Inside the red-lit bar, Arron sat at his small booth that only had room for two people to sit comfortably. His back was resting against the cushioned wall that now led to the new large luxurious corner booth that was on a slightly raised platform behind him.
With a deep sigh, he looked at the open bar room where he had been coming to drink away his sorrows and clear his mind. It was almost unrecognizable.
The previous [RedLight] bar had been shut down by the Office of Reason for several major violations including unregulated singing, gambling, and comedy to name a few.
The new owner had renovated the old bar and had also bought the floor above the underground bar.
The solemn smokey atmosphere no longer existed as it once was, the new renovations also included updating the air filtration system which kept the air clear of any smoke or any unpleasant smell.
The normal dark corner booths had been switched out for well-lit round booths placed on raised platforms that could view the entire first floor. It was an expensive spot for large groups of high-paying guests.
Arron looked up at the ceiling or what was left of it. A third of the ceiling had been torn out allowing those on the lower floor to see and hear the disco dance floor above. Two short sets of stairs now connected the basement floor and the disco dance floor above.
Even with all the changes, there were still some things that they had over their competition. There was still only one large holo-tv behind the long bar. Besides the 4 corner booths, the rest of the booths were dimly lit by red lamps. The last and most surprising one was that there was still a stage that was used by human singers, even though such a thing had brought trouble for the previous owner.
It seemed the new owner wanted to keep the old clientele while updating and bringing in a younger age group with the addition of the disco floor and new booths.
A red-headed girl in her 20’s wearing a simple red dress uniform walked to Arron’s booth carrying a tray that had two large glasses of synth-beer.
With a smile, she placed the tray on the booth’s table and said, “Here are your drinks.”
Behind her, another waitress led a small group of three, one woman and two men, to the large booth behind Arron. He paid no attention to them as he did not care who they were as he was in his own world trying to deal with his troubles.
With a grim face, Arron nodded to the waitress standing next to him and held out his right hand for her to scan.
[Checkinging status… Beep! Transaction successfully completed!]
“Customer if you need anything just press the red button and I or another worker will get to you as soon as we can.” With that said the smiling waitress left his booth to deliver drinks to another booth.
That was another thing Arron liked about this bar. No bots were flying everywhere or hovering over you and recording everything you did. Arron was not a fool and he knew that there were likely hidden cameras and mics all over in order to stay up to regulation. But at least this gave the customers a sense of privacy instead of blatant out-in-the-open monitoring.
Arron took a sip of the cheap and bitter synth-beer that was enough to wake the dead. Although it was made with the lowest tier of ingredients that they could get away with, and you could tell by the taste of it, it still had one of the highest alcoholic percentages on the list of drinks the bar offered.
He closed his eyes and held his breath while taking a large gulp of the bitter drink. As the drink started to take effect, his thoughts mulled over all the recent events he had been through the night before and during the equally exhausting day’s shift.
The news was gleefully nonstop playing the recording of the large brawl that M1 and the police officers had gotten into when they were ordered to normalize the gathered crowds. Once again M1 officers were labeled brutish thugs that only knew how to fight, kill, and die.
Arron absentmindedly drained the first glass quickly with several large gulps and large sighs in between.
As he stared at the bubbling synth-beer in the second glass deep in thought, someone plopped down onto the boot seat opposite of him startling him out of his morose daze.
With a slight scowl, Arron looked at the person who had intruded into his space and interrupted his thoughts.
“What’s with you sighing so much handsome?” asked a similarly aged woman that now sat across from Arron.
“…” Arron only silently stared at her in his buzzed state trying to figure out who she was.
She was wearing a sparkling blue dress and matching gloves. Her long black hair was tied into a bun on top of her head and held into place by a large four-pronged white stone hairpin. Her skin was like ivory.
Either she did not see the scowl on his face or was ignoring it completely.
“I haven’t seen you around here before. Your first time?” asked the woman staring deep into Arron’s eyes.
Being stared at so intently like this was uncomfortable even for the buzzed Arron.
With a frown, he said, “I could say the same thing to you. I used to come here before it was shut down and bought by the new owner.”
The woman raised an eyebrow at this and only said, “Is that so?”
Several seconds passed with the woman not saying anything only staring at Arron.
“…I’m sorry but do I know you? or…” asked Arron.
“Nope,” said the woman with a large smile on her face.
“Then why…”
“Why did I come to bother you? You seemed like an interesting person and you kept sighing. Care to share your thoughts?”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Arron did not say anything and only stared back at the woman silently.
“You sure know how to pick your drinks,” said the woman pointing at the second glass of cheap synth-beer that was still bubbling.
“I’m sorry my choice of drink does not fit the standards of your rich taste buds. I’m a bit short on money right now,” said Arron with a frown.
‘Is this woman here just to insult me?’
“Oh? Is your bite as sharp as your bark?” asked the woman while biting her lip seductively.
Arron was at a loss for what to do or say. He only stared at the woman with a bewildered look. All his troubled thoughts had dissipated from his head as he tried to figure out what was going on and why he was being targeted.
She stood up suddenly and said, “I have decided!”
“About what?”
The woman grabbed his arm with her blue gloved hand, “We’re going to dance!”
Arron was pulled from his seat as she tried to drag him to the dance floor.
“…wait my drink!” said Arron as he struggled to halt his movement and grabbed his last glass of synth-beer.
“Don’t worry about it! I can buy you thousands of top-tier drinks here! Let’s dance!”
Arron hurriedly chugged down the glass of Synth-beer and placed it onto the long bar counter as they passed by heading towards the stairs leading to the dance floor.
‘What is going on?’ thought Arron as he was dragged onto the dance floor that was filled with flashing squares of light that all changed color along with the beat of the fast-paced music being played.
With the new flood of liquid courage flowing through Arron’s body, he gave up trying to understand and went with the flow dancing late into the night with the interesting woman.
