Three Glass Trick

I hadn’t been working at the bar long, just a few weeks, but it was long enough for me to feel like I knew what I was doing and to start putting a few tricks in to my drink-pouring repertoire. Nothing much, just the odd shamrock in the pint of Guinness and the odd flourish with a pint glass under the beer tap. Things to make the time go quicker.

But tonight was going to be a great night, I was working with Lizzy and Lizzy always made me smile.

There was a certain je ne sais que between me and Lizzy, chemistry and it was only a matter of time before like all good chemists we’d start doing experiments. I had a feeling that tonight might be the night.

We were busy but not rushed, a brisk trade I suppose you could call it. Anyway all was going well and Lizzy was smiling and laughing in all the right places. At closing time tonight I would ask her if she fancied going on somewhere for a nightcap.

It was getting close to closing time when some punter asked me for three pints of Carling. The Carling glasses were kept on the top shelf above the counter; time for one of my tricks. I flicked down one glass with my right hand and caught it with my left; then used my left to flick another glass catching it with my right. Emboldened by Lizzy’s smile I flicked a third pint glass. But I saw the look change on her face from a smile to horror. It was only then that I realised I didn’t have a free hand to catch the third glass. Foolishly I let instinct take over, a smarter man would have let the glass fall to the floor but I tried to catch it in between the two glasses already in my hands. The whole place looked up from their pints as the smashing glass echoed around the place. All three glasses had smashed leaving me with the stubs of two of them in my hands and standing in a puddle of shards.

The customer clapped his hands sarcastically.

‘Stop trying to impress your girlfriend,’ he said and pour my beer.’ I quickly brushed the glass away to deal with later got another glass down and started pouring.

‘Um, no mate.’ The customer looked disgusted.

‘What’s wrong’ I said and then I saw it, blood all over the glass, all over the floor, everywhere and it was coming from my chin. I hadn’t felt it but a shard of glass had obviously nicked my face.

‘Um Lizzy can you take over,’ I said avoiding eye contact. She smiled her delicious smile at the customer and started serving his drinks while I rushed to the toilet to sort out my chin.

20 minutes later I was still there. Who knew chins bled so much? Nothing I tried stemmed the flow and even if it had, I am not sure I would have ever left the sanctuary of the toilet. I was just so embarrassed. Lizzie must have thought I was an idiot, a buffoon, a jerk.

‘Hey are you okay?’ Lizzie popped her head around the door.

‘Not really.’ I said, a clump of toilet tissue pressed to my chin.

‘Boss says he’ll mop up, C’mon, I’ll get you to A and E.’ She jangled her car keys.

I smiled, I’d wanted to take her somewhere after work but I wasn’t expecting it to be a hospital. We chatted in the car on the way and while we were waiting but had the spark gone? Was the chemistry set back in the cupboard?

After a 2-hour wait and 3 stitches we finally emerged from the hospital.

‘Okay?’ She asked as we walked to her car.

‘Yeah.’ I mumbled, feeling a bit sheepish, feeling myself blush.

‘You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?’

I didn’t say anything, just nodded, but then Lizzie stopped and kissed me on the cheek, a kiss that made me quite sure we’d be going into the that lab just as soon as my chin was mended.