Female Nightcap (F)

[Blah!?]

Hey everyone,

A while ago I came up with an idea for something nice and simple. Miraculously I managed to force myself through it, and I'm pleased enough with the result to share it here. It's just a little story about two characters meeting at a bar, and there's not much more to it. I hope you enjoy!

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Colleen never liked working the night shift, but it was her only option if she actually wanted to attend her classes during the day. She supposed she should count herself lucky. It was late enough that even the heaviest drinkers usually went home an hour or two into her shift. Unfortunately Colleen still knew she’d get into trouble if she tried to pass the time on her phone or even study. For the moment, she had nothing to do but stand behind the bar and catch any stragglers that wandered in. Being located across the street from a cheap hotel meant they’d occasionally get travelers late at night, but there was never a crowd unless some kind of company outing was passing through.

 

Involuntarily flaring her nostrils, Colleen stole a glance around the bar. She already knew she was alone, but she wanted to make sure. After confirming that the building was empty, Colleen squinted and raised an outstretched finger up to her itchy nostrils. Still turning her eyes back and forth across the empty room, Colleen rubbed her finger under the tip of her nose, careful not to snag the nose ring closer to the base. She’d never be able to get away with this if anyone else was around, but sometimes it was all Colleen could do to keep from sneezing. She’d always associated allergies with sunny days, but it seemed nature didn’t care. Pollen could still fill the air even in the dead of night.

 

As she stopped rubbing her nose, Colleen happened to look toward the front door. Her eyes widened for a second as she spotted someone approaching from the parking lot. She still felt the makings of a sneeze lurking deep inside her nostrils, and she could only hope it wouldn’t get any worse.

 

“Hahh…”

 

Too late.

 

Turning away from the door, Colleen waved a hand up and down in front of her face. She knew she had already passed the point of no return, but she still clung to some vain shred of hope anyway. For a second she placed her thumb and forefinger around her nostrils, about to squeeze them shut, but she quickly stopped. Shaking her head and waving her hand again, she decided it would be better to just let the sneeze out.

 

“Ahh… Ah’TSHH!”

 

Colleen’s head dipped with a gentle sneeze, and as she regained her composure she noticed the front door hadn’t opened just yet. Taking advantage of whatever time she had left, she fluttered her eyes and rubbed a finger under the tip of her nose. When the door finally opened, Colleen turned as quickly as she could to greet her customer.

 

“Hello! Good evening!” said Colleen, holding her hands behind her back. The young bartender found herself faced with an older woman, likely in her forties. She appeared to have been wearing a suit at one point, but the jacket had been left behind somewhere. Weary eyes gazed back at Colleen from behind a pair of rectangular glasses, but the woman’s subtle smile gave her some comfort.

 

“Hello,” the woman replied, taking a seat at the bar. Colleen slid over to stand in front of her, hands still behind her back.

 

“What can I get you?”

 

“Cognac, please. Neat.”

 

With a nod, Colleen placed a glass on the counter and grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind her. After pouring out some of the fragrant liquid, she moved the glass in front of her customer and then stepped away, not wanting to invade the woman’s personal space.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“You’re weh-helcome…”

 

Colleen felt humiliated as her breath fluttered in the middle of her words, but she remained politely facing her guest until she finished speaking. Then, she quickly turned away and surreptitiously fanned her face with one hand. Hopefully the woman at the bar wouldn’t object to a single sneeze since she’d already been served.

 

“HAA’tshh!”

 

A sneeze suddenly burst out of Colleen before she could even think about trying to hold it in. Luckily her reflexes allowed her to curl an arm around her face first, but even still she was sure her patron would be offended.

 

“Bless you,” said the woman, her voice calm and pleasant. Colleen resisted a sigh of relief as she turned back with a thankful nod.

 

“Allergies?” the customer asked, catching Colleen off guard for a second.

 

“Oh, yeah,” replied the bartender, clasping her hands behind her back again. “I’m really sorry about that.”

 

The woman sipped her drink and shook her head.

 

“Don’t worry about it. They’re not contagious.”

 

Not sure what else to say, Colleen simply nodded again and waited for the woman to either finish or order something else. The next few minutes passed in silence, the lady enjoying her drink and Colleen resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose. Eventually she couldn’t ignore the itchy feeling any longer and she turned around, pretending to inspect the bottles on the shelf. Hoping her reflection wasn’t visible anywhere, Colleen reached a finger up to her nose and rubbed underneath the tip. She sniffed, briefly forgetting about her surroundings, but she immediately realized the woman sitting just a few feet behind her must have heard.

 

“Ahh…”

 

She definitely heard that too. Colleen panicked, not sure what to do. She turned to face the door, hoping to point herself away from the bottles as well as her customer, but ultimately this did little to hide her face.

 

“Ah-ahhh… Tshhoo!”

 

Colleen bobbed forward as she sneezed, and to her horror she didn’t hear another ‘bless you’ from the woman. That must have been too much. She turned back toward the shelves to hide her face as she rubbed her tickly nose, and then she fearfully stole a glance back at her customer. Colleen nearly jumped when she found the woman staring at her, though surprisingly she didn’t seem upset.

 

“Can I… Get you anything else?” Colleen asked awkwardly, hoping to defuse the situation. The woman’s eyes widened behind her glasses as she realized she had been staring, and then she smiled and shook her head.

 

“Sorry, no, don’t worry about it,” she said, setting her glass down on the counter. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but, uh… You kind of remind me of me when I was younger. You’re not in a band, are you?”

 

Colleen smiled bashfully, not sure whether to be embarrassed or flattered. She turned back and forth for a second as she thought, and then she gave the woman a nod.

 

“It’s the nose ring, isn’t it?” she asked in a small voice, earning a chuckle from her guest.

 

“I had one from when I was seventeen until I graduated college,” said the woman, still smiling. She tipped her head back and touched the space between her long, slender nostrils. “Mine was right here. Septum ring.”

 

“Whoa, no way,” mumbled Colleen, hoping she wasn’t being rude.

 

“Yep. My friends and I all ran off to get our noses pierced after finals junior year of high school. I was the only one who got a septum ring though, and let me tell you, my mom wasn’t a fan.”

 

“Neither was mine,” Colleen added, her smile widening. The woman smiled back and took another sip of her drink before continuing.

 

“Do you mind if I ask your name?”

 

“Not at all. It’s Colleen.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Colleen. I’m Alyssa.”

 

“Hi, Alyssa… Ahhh… Ah-Tshh!”

 

“Bless you. You’re not the singer in your band, are you?” asked Alyssa, weaving her fingers together on the countertop. Colleen shook her head as she sniffed and rubbed her nose.

 

“No, I play bass,” she answered, massaging the side of her left nostril and wishing her nose ring wasn’t in the way of the other.

 

“Good,” chuckled Alyssa. “Trust me, singing and allergies don’t go together.”

 

“What do you play?” Colleen inquired after she got her itchy nose under control.

 

“I was the singer!” announced Alyssa, leaning forward over the bar.

 

“Oh!” laughed Colleen, giving her nose another quick rub.

 

“I had the worst allergies in high school,” Alyssa continued, shaking her head at herself. “And of course I always had to sneeze whenever we played. Every time I did, somebody would threaten to kick me out afterward. I guess I was just lucky nobody else could sing.”

 

“Oh, come on!” Colleen encouraged, clasping her hands together. “I bet you’re pretty good! Did you write your own songs?”

 

“Nah,” Alyssa snorted, waving a hand at the bartender. “We were pretty much what you’d expect from a dumb high school band. All covers, and we thought we were the best around. And our name was… It was…”

 

Trailing off, Alyssa placed a hand on her forehead and began to giggle at herself. Her near-silent giggling suddenly gave way to a brief, snorty laugh that made Colleen chuckle too.

 

“Our name was… No way. I don’t… I don’t want to tell you.”

 

“Oh, now you have to!”

 

“No way!”

 

“Come on, please?”

 

“Fine! Fine… It was… It was… Daydream Conspiracy.”

 

Alyssa looked up at Colleen to find her biting her lip.

 

“See? You’re laughing!” yelped Alyssa, jabbing a finger at Colleen.

 

“No I’m not!” giggled the bartender, waving a hand. “I’m… I’m… Hah’TSHH! I’m sneezing! Can… Can I get you some more cognac?”

 

“Yes, please,” replied Alyssa, trying to get her laughter under control. Colleen refilled Alyssa’s glass, and the two of them quickly began holding in giggles again.

 

“Your band have a name?” asked Alyssa, giving Colleen a start.

 

“Oh, n-no,” she stammered, feeling a bit nervous after everything Alyssa had told her. “We mostly just do covers too.”

 

“I’m sorry,” said Alyssa, giving Colleen a genuine smile. The bartender smiled back and waved a hand.

 

“No, it’s fine. Sometimes I… I feel like we’re not really going anywhere.”

 

“Hey, that’s okay,” Alyssa consoled, placing her free hand on the countertop. “I’ll tell you what. Maybe it won’t go anywhere, but I bet even if you guys break up tomorrow, you’re going to be glad you were in it at all.”

 

Colleen smiled, lowering her head subtly.

 

“Are you?”

 

“Oh, sure,” said Alyssa, pushing her glasses up her nose. “It wasn’t all fun all the time, but I’ll always remember the good parts. My first boyfriend, my first kiss… Plus, even the bad stuff’ll turn into funny stories after a while. Like this one time when… Oh god…”

 

Colleen laughed, leaning on the bar beside her customer.

 

“Come on, you told me the band name.”

 

“Oh boy…” breathed Alyssa, shaking her head at herself. “We had these little coffee house shows every now and then. One was basically on the last day of school after finals for anyone who wanted to stick around, and even if not many people were there, we really wanted to play. There was a decent turnout and everything was going okay, but then we started our third song. I barely sang two words before I started having a great big sneezing fit.”

 

“Oh no,” gasped Colleen, lightly clasping her hands over her mouth.

 

“The rest of the band kept playing for a little bit, but I already knew I wasn’t coming back from that. I just walked behind the curtain and sat down on the first chair I saw, and the other guys weren’t far behind me. The guitarist and the drummer were yelling at each other about whether they should kick me out, and I was all stuffed up anyway so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sing again for a while. It was pretty miserable, but then my boyfriend came and walked me home.”

 

“Aww!” cooed Colleen, turning her shoulders from side to side. Alyssa hung her head and laughed at herself for a second before continuing.

 

“I still remember he gave me a tissue, but I didn’t want to blow my nose with the ring in, so I just held it.”

 

“Still, I think that’s sweet.”

 

Alyssa shrugged and rolled her eyes with a smile, and then she drank the rest of her cognac. After she placed her empty glass back on the countertop, she suddenly froze. Colleen watched as Alyssa’s eyes fluttered behind her glasses, and to her bewilderment the woman reached her thumb and forefinger up to the base of her long nose.

 

“Hehh… Heii’nnt-Choo...”

 

Alyssa bobbed forward, pinching her nostrils to stifle a sneeze. Colleen smiled and leaned against the bar.

 

“Bless you.”

 

“Hhh-! Hhe’nnt-chuhh…”

 

Colleen was about to bless Alyssa again, but before she could, she realized her patron wasn’t finished yet.

 

“Heh! Heeiii’nnnt! Choo!”

 

“Bless you!”

 

Closing her eyes, Alyssa placed a finger delicately under her long nostrils. She drew in a polite, quiet sniff, shook her head, and then finally looked back up at Colleen. The two of them shared a knowing smile for a second, and then the bartender wove her fingers together in front of her chest.

 

“Well, can I get you anything else?” she asked, smiling brightly. Alyssa adjusted her glasses and shook her head.

 

“No, thank you. I have an early flight tomorrow, so I should probably go if I want to get any sleep at all.”

 

The woman withdrew her pocketbook and retrieved enough bills to pay for her drinks along with a sizeable tip. Colleen beamed as Alyssa set the money down next to her empty glass, and she gave a respectful nod as her customer stood up.

 

“Thank you very much.”

 

“You too, Colleen. Good luck with the band.”

 

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And that's all! I hope everyone enjoyed!

 

I'll see you next time, when and if there is a next time...

[zneeze]

Really neat idea, Blah! Great story as per usual. Thanks for bringing it our way  

[M214186]

Really enjoyed the story

[NoV]

Great story - always good to read new stories from you. Something about this reminded me of some of the first sneezefics I began discovering online ~yr 2000, which is a good thing  You write such tantalizing details!

[Sneezingnonstop]

Amazing story!! Another one to add tho the list of amazing writing pieces created by Blah!?, cant wait to see what you come up with next!!

[Kiaory]

Excellent as always. I really like the simplicity of this, it comes off as very sweet and heartwarming. It's also pretty cool how we get to almost see glimpses if an entirely different sneezfic through Alyssa's stories.

(One question though, why was Colleen so embarrassed about sneezing? Is it just a personal quirk?)

[Joona]

Wow... Really enjoyed this one

[Blah!?]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Hopefully I'll have something new to work on soon, and this stuff really just keeps me going.

Anyway, @Kiaory, Colleen was so reserved about sneezing because she's just nervous about sneezing on her customers' drinks. For more selfish reasons, she's also worried about getting in trouble for the same reason.