We took a seat at the bar in the very corner of the counter, partly because the place was quite full and partly because the centre was occupied by a rather boisterous crowd that we wanted to avoid.

Amber and Lea took my sides while I sat in between them.

Amber then flagged down the bartender to get their attention and a young man approached us while rolling up his sleeves to reveal both his arms were augmented.

"What can I get you ladies?" He asked in a not exactly friendly but also not that unfriendly way.

"Anything you recommend?" Amber asked, leaning her arm against the bar.

"We only have the house beer."

"Then why did you ask? Just serve three up!"

The bartender rolled his eyes, "You got to pay first, woman."

Amber took out her personal terminal and plugged a Credit Chip into it, presumably to pay for the drinks even though I could pay instead.

There was a soft ding coming from under the counter which I assumed meant the money had been transferred which made the bartender get three glasses that he set down on the counter in front of us.

The glasses were empty so I thought he might be mocking us at first but then he reached below the counter and pulled up a tube that he stuck into a socket in his right elbow.

A dark brown liquid then flowed into his arm and it started to make whirring noises before he picked up one of the glass and hovered his right palm over it.

I watched as a nozzle appeared in his palm and the liquid gushed out to start filling up said glass.

The fact that the glass started fogging up on the outside as soon as the liquid touched it told me that the alcohol was chilled.

Once that glass was filled to the brim, he shut it off and set it down in front of Amber before picking up the glass in front of me to repeat the process.

Soon enough, we had three glasses of alcohol set in front of us and the bartender unplugged the nozzle from his elbow.

"Enjoy," He told us curtly before leaving to join the group of guys in the middle.

Amber picked up her glass and clinked it against mine, "Cheers, Tera!"

I picked up my glass at the same time as Lea, bringing it up to my nose to give it a whiff.

I was expecting this to be somewhat decent since I've already figured out that humanity did not fail in making synthbeer.

It certainly smelled like beer so I brought the rim to my mouth to taste it.

Hmm… Dark, malty and flavorful.

Yep, this is a good beer alright.

Amber was already tossing it back and gulping down almost half of the mug in one go while Lea was sipping at it carefully.

I took another swig of it and enjoyed the burn at the back of my throat before setting it back down.

"Pah haaaa!! This is good! How ironic is it that the best beer can only be found in places like these? The inner colonies can't make a decent beer worth shit!"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "Really? Here I thought if you wanted anything decent you would need to get it in the inner colonies."

"Not all the time. A lot of the inner colonies bitches think they are too good for beer so there's no point in making actual good beer there. So if you want the good ones, you usually need to come out to the outer rims to find them."

I was about to ask how she knew that when one of the men from the big group peeled away and approached us while holding his mug of beer.

"Hey there. Can't help but notice that there's three beauties that I've never met before seated in our little slice of heaven. Do you wanna join us? We can pay for your drinks."

Amber gave him a side eye, "Thanks for the offer but we're on a date right now so I'd rather you not disturb our one slice of heaven in this corner of the bar."

"Oh don't be like that. It's more fun when there's more people right? Come on, we'll buy you a round of drinks!"

"That's nice, but we can buy our own drinks. Now if you don't mind, I have a lover I would like to profess my love to."

She then turned away from him and rested her hand on mine, shooting me a sly grin.

"Oh my dearest love, I love you so much~"

Geez Amber… Could you be any more obvious in asking the guy to fuck off?

Also, that really sent shivers down my spine with how you said it…

I decided to just play along and instead of answering her, I pulled her in for a deep kiss.

She was surprised by it at first but quickly accepted it and kissed me back, her tongue wrapping around mine.

I was dimly aware of some of the guys letting out hollers and cheers from the group but I ignored it, focusing instead on Amber's taste.

We held the kiss for a good long minute before I pulled back, a trail of saliva still bridging our lips as I did so.

"Ahhh… I love you…" She mumbled a little incoherently.

"I love you too," I answered back, giving her another peck on the lips before returning my attention to my own drink.

One of the guys was shouting "Encore! Encore!" repeatedly but I just ignored him, opting to peek at the guy who approached us instead.

Instead of being dissuaded by the sight, he actually grinned, "Oh now I really have to invite you two over with us! You girls are much more fun!"

Lea spoke up from my side since Amber looked like she was still lost in her own pleasures after our kiss.

"We are not your entertainers. If you need some entertainment, you can find it in each other instead."

"Oh come now, don't be like that! It'll be fun, I promise!"

I waved at him, "Thanks but no thanks. You guys have fun."

He shrugged and seemed to be ready to turn around to walk away when another guy came up to us.

Unlike the first guy who maintained a distance between us, this second guy came right up beside Amber and leaned against the counter, almost touching her.

He had even pushed the first guy away with his elbow and made him stumble back a few steps.

He smirked, "Hey, ignore that loser and drink with me instead. I'll show you girls a good time!"

The first guy came up and held the second guy's shoulder, "Hey, what did you just say? That's not very nice."

The second guy immediately turned around and punched the first guy in the stomach without warning.

Even I was surprised by his actions as the first guy doubled over and the second guy just turned back to us like nothing happened.

"As I was saying, come hang out with me instead, I'll show you girls a better--"

"Hey! What the fuck man?!" Someone from the group in the middle shouted, stomping over to the fallen guy. "Who the fuck do you think you are to hit our friend like that?!"

At least four guys peeled away from the crowd to stand with the first guy, one of them bending down to support him up to his feet.

The second guy ignored them and leaned even closer to address us instead, "So what do you say? I know a better place we can go where there's less of these idiots."

That was when I smelt the alcohol on his breath and realised that this guy was most likely inebriated.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, fucker!!" The first guy's friend shouted while grabbing the drunk guy's shoulder.

He then spun around and delivered a punch across the friend's jaw, knocking him down onto the ground.

That prompted the guy behind him to step forward and punch him in the face in retaliation.

The drunk guy let out a roar and leapt on his attacker, stirring the other guys behind him to jump in as well and a brawl started right in front of us.

As though that wasn't enough, men who were clearly buddies with the drunk guy also let out a shout from across the street and rushed here to defend him, dissolving into an all out brawl.

Amber was just watching the entire thing happen while sipping on her beer, looking nonplussed at the people beating each other up in front of her.

Lea frowned, "Shouldn't we leave or something?"

Amber turned back to grin at her, "Why? We've got good beer and now we even have some entertainment to go along with it!"

…

You know what… You're right, Amber. This is pretty entertaining.