Two Truths & a Lime (The Love Game #3) - Elizabeth Hayley Page 0,40
to meet him out here beforehand. As we approached, Xander noticed us and stood up.
What the hell?
Xander was wearing black pants and a maroon button-down with a black vest that had little neon martini glasses all over it. He’d topped that with a black flat cap that made him look like he’d just walked off the Irish highlands.
Next to all of us wearing jeans and T-shirts, he looked positively ridiculous, though I appreciated that he attempted to look the part. What part, I wasn’t sure, but definitely part of something.
Sean and Xander introduced themselves, and then Sean said, “Nice outfit. So you’re looking to be a bartender?”
“Thanks,” Xander replied. “And I prefer the title mixologist.”
I’m going to strangle him.
“Oh yeah?” Sean said, the disdain in his voice evident despite the few words.
Xander seemed to pick up on it because he faltered a little. “But bartender works too.”
“Great. Why don’t you get behind the bar, and I’ll throw out a few drinks for you to make?”
Xander rubbed his hands together so hard, I thought he might start a fire. “Sounds good.”
He hurried around the side of the bar and walked through the opening. Wyatt, who was setting up for happy hour, moved to the side to give Xander room.
“Okay, you got this, you got this,” Xander muttered to himself as he bounced on the balls of his feet, seemingly trying to psych himself up.
Sean sent me a look that screamed Are you serious with this guy?
I smiled weakly and turned my attention back to Xander.
“What’s up first?” Xander asked. His excitement would’ve been endearing if I hadn’t thought Sean was about to throw him right the hell out of here.
“Manhattan,” Sean said.
“Awesome. I studied this one a lot.” He took one of the shakers that was set up in front of him and then looked around for the ingredients he needed.
Wyatt pointed out where the various things were as Xander asked for them.
“Orange peel?” Xander asked.
We all looked at him like he was crazy, and he shrugged.
“It’s cool. I can work without it.” He looked at the ingredients he’d collected and reached for the shaker before stopping suddenly. “Oh, wait, you didn’t say how you wanted it.”
“A Classic Manhattan is fine. How about with a twist, since we didn’t have orange peels for ya?”
Xander nodded. “Sounds good. Do you, by any chance, know how big your ice cubes are?”
“Ice?” Sean asked.
“Yeah. It’s cool if you don’t. It’s just hard to account for dilution if I don’t know how big it is. But I can guesstimate.”
“Yeah, you’d better do that.”
“Okay, cool, no problem.” As he set about mixing the drink, he began babbling. “Did you know that bitters were originally used to treat stomach and gas issues? Pretty fascinating.”
Xander finished up the drink, garnished it, and handed it over to Sean.
Sean eyed it warily, even though he’d watched Xander prepare it.
Xander just smiled patiently.
Sean finally picked up the drink and took a sip. “Mmm, pretty good. Where’d you learn to bartend?”
Xander glowed under the praise. “YouTube. What’s next?”
Sean hesitated a moment, as if he were weighing whether or not Xander was kidding. Thankfully he didn’t ask. “Daiquiri.”
“Okay.” Xander grabbed a clean shaker and gathered the new ingredients. He didn’t need Wyatt’s help this time, as if looking for the things he needed for the Manhattan had imprinted the layout of the entire bar. Hell, knowing Xander, it probably had.
“How sweet do you like it?” Xander asked.
“Just do what a typical recipe calls for,” Sean said, his voice a little patronizing.
“Yeah, well, the thing is there seems to be some disagreement as to what’s typical. Some recipes call for an ounce of simple syrup, but from a chemistry point of view, that leaves it somewhat under diluted with a bit too low of an ethanol content. But it’ll be very sweet, if that’s how you like it. Others say a half an ounce, but that affects the acidity balance with the lime. So I could play it safe with three-quarters of an ounce, but really, it all comes down to preference, so if you could just tell me, that would be great.”
Sean stared at Xander for a second, and I could see my friend beginning to wilt under the scrutiny. My chest began to ache as it sank in that Sean was going to send Xander packing. And Xander, who acted like nothing ever bothered him, kind of looked a little pale.