look your friend is completely wasted, whatever she was trying to say obviously made no sense to me. The gist of it was she mentioned needing a ride to a man's house and using an Uber."

The worried look on the redhead’s face made him regret opening his mouth.

"You know what fuck it, do you want to make some cash?" The redhead asked placing her hand on her hip.

"Sorry?" Evan was confused. Yes, he wanted cash, but he still had limits.

"You know enough of the situation, the gist is I need a ride but Uber won't take me because it's a three hour drive up and back. Soo how would you like to make two grand driving me there and back? No questions asked."

Hold up.

This random woman was offering him two grand to drive her into the countryside.

No questions asked.

That definitely sounded normal and safe.

If a man made this offer, he would've walked away already.

Also he didn't even own a car. So why was he entertaining this scenario? Hayden had a car though...

"When do you need to go?" There, an easy enough question to start with, and then he could fill in the blanks from there.

"Actually, I have to head there tomorrow. My appointment is at 3, so can you do it?

Shit, that didn't leave time to arrange much. The Labour job had finished their current project, so they had a week's break before the next job started, so driving there and back wouldn't be an issue. It was just asking Hayden.

"Can you give me two seconds to see if my coworker will cover for me tomorrow?"

He excused himself and beelined it back to Hayden's side. He waited for a free second and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm I know it's last minute and it's totally cool if you say no, but there was this job offer that came up for a big cash job. The only thing is, I need a car to do it, and it's only available tomorrow. Would you be willing to let me borrow your car for a few hours to make this work?"

He hated to even ask and looked anywhere but at his face; he felt like such a beggar.

"Yeah man that's fine with me! You can borrow it anytime you need! I'll be at Janie's anyways for the day so I won't need it!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled the keys out. "Just take it home tonight. I can get home with Janie. She's here with her friends." He said, pointing to his girlfriend who was busy in line for the bull.

He felt a weight lift off his chest and nodded gratefully. "Thank you so much! I owe you big time! Be right back, just gonna tell them I can accept the job."

He slipped the keys into his pocket and pushed his way through the crowd to find the girls again.

Once he found them, the blond was singing off key to the brunette while simultaneously asking why she couldn't just ask anyone to fuck her right there.

He turned his attention to the redhead and leaned against the arm of the chair behind him." I can do the drive. I just need a location and time you want to leave. Do you want me to pick you up at home, or is it okay to meet here and go from there?

The redhead's features sagged with relief seeing him come back and grabbed his arm.

"You are a lifesaver! We can meet here, let's say 10, gives us time in case of traffic or whatever. I'll give you 500 tonight and 1500 when we get back, sound good?"

The redhead was already reaching into her clutch to pull her wallet out when he reached her arm and stopped her.

"I'm sure you're good for it, but maybe don't take the money out here; we can do that tomorrow, alright?"

Her eyes brightened before she took a pen and paper and wrote her name and number down and handed it back to him.

"Alright then I guess that's that then. I'll see you bright eyed and bushy for our drive!" She said cheerfully before pulling her friends away into the crowd.

He slipped the card into his pocket and stood there for a minute wondering what the hell just happened. How did he go from being late to take a nap, to gaining a new gig driving? At the end of the day, he didn't honestly care if it meant paying another bill.