By A Thread- George's POV Stella and Sam's date

George poured another cup of coffee into his Keep Calm Drink More Beer mug that his sister Kara gave him for Christmas. His family had been bugging him to hire a manager for the bar since Christmas, but he really didn’t see the need. He wasn’t sleeping any, so he might as well hang out and help out at the bar. He’d stopped taking any days off, he didn’t have any where he needed to be instead of Finnegan’s.
He’d just poured a black and tan for a regular when Sam walked in with his hand on Stella’s back. His hand is on her BACK! Fury sparked and raced through his body, like a match dropping in a pile of dry leaves. Stella refused to even look over at the bar and Sam guided her back to a table in the back where George couldn’t see them from the bar.
“Cover the bar for me,” Hazel said as she brushed past George and made her way to the restroom.
George’s vision was clouded with anger, he was mad. He poured a Bass and slammed it on the bar. “Hey, Jake you got this?”
The new bartender nodded at George while setting down two drinks for two flirty women down at the end of the bar. He recognized one of the women from a fling a few years ago. “Sure Will,” Jake answered. The woman eyed him suspiciously. She only knew him as George, like all the women who came into the bar and were worthy of a fling. Most of them didn’t show up at the bar again. George couldn’t quite remember her name, it might be Heather.
He shook his head and stalked back toward his office to scope out Sam and Stella. When he turned the corner, Sam was sitting by himself. When Sam saw George, Sam smiled and rose from his chair and the two shook hands.
“You on a date?” George asked Sam.
“Oh yeah, this chick is damaged. You know Stella right, she’s here all the time.”
“Yes, I know Stella. Sam...” George was interrupted by the bathroom door slamming. He excused himself immediately and cursed himself. He didn’t try to glance back to see if Stella was looking at him. Hoping she was looking at him was stupid. He gave her fucking diamond earrings and she refused to even have a rational conversation with him. Mother fucker. Now she was on a date at Finnegan’s.
Walking back to the bar he attempted to calm his emotions. They weren’t dating, he really shouldn’t be mad, but he was livid. George thought about going over to that table and throwing her over his shoulder and taking her home. Fuming, he looked up to the end of the bar where his former fling sat. She could make him feel better, she’d done it before. George smiled at her and winked. Former fling giggled and ran her hand through her hair. Then George saw over her shoulder Patrick and Billy. His smile turned into a full on grin when he saw the look on Patrick’s face. Out of the corner of his eye, which was still trained on fling girl, he saw Stella cross the room and follow Patrick and Billy out of Finnegan’s. He burst out laughing when he took in Patrick’s stink eye. George shook his head.
Sam sat at the bar and yelled. “Will, I need another drink. I just got blown off.”
“What El picked her roommates over you? Don’t take it personally Sam. It happens to the best of us.”
Sam choked his beer down. “That was El?”
“Yep. Can’t believe you went on a date with my girl, man.” George shook his head, only having a sense of humor now that Stella had ditched Sam. “You better not have touched her.”
“Holy shit, Will. I had no idea. You always called her El and I didn’t…” Sam sat back. “Damn dude, sorry.”
“Just as long as that’s it Sam.” George turned around and examined the liquor bottles trying to determine what will get him the drunkest the fastest. He picked up the Johnnie Walker Blue bottle and poured himself a large shot. He took two quick shots and then a third before he thought about how stupid he was about to be.
“Will, I swear nothing happened. We had dinner and then came here. I thought it was weird she still thought your name was George though.”
Fuck, he thought. She knows that he used a different name. “My name is George, Sam. It’s my middle name.” He said justifying his behavior. George threw back two more shots and then moved toward the end of the bar with his former fling.