Lee spoke and Tarin just gave her a deadpan look.

She hadn’t known how he would react…? That might have been the silliest thing Tarin had heard in a while.

It would have also been nice to know that Lee had been okay with being late because, well, then they could have been late. Still, it was unlikely they’d have ever made it out of the apartment, so going ahead and leaving had probably been the right call.

It appeared that Tarin was likely right about the last part of what he’d said too, at least if Lee’s response was any indication.

They’d reached the doors by now and Lee worked her “I work here” magic to get them quickly inside.

It was packed and Tarin noted with a bit of discomfort how much smaller the space seemed with this many people present. It wasn’t too bad though. ”So I guess our only option is to drink more beer and actually make out in the middle of the bar.” he smiled for a moment and let that sink in before looking around the bar, ”Where is your sister anyway?”

One they were inside, bypassing the line that was already forming outside, Lee noticed that it was crowded. Not shockingly so, this was Saturday night afterall, but it was a lot more crowded than the place had been for the open mic.

And was probably more crowded than anywhere they had been together other than the Empire State Building, and that hadn't gone great. That was the reason she'd suggested that their ‘first date’ be on a Tuesday.

Lee had to laugh at Tarin's comment, though. ”Depending on how long we're here, that happening is definitely possible,” Lee said.

Where Rachel was was a very good question, though. Lee looked around the bar quickly but didn't see her sister at first glance. ”Don’t know. But let's grab a drink, I'm sure she'll find us.” making sure that she had Tarin's hand, Lee started making her way towards the bar.

Tarin simply had to grin when Lee pointed out that the longer they were at the bar the more likely public displays of affection were going to be. Tarin liked those odds well enough, maybe they’d get kicked out and have to go home.

Lee seemed to think that Rachel would find them and suggested they get a drink. That was fine to Tarin and he kind of hoped it would take the edge off his nerves a bit as he let Lee pull him through the bar. Why hadn’t he thought about this as a possibility when they’d decided to come out on a Saturday, bars were always packed on Saturdays. At least the space itself wasn’t tight, he decided, the music wasn’t too loud. Yeah, this was fine. Besides, he was being pulled along by the best looking woman in the place.

Somehow they ended up with a spot by the bar.

”Definitely a little busier than the last time we were here.” Tarin said as they waited for someone to get them those drinks, ”Guess the long weekend has people ready to party.”

It took some manoeuvring, but Lee managed to find them a spot at the bar. And even though it was busy that night, the bartenders were good and it didn't take long before she and Tarin had drinks in hand.

”It definitely is,” Lee agreed with how busy it was.

It was definitely busier than any time that Lee had been here in years. So long, in fact, that Lee had sort of forgotten how it felt to siphon this much energy from being in a crowd this large and closely packed. ”I’m definitely going to need to take a long run tonight,” she said after a minute.

”But again, worth it,” she continued, smiling up at Tarin before stretching up for a quick kiss.

Soon enough they had settled into their spot and had drinks. Tarin was glad for the presence of the bar because there was at least one side where there weren’t people. It made it a little easier, even if he’d already decided that things were just fine.

Lee agreed that it was busy and Tarin nodded as she pointed out that she was going to need a long run later that night. It was still a shift in thinking for him to remember that Lee didn’t need sleep the way that most people needed to sleep, but it was something to consider when they came out like this. It was nice out now, but what would happen when it got colder if she needed to run?

It was worth it though, at least according to Lee and then she was kissing him and Tarin couldn’t do anything but smile.

”Sooo.” he said, taking a drink and setting his bottle on the bar, ”I’m guessing you used to hang out here pretty often?” They hadn’t really ever talked about it before, but considering Lee did a lot of work for the bar and knew everyone well, it made sense.

”Sooo. I’m guessing you used to hang out here pretty often?”

Lee nodded as she took a large sip of beer. After swallowing Lee set her bottle on the bar as she looked up at Tarin. ”Most of my time in New York, when I've gone out, I've come here,” she told him. ”Often enough that even years ago, we didn’t have to wait in line.”

Yeah, not awkward at all, Lee thought as she turned slightly to take another sip of beer. ”I guess that the owner wanted to retire or something. That would have…2010,” Lee continued, her voice growing slightly thoughtful as she thought back to when that would have been. ”I helped Matt get the loan to buy the place.

“Then when Rachel, Kevin, and I moved back to the city, Matt practically begged me to manage the place while he was on a vacation, and it just kinda…stuck.”

Despite the fact that he’d lived in New York for a vast majority of his life, Tarin had never had the kind of ties to people or places that Lee had made in her time in the city.

It was just another example of how impressive Lee was. In spite of all the things that had happened to her, all of the things that she’d been through, she’d still gone out, done things, met people. Made connections. Lee would have never been able to simply walk through the rift without a second thought.

”Well, from all indications, you’re pretty good at what you do.” Tarin said as it occurred to him that they’d never really talked about what Lee did at work. She knew so much about his work that it was generally just a topic they didn’t talk about. ”I can see why you like it here though…”

”I can see why you needed to get that order in earlier this week though.” he said, taking another drink. The more they spoke, the more relaxed he was starting to feel in this space. The number of people wasn’t bad at all.

As they talked, Lee noticed that Tarin seemed to be relaxing, which was good. If he had stayed as tense as he’d seemed when they first entered the bar, the night wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it could be.

”Well, if you’re going to do something, you should do it well, right?” Lee asked. But the slightest hint of a blush started to cover her cheeks. ”But apparently I am a bit of a whiz when it comes to finances.

“Inventory is a totally different matter, but I make due by always ordering extra,” Lee finished with a bit of a laugh.

”There you are!”

Lee turned to see Rachel stepping up beside her and Tarin. ”Why are you so surprised?” Lee asked. ”I always stand up here at the bar.”

”Maybe you missed a calling in there somewhere.” Tarin said when Lee pointed out that she was something of a whiz with finances. ”It’s not like you’ve had time to figure it out with all the other things you’ve done.”

Inventory being a different matter was a whole other thing, Tarin couldn’t imagine how you would even start to figure out what to order and how much, and when. There didn’t seem to be any shortage of drinks though, so apparently she did a good job.

Before Tarin could ask about anything else though, Rachel appeared almost out of the ether somehow surprised that they were there.

Taking another drink of his beer, Tarin had to shake his head as Lee explained that this was where she always ended up. Raising a hand in greeting, Tarin decided he wasn’t going to say a thing to draw Rachel’s attention. Lee could handle her sister for the time being.

Lee shrugged when Tarin said she missed a calling. She didn't think she had missed anything. Not only had she helped get two businesses off the ground, in New York City of all places, but both were still thriving years later. And she had managed to go to university and get a degree, something she hadn’t thought would be possible for her for so many years.

But before Lee was able to respond, Rachel appeared. ”Ok, yes,” Rachel replied. ”But the two of you just snuck in here. Why do you always stand here, Lee? Having a table is so much more comfortable.”

”Isn’t that obvious?” Lee asked before holding up her beer bottle. ”It’s the closest place to get drinks.”

The idea that they had snuck anywhere was wildly amusing to Tarin as Rachel postulated that he and Lee had somehow stealthed into the bar. In reality, Lee had drug him through the semi-crowded space while he’d tried to figure out why a bar with people in it was causing anxiety. Luckily, everything had worked out and here they were, drinks in hand.

”Is that why we couldn’t find you.” Tarin said, ”We figured if we stood here long enough, you’d figure out we were here.”

There weretables, Tarin realized. He’d been so focused on Lee, and then the crowded state of the bar that he hadn’t really noticed as they’d made their way to the bar. The first time they’d been here, well, Tarin didn’t think that counted since he’d been so focused on what the hell was happening between him and Lee that he was lucky he remembered anything about this place. Taking another drink of his beer, Tarin decided to go back to being a wall flower and letting Lee talk to Rachel. It was probably safer that way.

Rachel waved off the ease of getting drinks. ”Not everyone has to go up to the bar to get a round,” Rachel pointed out. ”Come on, we've got a table over there.”

Lee's eyebrows raised in surprise. ”We? Who else is here, Rach?” Lee really hoped that Rachel hadn't tried to make this a family thing or thought that Tarin and Robert just needed to spend a bit of time together and things would be good between them. Lee didn't see how adding alcohol to the mix when Tarin and Robert were in the same room could end any way but badly.

”Oh, it's just Matt. But I've actually got him sitting down, so hurry up before he goes to check something or other.”

And Rachel was turning, walking away from the bar. Fully expecting them to follow.

”I guess we're going to go sit,” Lee said to Tarin as she grabbed her beer bottle off the bar. Then, before she lost sight of her sister in the crowd, Lee turned to follow Rachel.

Not everyone had to go to the bar to get drinks? Rachel seemed really sure of herself when she said it, and Tarin supposed when you were there with the owner of the bar you probably didn't have to go to the bar to get a drink.

Apparently they had a table though and Rachel wanted him and Lee to join them there.

The problem was that Lee was far more adept at moving through the crowd than he was and as Lee wove her way through the people, Tarin struggled a bit more and found himself trying to get around and through people that Lee had simply seemed to slip past.

Eventually though, Tarin managed to find the table Rachel was talking about. It was round and there were four chairs around it, three of them occupied.

”Hey,” Tarin said, opting to simply stand next to the chair where Lee had sat, draping his arm across the back. Sitting his beer on the table, he took a breath, ” I am not nearly as good at navigating a crowd as you are.” he said to Lee.

”Matt.” he said to the final occupant of the table by way of greeting.

Because Lee was trying to keep her eye on Rachel so she would be able to find this table she claimed they had, Lee didn't see that Tarin was having far more difficulty making his way past and between the people in the bar. And because of all of those people, it was impossible for Lee to feel that he was falling behind.

At least until she had broken through into the less crowded area around the tables. Having a clear view of the table, Lee glanced back to see that while it was taking him longer, he was close enough to see the table.

Closing the last distance, Lee sat beside Matt with Rachel across from her. ”So, how did Rachel talk you into this?” Lee asked Matt, indicating how he was actually sitting at the table.

As she finished speaking, Lee felt someone approaching behind her. Not surprising, considering the crowd and that Tarin was following them to the table.

But somehow, for some reason, Lee knew without looking that it was Tarin. ”Huh,” Lee said as she turned to see Tarin coming to a stop beside her at the table. A crease formed between her brows as she just looked at Tarin and her bottom lip found its way between her teeth as she tried to examine the energy she was feeling from him as best she could in the bar.

Lee didn’t say anything when Tarin came up to the table, she also didn’t say anything when he draped his arm across the back of her chair, or when he commented on the fact that he was far worse at working his way through a crowd than Lee was.

The little “huh” that Lee uttered also didn’t escape Tarin and he noticed that she was biting her lip. It wasn’t the way that she bit her lip when she was being purposefully vexing, but the way she did it when she was worried or thinking hard about something.

Head tilting to the side, Tarin studied Lee for a minute as he stood there, ”What’s up?” he said, frowning slightly in concern. ”Everything okay?”