“Yar, what will ye be havin’?” growled the bartender, dressed in pirate garb.

Captain Pete’s Bar and Grill was busier than normal. As the temperature outside dropped, people were drawn to the tropical atmosphere like moths to the porch light. Artificial palm trees ringed the room and the floor had been painted to look like sand. The dark wooden bar had bamboo accents and the walls were lined with assorted tiki signs. Surf music from the 1960’s played in the background.

“Just a house margarita, Wesley,” smiled Trina. She loved Wesley. He was a short, scruffy man with an easy smile. His grey eyes sparkled as he nodded and began creating her drink.

Across the table from her, Alex was examining her phone in between sips of a dark beer. They were both in their early 20’s and had been friends for two years. A few months ago, after too many fruity drinks, they had spent the night together. Their relationship was still casual, but Trina enjoyed his company and never passed up an opportunity to spend time with him. She had hopes that it would grow into something serious.

“Here you go, m’lady,” laughed Wesley, setting the hurricane glass of green goodness in front of her. “On the house, since you brought this beautiful man in with you.” Wesley giggled at Alex, who was blushing. “You want to see my peg leg?”

“Is that code for something?” smiled Alex. He locked his blue eyes onto Wesley. Surprisingly, Wesley broke first and looked away. Alex grinned and focused back on Trina as Wesley left them to take care of other customers.

“This is a cool camera,” Alex said, “but why does it keep leaving those green marks?”

“I don’t know,” replied Trina. “Must be in the software, because they don’t show up on all the pictures. You want to take a crack at it?”

Alex loved to tinker with technology. He would rewrite software, mod games and program his own creations when a manufacturer didn’t provide what he wanted.

“Yes! I’ll work on it this weekend,” he laughed. “You wanna spend the night? I can play with your camera later.”

“Sure,” she answered, casually, her heart fluttering. She took a few pictures of the interior of the bar and handed her phone to Alex.

He frowned as he examined the results. “There’s a smudge, right here, in the corner. Near that sign that says ‘Captain Joe’.”

“Captain Joe was the previous owner,” injected Wesley, swinging by the table. He slipped his hand into Trina’s for a brief moment. “Pete is his son.”

“Wait,” giggled Trina, “There really is a Captain Pete?”

“Of course there is, sweetheart!” said Wesley. “He may even be a real pirate. He signs my paychecks, so he’s a hero in my book. Have a great night, kids.”

“You know,” said Trina, “I think Wesley is the greatest bartender ever.” She was sitting on Alex’s bed, wearing one of his shirts. They had gotten home an hour ago. After a short, passionate visit to the bedroom, she had gone to take a bath while Alex tackled the software for the lens on her phone.

“Why’s that, hon?” asked Alex.

She grinned at the pet name. “Because not only did he give us free drinks, but he slipped me these too.” She held up the small package of pills that Wesley had palmed to her.

“What are they?”

“They help me sleep. Make sure I don’t dream.”

“I still think it’s weird that you don’t want to dream,” said Alex, shaking his head.

“I had something happen,” lamented Trina. “I just can’t.”

“Well, go ahead and get some sleep. I’m going to keep working on this,” he said, turning back to his laptop, with her phone connected to it. He was in the zone and wasn’t ready to turn in.

Trina wandered to the fridge and pulled a can of V8 out. She popped the top and drank deeply, washing the pills down her throat. She kissed Alex on the cheek and then crawled into his bed. Within minutes she was asleep. She did not dream.