Chapter Nineteen:
Get in there, yeah, yeah. Get in there, yeah, yeah. Get in there, yeah, yeah. Get in there, yeah, yeah. Ay big girl make em' back it up, make em' back it up. Ay big girl make em' back it up, make em'
Doesn't it seem like whenever you need something in your purse, you can't find it? That's me right now. I can't find my phone and my ears are starting to bleed. When I finally found it, the ringtone was almost over and my rush to find it was practically useless.
"What the frick, Will?" I answered my phone. He replied with a laugh. "It's not funny! I couldn't find my phone, and this song gives me nightmares. And I'm at work, anyone could have walked in!"
Will scoffed, "Oh please, and you say I'm dramatic."
"That's different! You set my ringtone as a terrible rap song. The worst part is that it's stuck in my head," I complained, rubbing my head therapeutically even though he couldn't see me.
"So? That's not my fault."
I threw my free hand up in exasperation in the break room, "Yes it is! Not only did you set this as my ringtone, but you call me multiple times each day with no purpose at all so that I'm tortured by the ringtone." I didn't really mind him calling me daily, even if it was just to annoy me. It was nice to know that I was on his mind at least a couple times a day, whether or not it was because it wanted to me+ss with me.
"Change it to something else," Will suggested dumbly.
"Will, you know I'm terrible with technology," I whined. All I got in response was a laugh. "Okay, well, if the sole reason for this phone call was to irritate me, then you've succeeded and I should probably—"
"Actually I called for a reason," Will spoke up.
"Oh yes? And what's that reason?"
"Well you still need to come over and get the tickets for the game, are you free tonight like we had originally mentioned?" It was Friday now, and the week had passed without seeing Will much, aside from his games that were televised. Our interactions had been limited to phone calls, since when I was at work, he had practices and gym time, and when he was done for the day, I had night shifts at Eli's. I had the night off, though, and it seemed like Will was also available.
"Yes, as a matter-of-fact I am. But don't forget, I still don't know where you live," I pointed out.
"It's not that hard for me to give you my address, you know."
"You're really being a smart ass today," I mumbled under my breath, kind of hoping he would still hear.
"What's that?" He asked, pretty much daring me to call him one again.
My reply was immediate. "Nothing! Could you just text it to me? My break is about over so I've got to get going."
"Yeah that works, I'm getting ready to meet the guys at the gym so I've got to bounce."
"Bounce? Are you on a trampoline?" I asked, returning the favor of being extremely annoying, cranking it up a couple notches for kicks and giggles.
"Shut up," He laughed. "When do you think you'll be over tonight?"
"Probably sometime after work, what works best?"
"Anytime, you can just text me," He said. Then I hung up on him.
Moments later, my phone buzzed with a text from Will informing me of my poor phone etiquette and that's it's 'not polite to hang up on a hotshot baseball players.'
I scoffed and quickly typed back, 'since when are you a hotshot?'
He told me to stop with the insults or he would burn the game tickets, and after I agreed, he finally sent me his address. Before I got a chance to open it, Gavin snuck up on me.
"Hey there," He greeted with a smile while taking a seat next to me at the table in the break room.
I glanced up at him from my phone and returned the smile, "What's up?"
He shrugged, "Just bored out of my mind, the usual."
Chuckling, I replied "I know the feeling." Meanwhile, I opened Will's text. I recognized the building street address, and realized it was only about a ten minute taxi ride to there from work, and since it was the opposite direction from my apartment, I shot Will a short text asking if I could just stop by after work. He was quick to reply granting me permission.
"Hey when we go back to the office, want me to teach you a game I made up?" Gavin asked with a gleeful smirk.
I returned the look, "Of course! You made up a game?"
"Yeah I did, I usually play it by myself, but it'll definitely be more fun to have someone else in on it with me."
I smiled, so glad to have something interesting to look forward to in this occasionally slow moving, tedious place. "Ooh, I can't wait to learn the rules! What's it called?"
Gavin opened his mouth to reply, but that's when the Wicked Witch of the West showed up. When I call Allison that, I mean it figuratively and literally. Not only is Allison one of the most awful people I've ever met (along with Cynthia, who I also call the Wicked Witch of the East – I've often thought that the two of them would get along better than milk and cookies, though neither of them are that sweet ) but she hails from the West side of the nation. The city of Phoenix, Arizona is her origin, which she loved to rant about often. I have made many mental notes to never travel to Phoenix. It's nothing against the city, I just don't want to risk meeting any more people like her.
An entire congregation of Allisons. Good lord, imagine the horror.
"You know, Sophia, you could actually try to do something around here instead of annoying Gavin with your pointless chatter," She said snobbishly while smacking on her gum, something I had dubbed as her trademark. It was always a fluorescent pink, too. That can't be good for you dental hygiene. She must know someone who works for Trident or something, because the amount of gum she chews must be running her broke.
I had to stifle a laugh because her comment was so irrelevant. She had no clue what we were talking about, and it made her assumption seem so ridiculous. Gavin coughed to cover up his laugh, clearly amused by Allison's stupidity. I nodded at her curtly, deciding not to give her the benefit of a catty comment of my own. "Allison, always a pleasure."
She scoffed, putting a hand on her hip and rolling her eyes, "Whatever. Anyways, Mr. Sommers sent me to get you. Since the receptionist lady—"
"You mean Barbara?"
"Who cares? Since she isn't here today, he wants you to fill in for her and take notes during his meeting with the corporate representative." At this point, my eyes widened in surprise. "The meeting is about to start so I'd get a move on it."
Despite her rude delivery and the bothersome gum chomping, I was kind of stoked over the message. Mr. Sommers wanted me to sit in on a corporate meeting? Even if I was only filling in, it was nice to be trusted with such a task as this. I looked to Gavin, and he gave me a huge grin, which I found extremely reassuring.
"Well go!" He shooed me away with the smile still on his face. My own instantly grew as I took off back to the office. Before entering the conference room, I grabbed one of Barb's notepads and pens to take with me. I've seen enough episodes of The Office to have a foundation of understanding for how this works. After all, I wanted to be professional.
I arrived and the meeting had seemingly just started. Since they didn't really need to acknowledge me when I entered, I tried my best to slip in quietly and just take the seat by the door. However, I didn't go unnoticed.
Mr. Sommers was staring right at me with a look that said, 'what the hell are you doing here?' I know that's along the lines of what he was actually thinking too, because the first thing out of his mouth was, "Can I help you?" His voice was not so subtly laced with condescension.
Suddenly, I was overcome with that feeling of weakness I always feel in his presence. He has the aura of a dictator you don't want to tick off because you're worried he'll go all chemical warfare on your ass. "Sorry I'm late, Mr. Sommers. I just had to grab the notepad and—"
"No," he put up a finger to stop me. "What are you doing here, interrupting my meeting?" He nodded his head toward the corporate businessman.
I furrowed my eyebrows, "But you sent for me to take notes?"
He scoffed, literally scoffed right with me sitting there, as if I was the most idiotic person in the world. Admittedly, I was starting to feel that way as I got the sinking feeling in my stomach when I realized this was a set up. "I can assure you I did no such thing."
Damn that Allison. Why the hell did I even believe what she said in the first place? Rookie mistake on my part, it's the cardinal rule of womanhood that you never trust a girl who's both a bitch and hates your guts.
I blame my own faith in the goodness of mankind.
"But—"
"No buts, now out. I have important measures to discuss with Mr. Smith and he's on a tight schedule."
Speechless, I made a quick move for the door. On my way out, I overheard Mr. Sommers say to Mr. Smith "That's our Columbia Honors Graduate. We were expecting a lot more out of her."
Oh, right. Because what's a day without your pride and reputation being demolished?
*****
I couldn't have been more relieved to be leaving work. I took off at exactly 5:01 and hailed a taxi to the sidewalk by 5:02. Gavin understood when I pretty much sprinted out of there, and he was right with me, getting in to his taxi just moments after me. I gave the driver Will's building address and he pulled out into the busy traffic.
The rest of the work day had passed pretty sluggishly. Gavin tried to cheer me up, and he succeeded in making me smile several times. After I told him what happened, he was pretty pissed with Allison. I think he may have told her off, but I'm not sure. The main reason I was so angry was because she let her feelings control her, and in the end this could potentially screw up my entire future. I have the worst feeling in the world that now I might not even a candidate for the intern spots next Friday.
Gavin was sweet though, he kept telling me that I'm overqualified and such a good worker it'd be absolutely ridiculous if they didn't hire me. I also found a file in my filing basket with a sticky note on that said "Please smile again, it lights up this dismal room."
Of course, I had to smile when I read that.
The driver dropped me off outside of Will's building and I tossed him some cash for the drive before slipping out. I didn't really analyze the building, but from what I could tell, this place was going to be a hell of a lot more fancy then mine. For one, their lobby had marble floors, and when I entered the building, a tall, slim man greeted me politely and asked about my business in the building. He definitely looked like a Martin, if that makes any sense. He had an uncanny resemble to the butler in The Parent Trap.
"I'm here to see Will Harvey," I informed him.
He smiled, "Just a moment please, let me ring his room." I nodded and waited patiently while the man dialed Will and asked his permission to let me up.
"You may proceed to the elevator, William is on floor 15 in room B."
I thanked Martin for his kindness and proceeded to the elevator. Admittedly, I had to suppress an evil grin over the guy calling Will by his full name. Upon exiting the elevator, I looked around and saw that there was only three rooms on this whole floor, one of them being Will's. I knocked on door 15B, and something hit me.
This was the first time I would be seeing Will face to face since what happened Friday night. Crap. Would he act awkward around me? Or like he was repulsed? He did offer me tickets to see him play, so I guess he isn't too weirded out by what happened. That's good, right?
When Will finally answered, he quickly, and not very subtly, checked me out from head to toe. "Damn, Soph, if I'd known that's how you dress in that business world of yours then I would have become an accountant myself." I rolled my eyes and shoved his chest. Obviously he isn't repulsed. That's a relief. I guess I can see how my clothes would appeal to him. I was wearing a ruffled white blouse, which was on display since I had taken off my cardigan. I also had on a somewhat form fitting black professional skirt, but it went to my knees. Seeming as it's appropriate for my job, I was additionally wearing black heels that give me an extra couple inches.
"Yeah right, in order to be an accountant it's recommended that you actually pass algebra two," I smirk, referring to the math class he nearly failed back in high school. Will wasn't stupid, but unlike me, if he didn't pay attention in class, he didn't get good grades.
"That was your fault and you know it." Will was grumbling, but I just shook my head. Boys are so stubborn, this one still blames me for distracting him, even though it was freshman year.
"Anyways, you got the tickets for me?"
"Yeah come on in."
I stepped inside his apartment, and my eyes widened in astonishment. His place was absolutely amazing. I don't know how to describe it, but everything in it looked new, fancy, and modern. The walls were grey and he had white tile floor and it looked like there was carpet in the TV area. It was also huge, way bigger than the apartment I shared with Elise.
No, this was a freaking penthouse.
"Holy shit, Will," I told him, stunned. I shouldn't really be surprised; after all, he plays professional baseball and has several sponsors. The part that shocks me is that someone from my little hometown has made it big like this.
"What?" He asked, and I looked at him to see he was staring at my worriedly.
"Your place..." I trailed as Will continued to look at me. Then I sighed, "It's pretty."
He laughed, "Thanks, Soph. The tickets are on the counter," He informed me while pointing around the corner to the kitchen. He made a move to walk in there and I was, again, surprised by what I saw. All across the counter was a variety of ingredients, such as tomato sauce, flour, pepperoni, olives, and some other things.
I turned around to look at him and he rubbed the back of his neck. Shoot, is this where the awkwardness comes in? Clearing his throat, he spoke up, "Uh, you're welcome to stay for dinner. It's Friday, so I was going to bake some homemade pizza," His nervousness disappeared as quickly as it came and his brown eyes became friendly and warm again.
A smile started to make its way to my lips. Back in Ramsey, Friday night was pizza night for me and Will. We almost always made it ourselves, too. It was a little heartwarming that he would do this actually. "Yeah, I guess I can stay," I joked. Will smiled in response, that striking one, the one that naturally made me smile back.
After I slipped off my heels, Will and I got to work. He got out the necessary kitchen utensils while I started to measure out the ingredients for the pizza dough. All was going smoothly, and Will was show boating his skills by tossing his annoyingly perfect circle in the air and catching it on his fists. It was actually impressive, but I would never tell him that. Instead, I said, "Show off."
He was in the middle of scooping a spoonful of tomato sauce for his flawlessly shaped crust when he stopped to look at me. "What did you just say?"
I shrugged nonchalantly, "You heard me, I called you a show off."
"What is your problem? First you tell me I'm doing everything wrong, and now you're calling me a show off?" He said this in a tone that would make me think he's offended, but the small upturn of the corner of his lips was a giveaway that he was kidding. I let out a small laugh and nodded. He raised his eyebrows, then startled me by refilling his spoon so it was heaping with tomato sauce and flinging it at me.
My jaw dropped as I looked down to see that my white blouse was most definitely ruined, and I felt some red sauce along the side of my face. It really splattered through the air. "William! What the crap is your problem?"
"That's what you get for calling me names!" Then, he grabbed another spoonful and flung it at me. "And that is for calling me William!"
"You're such an ass," I said, laughing despite my frustration as I punched him as hard as I could in the shoulder. At this point, he was laughing to the point of tears and my punch didn't even seem to faze him.
Then he threw yet another glob of sauce at me. "That's for punching my throwing arm!" By now, my shirt was completely ruined beyond repair. Almost the entire front of my shirt was covered in sauce, and it felt disgusting. Even my skirt has managed to attract a large dosage of sauce.
"Ew, Will, this is starting to feel so gross," I complained, jittering a little bit as I did. The gooey, slimy texture of the sauce wasn't a good feeling. I wanted to jump up and down a little. There was also an overwhelming feeling in my body that told me to retaliate. I wanted to, so badly, but that would most likely result in him getting back at me again and then back and forth. Before you know it, there is a full on war between Will and I, one I'm not sure his apartment would recover from.
I am taking the higher road by not unloading a flour bomb on him.
Will, who was still laughing obnoxiously, whipped out his phone. "Oh god, I need to take a picture of this."
I groaned. Stupid high road. "Will, that really isn't necessary!" Still, his flash went off. I went forward to try to stop him, but he put a hand on my forehead to stop me and I unfortunately couldn't get within arm's reach of him. The flash went off again.
"Will," I whined, even though I was cracking up.
His laughter subsided a little, but his smile remained. "Okay, fine." He took his hand off my forehead, and then looked me in the eyes searchingly for a few moments. I felt my legs start to turn to jelly under his gaze, like there was something else behind his look. Then he chuckled, "You've got red sauce all over." He used his fingers to wipe some off my nose.
Despite the nervous wreck I was inside, I managed to summon my voice and say "Well I have you to thank for that."
He laughed, "Yeah, you do. Come with me, I'll let you wear something of mine." I followed him as he walked down the hall. We went by five doors, one of which was for his bedroom. What the frick did Will need five rooms for? For all I know he could have a hostage in there.
Hm. That does seem like something he would do.
"Soph? You coming?" Will asked, referring to the fact I was standing in the hall, staring at a door, imagining Will having a prisoner. I didn't really say anything, but instead walked in the open door to his room.
The second I stepped in, the situation I was in hit me like a rock. This was the first time since high school I had been in Will's room. Sure, it was a different room back in high school, but the rules still applied. Will had asked me to come in his freaking room. It was just to get clothes, but I couldn't help but remember a crap load of memories and situations. Something about Will always has me on a trip down memory lane. In all honesty, I was too afraid to look around his room. I'm happy with where our friendship has been headed, but it's like this moment just strikes up an uncomfortable feeling, and I don't know why. Well, plus there is the fact that I kissed him not too long ago.
Will was fishing through his drawers, and I kept my eyes on him and took in a slow breath that was very helpful in calming me down. He was kind of talking to himself, or maybe it was to me. I smiled a little, because let's face it, Will is pretty damn good looking and it's hard not to feel this way around him.
"Alright, here's a shirt, and you can take your pick between the shorts or the sweats. They're going to be big on you, sorry, they're the smallest things I have," He chuckled.
I rolled my eyes, "They'll be fine. I used to wear your clothes all the time, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," He smiled fondly while looking at me with those soft brown eyes. We held eye contact for an abnormally long amount of time, as we both thought about those days. Or at least, I did. Then, Will sighed. "You can just change in here and meet me in the kitchen when you're done."
I nodded my head, "Yeah, okay."
Will nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him and allowing me to let out a deep breath. Much more relaxed without Will in the room, and out of the pizza sauce, I now found the courage to glance around.
It was much, much cleaner than I expected. Will used to always been a walking tornado, his parents once bet him twenty dollars he couldn't have it cleaned in a month. He had enlisted me to help, and gave me ten dollars of the reward. Seriously, though, the stuff we found in there was kind of shocking. There had been a jar of peanut butter that expired two years prior. So it's quite impressive his room is kept up well now. His bed was still unmade, though, and since I'm sure they have a maid in this fancy schmancy place, I concluded it was from a nap he took. He's such a lazy ass sometimes. He had some Yankee stuff on the walls, but other than that, not much was going on. He had a few pictures frames hanging from the wall, mainly of his family or of baseball related things.
I took a quick moment to look at some of his pictures, all the ones of his family were so cute and reminded me of the summers I spent practically living with them. The last one I noticed was one sitting on his nightstand. I walked over to pick it up, but stopped short when I saw what it was. My eyes about bulged out of my head in shock, and then I grabbed it swiftly to analyze. Plopping down on to Will's bed, I held the frame gently in my hands while inspecting it.
It was the missing picture from the Harvey's mantel. The one of Will and I when we were six year olds, eating Popsicles, covered in mud was from head to toe. Will was looking at me and laughing, and that's because about five seconds after the picture was taken, Will poked me in the ear with his Popsicle. It was a wet Willy Popsicle style, and probably wasn't a good thing to have in my mud filled ear.
I can't believe he has this picture on his nightstand. How long has it been here? Why is it here? My stomach felt full of flutters, and for the millionth time in the last month, I cursed Will and the jumble of emotion that seems to be his sidekick. Will there ever be a time when he doesn't affect me this way?
Probably not.
After a solid minute of taking in the picture, I realized Will must be growing suspicious of what's taking me so long. So with a sigh and a smile, I set the picture back where it was and took my hair down to help me relax.
When I entered the kitchen, I felt kind of nervous for some odd reason. Admittedly, I was a little relieved to see that Will appeared to be nervous as well. But what did he have to be nervous about? He also, no so slyly, checked me out in his clothes. Two check-outs in one night, I'm on a roll! A smug grin graced his face as he turned back to the oven and slipped out pizzas in. I shook my head and didn't bother asking.
The pizza didn't take long to cook, and when it was ready we sat on the bar stools and he turned on a little plasma TV he had in his kitchen. I asked him to catch me up on the baseball world, and he flipped on ESPN. We ended up talking sports and messing around with each other until almost ten o'clock. The time just flew by; I didn't even notice because the sound of Will's laugh distracted me a dozen times. Truth be told, every single thing about this night went how our Fridays did in high school. Except then, we talked about other high school baseball players, and there tended to be a lot of making out.
"Shit, I didn't notice the time. I should be on my way home, I'm working the morning shift at the ale house tomorrow," I told him as I stood up to go.
"Oh don't forget the tickets," He reminded me as he picked up the tickets and handed them to me. "Do you want me to drive you home?"
I yawed and smiled, "It's okay, I'll just take a taxi."
"But—"
"Thanks for the offer, Will, but you've got a game tomorrow and you need some sleep," I patted his arm playfully. "Plus, you should really rest up that throwing arm after the massive hit it took earlier," I smirked, casually inspecting my hands that did the damage.
He rolled his eyes, "Fine. At least let me walk you down." I shrugged, not really having a reason why he couldn't. Plus, I was feeling kind of reluctant to be leaving his company already, even though I just spent almost five hours with him. "And about your clothes," I sent him a scowl and he laughed. "We have a maid here," I knew it! "And I can see if she can get the stains out of it. I don't think it's something you're capable of," He joked and I swatted his shoulder.
The ride down to the lobby was pleasant, and not many words were exchanged. Will walked me out to the front, and when I hailed a taxi, he opened the door for me. Then he leaned in and gave the driver my address for me, also.
"Take care of this girl for me," he finished, tossing the guy some money and then throwing a smirk in my direction.
"No way, Harvey? The new Yankee guy?!" The guy exclaimed.
Will chuckled, "That's me."
The driver became estactic, "Oh man, I'd love your autograph for my kid. I have a napkin and a pen, would you mind?"
"Sounds like a deal, man," Will agreed, casting me another smile. He signed the napkin, and the taxi driver was so grateful. Apparently, Will is his son's idol. Will completely beamed when the driver said this, and I too felt proud. Okay, sure, Will's popularity has been a sore spot for our friendship in the past. There are different volumes of it, though, like the lunch we had recently or the multitude of girls pursuing him in high school. In moments like these, where it is personal and clear how much Will impacted someone, it isn't overwhelming, and it doesn't make me feel insignificant – it is something special, especially seeing how well Will handles it all.
Then, Will stood up and looked at me. He had his arms resting on the open door and on the hood on the cab, and I was situated in between leaning against the taxi. He let out a short breath, "Thanks for staying tonight, Soph."
I smiled up at him, "It was a lot of fun."
He smiled at what I said and nodded in agreement. God, even his smile was making my mind go nuts tonight.
There's just something about him.
Will was looking at me differently right now, a way he hasn't really looked at me in years, a way that still made my insides feel bubbly, and a way that made me think that he was going to kiss me.
But he didn't.
Instead, he looked down at the ground, and a smile took control on his face, the dazzling one that makes you think he just won the lottery or something. Then he peered back up and met my eyes.
"So I'll see you at the game tomorrow?"
I felt a little out of the loop, like he was thinking of something I had no clue about, but his smile made me forget my confusion and my own started to form. What can I say, his smile is about as contagious as the Black Death; it's affected about as many people, too.
"Can't wait."