Bonus Chapter: Can I help you?

*Takes place in chapter three and four.*

Nathan's POV:

The pub was packed and I was becoming more and more annoyed by the amount of people bombarding me with orders. I just wanted my shift to be over so I could talk to my brother about my situation. Although, I had no idea how I was going to bring it up at an appropriate time seeing as he was inviting one of his friends to the dinner.

They were probably some tortured screenwriter like my brother who also happens to have the flair for dramatics. I groaned at the thought.

Even over all the chatter, I heard the front door's chime sound as somebody walked in. Hopefully, it was Darian.

I was fixing up a drink for the grumpy old man who was a friend of my boss's when a small, feminine voice sounded over all the harsh masculine ones. "I'll have a whatever is on tap, please."

"Coming right up," I said, reaching for a lever. She didn't specific which tap beer she wanted, so I settled for a personal favourite. I filled it up and placing it on a white napkin that rested on the countertop. I looked up and smirked at the beautiful girl in front of me. "Anything else I can do for you?"

Her vibrant green eyes flashed with annoyance but she didn't say anything as she shook her head no.

I smiled to myself as I turned back to the grumpy old man who already finished the whiskey I had just given him and demanded another one. When I was finished serving him, I leaned back on the counter behind me and crossed my arms as I watched the woman in front of me. She kept staring out the window, as if she was waiting for someone and that annoyed me more than I annoyed her only moments before.

She took a small sip of her drink before she noticed me staring and her rolled her eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Feisty, I like that," I mused with a smirk.

She flipped her honey blonde hair over her shoulders as she narrowed her eyes. Man, if looks could kill, I'd be dead twice. "Shouldn't you be doing your job?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "There's other things I could be doing," I finished with a wink.

To my right, I could see the man was done with his second whiskey, so I started pouring him a third. "Got a name?"

The blonde thought to herself for a moment, taking another sip of her drink before she responded. "Audrey."

Trying to hide my surprise that she'd actually give me her name, I grinned wickedly. "Nathan."

"Lovely," Audrey responded, not sounding at all amused.

Man, I just wished she'd crack a smile. I think she would have a pretty one.

The door to the pub opened and Darian walked in, looking upset. Audrey turned to my brother and her once annoyed look turned into one of concern. "Is everything okay?"

My brother nodded his head. "Uh, yeah. I think so."

I looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to figure out if  they knew one another or if Audrey was just so concerned about my brother, despite not knowing him, she'd strike a conversation up with him just to avoid talking to me.

I noticed Dar finished Audrey's drink and I put two and two together. Tilting my head, amused at the situation, I said, "Another drink, Darian? What about you, Audrey?"

Audrey's eyes widened and she looked at Darian. "Do you know him?"

My brother sighed and licked his lips. "Well, it looks like you met my brother, Nathan."

She stared blankly between the two of us, looking adorably confused. "Are you sure? You guys look nothing alike."

Christ, she needed to stop talking or I was going to fall for her. The more she talked, the more I wanted her. Trying to shake off the thought, I chuckled. "Same mother, different fathers. Probably why Darian is the next Einstein and I'm not."

"Oh," she simply responded, her pink lips pouting slightly. "I though we were having dinner?"

"He gets off at eight," Darian beat me to respond.

I looked around the pub and business seemed to die down, not by much, but it was enough for Ed to handle himself. "Eh, I'll get off a little early, it's not that busy anyway," I turned to my boss, Ed, and said, "Isn't that right, Ed?"

Ed only grunted in response. Typical.

"He's a man of many words," I mused sarcastically. I looked towards the back where it was fairly empty and added, "How about we move this to a booth?"

My brother and Audrey nodded, grabbing their new beers and following me to the back.

Darian sat down first and Audrey sat beside him. I kicked myself for not being able to sit beside her, but nonetheless, she was now in front of me and I could stare at her pretty face for as long as I wanted.

Tiffany, the annoying waitress who always tries to slip me her number, placed menus in front of us, checking me out in the process. I tried to hide my annoyance because the last thing I wanted was Audrey to think that Tiffany and I were a thing before I even had a shot of asking if she was single. I prayed she was.

I leaned forward, staring intently into Audrey's green eyes as I said, "I recommend the cheese burgers here, the onion rings are nice too, we make our own batter. So, do you have a boyfriend, Audrey?"

Please say no, I silently added.

Clearly taken aback at my bluntness, she jerked her head back but before she responded, Darian groaned. "Bro, can you keep your penis in check? Yes, she has a boyfriend. Now shut up and stop hitting on my roommate. It's creepy."

"My apologies," I gritted my teeth and tried to hide my disappointment and annoyance of Audrey being taken. Trying to act normal, I clicked my tongue playfully. "Well, I meant what I said. The burgers and onion rings are pretty good."

Twenty minutes later, we were served our food and Darian and I spoke non-stop. We talked about anything and everything. As the conversation went on, I could tell he was starting to relax more. He was always so high strung, it was nice to see a change.

Occasionally, Audrey would chime in and I would try to think of something smart to say to impress her but all that came out was flirtatious bullshit. On the bright side, she could warm up to me if her and Darian say yes to helping me out, then maybe, just maybe, she'll like me enough to dump her obviously asshole-ish boyfriend, that she's mentioned a few times.

When Darian started talking about how hard it must be to have a long distance relationship like Audrey was currently in, I felt the need to stop the conversation. "So, my smarty pants brother and smarty pants brother's roommate, I also invited you out tonight because I need a favour."

Audrey nearly choked on her last bite of her cheese burger before she said, "Uh, okay-y?"

Darian shot me a nervous glance. "What's the favour?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I need a place to live."

"What happened to the place you live in now?"

Audrey studied me, waiting for my answer and part of me wanted to withhold my answer just so she could stare at me longer. "The person who I was renting from decided they wanted to move back in. I have until next week to move out and I don't have enough to get a place of my own."

She leaned forward and said, "Why can't you and your current roommate find a place together?"

Darian nodded his head in agreement with Audrey's question.

"Because he moved in with his girlfriend," I crossed my arms and pouted. "That jerk."

Thinking back on my ex-roomie, Thomas, I wondered how her boyfriend felt, knowing his girl was far away, not knowing what she was doing every day or who she was spending time with. It would drive me nuts. But staring at Audrey, the thought of her being with someone else tugged on something in me that didn't sit right. Maybe Thomas was onto something.

My brother looked at his beautiful roommate and said, "Do you want to talk about this outside?"

She nodded her head and they both went off outside to discuss.

I leaned back in my booth and sighed. I really hoped they'd say yes. Not only to have a place to live, but so I could get to know Audrey, something about her intrigued me and I wanted to know more about her.

Who knows what could happen?