The bartender seemed to take his time making drinks now that he had more customers. Not that Hadley particularly minded. He had nowhere to be. He had nothing but time, more importantly, the time he had was solely for himself. Taking time for himself and making time to take long trips had been something that was becoming a bit of a routine. At first, it was few and far between that he would go off on his own solitude retreats, but now they were more commonplace. So much so his wife, although noticing his frequent vacationing at first, didn't even question his leave of absence now, no matter the length of time.
Hadley's drink was placed in front of him where he now sat at the bar but his attention was taken off of it when he caught a glimpse of leopard print sunglasses and a mess of blonde curls. It wasn't uncommon for him to observe those around him, especially when his attention was drawn in by another's features that made them stand out from the rest of his surroundings. The woman who sauntered in the bar was young, he presumed she was at most the age of twenty-two. Hadley forced his eyes away from her, knowing it made women (or anyone for that matter) uncomfortable to be openly looked over, but just a glance was all he had needed.
She was pretty, the type of pretty that stood out among the generic sort of pretty. But what made her more than the generic sort of pretty? It could be many things. It was possible that it could be the blonde curls that were a "perfect messy" that made her stand out. There were not too many girls her age with a head full of what seemed to be natural blonde curls just strolling around. Or maybe what made her different was how her tan skin seemed to glow regardless if they were inside and away from the sun's rays. Hadley took a sip of his drink. One hand resting over his copy of
The Scarlet Letter and the other letting his glass linger at his lips as the young woman came closer to the bar.
These sort of things were something he shouldn't ponder over. After all she, without a doubt, was the same age as most of his students. A man of his age even having any interest in a woman her age was typically frowned upon, nevermind it being completely fruitless. As if anything would come out of it. His eyes went down to his hands, in particular, his left hand which was ringless. Typically he wore his wedding band where ever he went seeing as he was seeking solitude and not any sort of
company, but today he went without it to remind him this was his time to breathe.