After spending an hour or so getting ready to go to The Heart Seat, replacing her regular jeans and blouse with a more appropriate party dress, Summer went next door to Hitomi's and met her family there. The plan was to all arrive together.
Makino offered to stay home with Soma, but was surprised when Hitomi revealed that her younger brother was going with them.
"But he's way too young." She argued, crossing her arms in that motherly way that she did. "You shouldn't surround him with alcohol and other drugs. Who knows if they'll even let him in?"
The silver-hared woman merely shrugged, continuing to search for her keys in her purse. "I've already discussed the matter with the owner, and he's willing to make an exception for tonight. Soma is old enough not to make stupid decisions. They serve food there as well, so he won't be without dinner, if that's a concern."
"Be that as it may, he's still a boy. He's curious! He'll get into things he shouldn't."
Summer stood off to the side while they argued, watching Soma and Shanks play around on the xbox until they were ready to leave. More out of the desire not to be caught up in their spiraling conversation, she leaned behind the couch and watched them play their shooting game, wondering what game exactly it was.
Finally, Makino relented in letting Soma go with them, only if one of them kept a close eye to make sure he didn't get into anything he shouldn't. That someone being her of course, the self-appointed designated driver and chaperone for the night. Not that she didn't like a celebration, but she found more enjoyment in keeping her wits about her.
Someone had to make sure Shanks didn't break something, after all.
Summer piled into Hitomi's car with Soma, while Shanks and Makino would take their own truck, that way if anyone wanted to leave early, it wouldn't leave the rest of them without a ride home. The drive to The Heart Seat was longer than usual, no doubt from graduates hitting the town to celebrate. Some of them were even still wearing their caps from the ceremony.
Corazon had promised to reserve the bar just for their group, so it wouldn't be too crowded. Granted, a few of his regulars still insisted on coming, and were so set in their ways he couldn't make them leave. Hitomi and Shanks pulled into the parking lot, packed with more cars than usual, finding a spot somewhere at the back.
They shuffled out and walked up to the bar, pushing through the door to already see a dozen or so people already inside. Music played overhead, some pop song that was trendy. Some of the tables had been pushed to the sides of the room, creating an open space in the middle of the room for people to mingle or dance, if they so wished.
As soon as they entered, Nami spotted them and waved. "Hi guys! We were wondering when you'd show up."
"One can never be too fashionably late." Shanks replied with a wink.
Since Hitomi lived in the same apartment complex as Summer, they were all pretty well acquainted, even Makino and Shanks, who tried to visit as often as they could. Summer glanced around the room, eyeing all of the people that were in Nami's graduation party. There were many more than her own, most of which she didn't recognize, but she didn't mind. It just added to the fun atmosphere of people partying.
Bellemere swaggered up, a glass in hand from already having visited the bar. That twisted grin indicated it was probably her second or third glass by now. "There's the other grad! Come here, let me hug you!"
And so saying, the violet-haired woman plowed through people until she grabbed Summer in a bear hug, squeezing the daylights out of her. "Ah, I can't believe you two have grown up so fast! Felt like only a year ago you moved in here with all of your textbooks." Bellemere reminisced, rubbing a hand over Summer's back in a comforting gesture.
"God, now there's no denying I'm getting old! First Nojiko and now you, Nami! What am I gonna do?" She cried, moving onto her own daughter, pulling her into an equally strong hug.
"Mom, it's not like I'm moving out tonight…" Her friend mumbled, unsuccessfully attempting to pry her tipsy mother off of her. Summer chuckled, turning to see Hitomi approaching her.
"I'm going to grab a drink from the bar, do you want anything?" Hitomi nodded.
"A mimosa would be great." She pointed towards a table by the bar where Makino and Shanks were already seated, Soma playing his Nintendo once again. "We'll be over there. If the waitress comes over, would you like anything to eat?"
At the mention of food, Summer's stomach practically devoured itself, grumbling loudly and angrily. She chuckled, holding her torso. "Um, yeah, that'd be great. Just get me whatever."
"Alright." She replied, heading towards the table. Summer weaved through the crowd of people, accepting the random congratulations that strangers offered, eventually getting to the bar in one piece. It was a weird feeling, having all these people she didn't know talking to her all of a sudden.
Behind the counter, Law was mixing drinks, talking with party-goers, his easy-going smirk in place, deftly tucking tip money into his pocket to sort later. He appeared completely in his element, filling and refilling glasses with the speed of someone who'd done this for years on end. Quite different from his normal shirt and jeans, he wore a crisp, white dress shirt, coupled with a deep red vest.
Summer was impressed. He certainly cleaned up nicely, his hair for once not a disheveled mess from riding his motorcycle. He must have combed it back into place once he'd got here. The thought of him fussing over his appearance made her laugh. Smiling, she approached the bar, sitting on one of the few unoccupied seats between strangers.
It took a minute or so for him to notice her there, too caught up in fulfilling requests. Though she was content to just watch for awhile. His movement were smooth and coordinated, as if he were working on autopilot. She leaned an elbow on the counter, her head in her hand. On his way to grab a few more glasses, his eyes scanned the bar, and finally saw her sitting there.
"Hey there. You look great." He admitted softly, as if too afraid to say it aloud, after glancing down at her fancy party dress, complete with heels. "The usual?" He asked with a grin, pausing in his task to face her.
"Mhmm, and one mimosa please." He cocked a brow and gave her an incredulous look, going to get the alcohol for her order.
"Didn't you just get here?" He joked, and she pouted. Some of the other patrons tapped the bar for another glass, but Law ignored them for the time being. A fact she did not miss, and it made her blush.
"The mimosa's for Hitomi! I'm not a drunk, I swear. You should know. I've been coming here for years."
"That doesn't exactly help your case." He pointed out and she chuckled, noticing his smirk.
"Oh, shush." The blonde watched as he made the drinks, handing them off one at a time. Part of her always wondered where he learned to do all of that.
"Hey, Torao, where do these glasses go?" Someone called over the commotion, and Law rolled his eyes at the awful pronunciation of his name before turning to the back hallway to answer a distinctly familiar voice.
"Under the counter. Bring them over here."
"Is that-" Summer started to say, but was cut off by none other than Luffy who was carrying a large crate of cleaned beer mugs.
"How many of these things does one bar need? And you're gonna show me how to make some of the fancier drinks tonight, right?" He chuckled, setting the crate down beside the bartender, who simply continued to make Summer's drinks. He straightened, seeing a surprised Summer "Oi! It's you!" Immediately, he stood and jogged around the side of the bar to approach her. Summer laughed and shook her head.
"Luffy, what are you doing here?" He came up and hugged her with a lot more force than she expected. He enveloped her in his arms, trapping her arms between their chests. "Uh, it's a little hard to breathe like this." She pushed out, not wanting to sound rude.
"Oh! Sorry, hehe!" He released her, smiling widely.
From behind the bar, Law looked quizzically between Summer and Luffy, wondering how they knew each other. Of course, that side he tried keeping down began to stir, wondering just how well they knew each other. That was a much more important question.
"Don't take this as me not wanting to see you, but, why are you here?" Summer asked, brushing herself off from the impromptu hug. Luffy placed his hands on his hips with pride.
"I work here! After you found me at the bridge, I started looking for a job, and this place needed a day-shift bartender! I'm still learning though." He mentioned with a sheepish look.
"Oh, well that's great." She said, turning to see Law's confused and slightly annoyed expression. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was clearly feeling left out of the discussion. "Luffy and I used to be in the foster system together. I haven't seen him for years, and we bumped into each other a few weeks ago."
At her explanation, Law nodded slowly, the confusion clearing. Still, that nagging irritation wouldn't disappear entirely. He sincerely hoped that whatever reconnecting they'd done, it had all been purely platonic.
"I need you to finish putting away the glasses." Law reminded, nodding his head down at the forgotten crate beside his feet. He needed clean glasses if he were to continue serving drinks. And, of course, because he didn't really like seeing the kid hug her too much. It was getting on his nerves. Not that he'd admit that.
"Oh, right." Turning to Summer, Luffy grinned. "I've gotta get back to work, but it was great to see you. Enjoy the party!" And with that, he hustled back behind the counter and dipped below her sight, the sound of glasses tinkling the only sign he was still there.
Summer smiled back up at Law, and for the life of him he couldn't really stay frustrated when she looked at him like that. It was so disarming, and disorienting. One could get lost in a smile like that. Flashing her a quick grin, he returned to his job and finished making her drinks.
"One Island Breeze, and one mimosa. On the house." He added, leaning away to return to his other customers. Summer wasn't surprised to see a majority of them were from Nami's group, especially considering most of them were related to Bellemere. That woman's penchant for drinking was apparently hereditary.
"Thanks, Law." She smiled when he nodded in appreciation, taking the drinks and returning to the table where the others were seated. Vivi was there taking everyone's order.
"I have some soda in the back, what kind do you like?" She asked Soma.
"Ginger ale, please."
Vivi raised a brow with a small smile, but said nothing about the strange choice of drink. Summer then approached the table, setting the mimosa in front of Hitomi delicately. The blue-haired waitress smiled widely.
"Congrats, Summer! How's it feel to be done with college?" She stepped forward and embraced the blonde, who responded with enthusiasm.
"You know, it still feels like I have studying to do tomorrow. Hasn't quite hit me yet." She laughed as she took her seat beside the silver-haired woman. The temperature inside the bar seemed to have risen a few degrees from all of the partiers. The Heart Seat wasn't a large building to begin with, so the abnormally high number of people had less space to maneuver around in. The dancers towards the very middle of the room weren't helping matters either, generating heat from their movements.
Vivi fanned herself, suddenly starting to feel the heat too. "Is there anything you'd like me to get for you? I've already taken everyone else's orders."
"Whatever meal has the most food, please."
"Sure thing! I'll be back with those soon." She promised, writing a couple more things down on her notepad before scurrying away to the kitchen. She seemed much shorter around the tall men and women talking and laughing in the bar. Most of Nami's family were abnormally tall.
While they waited for food, Summer talked and laughed along with Hitomi's family, though mostly Shanks just recounted embarrassing stories from their childhoods. Of course, the 13 year old denied most of his uncle's claims, not wanting to look childish or weird in front of Summer, who promised she didn't believe a word of any of it.
After some time, Vivi returned with their orders, placing down the biggest basket in front of Summer, who chowed down along with the rest of them with gusto. They hadn't eaten much that day, too many preparations and final touches to take care of before the graduation had even happened. There hadn't been any time whatsoever for food in between.
They had to raise their voices to be heard over the combined noise of others talking and the loud music. Summer, who was sitting beside her silver-haired friend, noticed she kept glancing somewhere to the right. Frowning slightly, the blonde followed her gaze, grinning mischievously when she spotted Zoro watching the partiers from his usual corner, lazily scanning the crowd for anyone getting up to no good.
Shanks was talking with Makino, while Soma played his game. While they were all distracted, Summer leaned in close, chuckled low under her breath. "Go talk to him."
Hitomi raised a slender brow, shaking her head slowly. "This is your graduation party, Summer. I'm not going-"
"Just do it!" She whispered fervently, taking a few sips from her drink. "So what if it's my party? Have a little fun!"
"But I-"
"Hitomi, go!" Summer gently started pushing the silver-haired woman out of her seat and in Zoro's general direction, urging her to take her suggestion. With one more glance at the occupants of the table, Soma still playing his game and Shanks throwing her one of his sly smirks, Hitomi rolled her eyes and finally rose from her seat, downing the rest of her mimosa for courage.
"Good luck!" Summer called to her departing figured, snickering under her breath. Turning back to the table, she noticed Shanks' knowing look and Makino's amusement and pride collected into that simple smile. Soma only glanced up as Hitomi walked away, trusting that everything was ok.
"Hello again, Zoro." Hitomi said softly, gaining the attention of the green-haired security guard. His gaze snapped up from surveying the room, taking in the olive-skinned beauty before him. His eyes glanced down the front of her dress, a stark contrast to her usual pencil skirts and patterned blouses.
"Don't you know it's not polite to stare?" Feeling a bit of the alcohol goading her into a confidence she mostly only felt in the courtroom, Hitomi caught him checking her out and winked with a grin, an uncharacteristic giggle escaping her lips. "Like what you see?"
Immediately, his cheeks flushed a deep red, her words catching him completely off guard. "No I…I mean, yeah…uh...you…you're…" He stuttered out, attempting to recover the conversation but failing miserably.
"It must get rather boring sitting over here alone the whole time." Hitomi chuckled again, nodding over to the bar. "Would you like to get a drink with me?"
He visibly gulped, glancing around the room as if the partiers held the answers to some unspoken question. Her grin widened, finding his nervousness a bit adorable. Something about the way he got so easily embarrassed in public was endearing to her.
Finally, trying to get ahold of himself, he nodded and cleared his throat, standing from his seat and leading the way over to the counter. Hitomi followed only a step behind him.
"So, that's the fella over there, huh?" Shanks asked, gesturing to Zoro who now looked up at Hitomi's approach in surprise. Something she said made his cheeks turn a faint red, but he nodded nonetheless, and he rose from his seat, walking with her over to the bar.
"Mhmm! I think they're cute together." Summer supplied happily, drinking her drink as she surveyed the room. It seemed all of the people who would be in attendance were there. The room was pretty full from Nami's family, who seemingly had a penchant for partying it up.
"As long as he treats her right," Shanks started, eyeing the man warily, "then I guess I have to approve of him."
Soma glanced up at them, frowning when he saw Zoro there with his big sister. That look of consternation only deepened when he voiced what was on his mind. "I don't have my test ready for him yet. So Big Sis can't date anyone until it's done."
The adults chuckled amongst themselves, amused by Soma's declaration. As quickly as he'd interrupted, he returned back to his game and left the talking to the three other occupants of the table. Turning back to Shanks, Summer nodded slowly.
"He may not look it, but he's actually a gentleman." Summer replied with a smile, hoping to reassure the red-haired man. "Zoro is very sweet, under that tough exterior. I've known him for several years, trust me."
Makino laid a hand on her husband's chest, chuckling to herself. "Don't get yourself so worked up over Hitomi. She's old enough to take care of herself, dear." Gently, she patted her hand against his shirt, trying to gain his attention.
"Hmm." He hummed neutrally, eventually looking past the couple standing at the bar to the bartender himself. That casual grin was back in place the next instant, a delightful twinkle in his eye. "So, how about that bartender, eh? He a gentleman as well?"
The heat of a rising blush marked Summer's face, and she pursed her lips in embarrassment. All of a sudden, the middle of the table became very interesting indeed. "Oh, well, yeah. Law is a great friend."
"Do I need to make a list of questions for him too?"
Their attentions were all brought to Soma once again, still concentrating on his game in his hands.
"I'm thinking so, kiddo." Shanks chuckled at the input, cocking his head to look at the blonde again. "Just a great friend, huh? Nothing more than that?"
His insistent prying tore a nervous laugh from her, and she rubbed the back of her head. For some reason, the already hot room seemed to rise a few degrees in that moment. "Yeah, we're just friends."
"With all due respect," Makino leaned in close from across the table, lowering her voice an octave, "Hitomi's told us all about how you feel about him, sweetie."
"Um…" She stumbled, not quite sure what to say to that. It was certainly true that Summer had admitted to her friend on multiple occasions her feelings on the mysterious man working behind the bar. It seemed she'd spread the word, however.
"Same rule applies, you know." Shanks pointed to her accusingly. "He's gotta treat you like a lady. If I get word something's up, I'll be down here looking to start something. You hear me?"
His green-haired wife rolled her eyes and gently lowered his hand back to the table, shooting him an accusatory glance. "I think she gets the point, dear.
"Summer, what we're trying to say," The kind woman continued with a sweet smile, "is that you should go after what makes you happy, no matter what or who it is. You're in charge of your own life, you make the rules for it."
Makino gave a wink, a rueful smile replacing the sweet one. "Make mistakes, break the rules. Don't be afraid to be a little adventurous. It's what makes life worth living in the first place."
Summer stared at Makino in a new light, a newfound respect for the woman before her. Here was the most levelheaded woman Summer had ever known, advising her to go out and be reckless, to live a little. Something about the words she said, perhaps simply for the reason that they came from her, just made them click. It made sense. And for whatever reason, that just hadn't become apparent before. Why had it been so hard to understand until now? She was in charge of her own life. Her own happiness. Her own future.
Maybe it was time for timid old Summer to take the reigns for once, take risks, do something spontaneous. There were so many possibilities before her, all she had to do was make the choices that best suited her without apology.
"Now, go get him, sweetie." Makino prompted, nodding her approval.
Unusually silent, Summer smiled appreciatively and stood from her seat, straightening her dress to make sure it looked nice. With a deep, calming breath, she turned and headed towards the bar.
"Knock 'im dead, girlie." Shanks encouraged, raising his mug of beer for a toast of good luck before knocking it back with an almighty slurp.
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