Chapter Twenty:
Working the morning shift at the Eli's Ale House was one of the weirdest things. I suppose it wasn't that early, considering it opened at ten o'clock and I had to be there at nine-thirty. Usually I wake up around seven or seven-thirty to get to the accounting firm by nine, so today I woke up at about the regular time. But as I was saying. I woke up Saturday morning to work the early ale house shift before the Yankee game that night, and I was expecting it to be the calm before the evening storm.
By ten forty-five, there was a stunning amount of people waiting in the front to be seated. It was quite overwhelming, and I wasn't even the hostess this morning. "Holy crap, is there always this many people that come for breakfast?" I asked Hannah in passing. I was grateful she was working so I had someone to fill me in on the usual habits of this place.
"Only on the weekends," She informed me. "Some of these big bellied guys are here at almost all hours; it's the beer pancakes and waffles that get them off their lazy asses in the morning." I chuckled at the truth behind that. Earlier this week, I saw a guy here who was wearing the exact same outfit he wore the day before. There was even the same ketchup stain. Most of the people that come here aren't so unhygienic, this man just happened to be the most prime example of the lazy butts Hannah was referring to. "Plus, the kid's menu has some killer deals, not to mention tastes amazing. It brings in the families."
I nodded, understanding what she was saying. There was definitely several families with young children here, giving parents a chance to come to the ale house early in the day, since people under twenty-one aren't allowed in after three.
"Here, can you take tables seven, nine, and ten their orders?" Hannah asked, handing me her order slips, then adding more quietly, "I really need to take a break before the ole tank blows."
I laughed, "I will handle it."
"Thanks! You just saved my bladder," She joked before rushing off to the back. I had to kind of laugh that Hannah was several years older than me, yet she cracked these bathroom jokes in a restaurant. It was pretty entertaining.
I looked at the order slips and took the appropriate trays to their tables. At this point, I was thanking my lucky stars that I had waitressed at the little cafe in my hometown, and at a cute restaurant over by Columbia. Without any background in the business, I wouldn't have been able to handle all the chaos of the morning shift.
"So you got any other weekend plans?" Hannah asked me as she took a sip of her water in the break room. We ended our shifts around three o'clock, so right now we were clocking out and getting ready to head out for the night.
I took my hair out of its loose ponytail and inspected it in the mirror. "Tonight I've got tickets to the Yankee game, but other than that I don't really have much else going."
"Damn you!" Hannah cursed, and I sent her a teasing look. If there's one thing I've learned about her, it's that she is a very intense Yankee fan. Well, and her voice always sounds like it's projecting in to a megaphone. "I wish I could see all that man flesh. Especially in those baseball pants. They're all damn good looking," She droned.
Laughing, I tried to act nonchalant, "They're alright."
She scoffed, "Oh please, you know they're mighty fine. And don't act like you don't know, I saw the way you looked at Harvey, that rookie guy!"
"What are you even talking about?"
"When he came here after their game! Come on. You know what I'm talking about. You two wouldn't have noticed me even if I was dancing around on the counter butt naked."
"Hannah!" I hissed, still cracking a smile at her joke.
She laughed, "All I'm saying is that it's pretty obvious you two have the hots for each other."
Shaking my head, I said "That's all in the past now."
Big mistake.
"AHA! So it was at one point?!"
The volume of her voice startled me even more than usual, and I jumped back a little, which only made her enthusiasm go more through the roof. I put my hand over my heart and felt it beating at the pace of a stampede of elephants. "Stop that, you're freaking me out! So I dated him. Is it that big of a deal?"
"HELL YES!" She screeched, and I groaned. "My freaking god, tell me about it! When? How long? Is he a good kisser? Who am I kidding, of course he is. Not one that hot sucks at kissing. Well what are you waiting for, spill!"
I laughed, "Easy there, ducky."
She gave me a straight face. "This isn't the time for jokes, or incorrect colloquial phrases." Wait, are ducks not the right animal for that phrase?
"Fine, back in high school we dated for all of my junior year and practically all of senior year too. We broke up a month or two before graduation."
"Damn, my mind has been blown," She said in awe. I nodded, not really knowing what else to say. "But was he a good kisser?" She pressed on.
I tried to hide the blush on my face with a smirk, but Hannah just laughed.
*****
The game was nothing short of amazing. The boys lost, unfortunately, but thanks to a big hit by Andrew and few key strikeouts from Will, the team was able to tie it up, and the game went in to eleven innings. The game was won by a player from the other team stealing round the bases and running home off a small base hit from his teammate. It was a risky move, but it won his team the game and set the Yankees off with a loss.
"My god, that was unbelievable! You know what I've decided? Baseball isn't America's Sport, it is Girls' Sport. If there is a girl out there saying she doesn't think a single baseball player is hot, she is either a lesbian, or from Canada." Elise raved as the crowd started to clear and we made our way down to the field, making me almost choke on air. Pretty spot on analysis of baseball, I admit.
Silently, though, I wondered how upset Will was about the game. He used to get in awful moods whenever he would lose when we were kids, and I can only imagine how much that has escalated now that he is playing in the big leagues.
"That hit Andrew had was so amazing, oh my holy heavens I'm so glad they gave us tickets! I probably wouldn't be fan-girling like this from the couch," Elise drawled on and I gave her a look. She rolled her eyes, "Okay, fine, maybe I would have still been a little excited." I laughed, and then she gave me a look of her own. "Oh don't mess around with me! You can't say you weren't loving the way Will was playing tonight too."
"That's different," I pointed out, instantly not quite realizing how. Crap. I need to stop going in to automatic defensive mode. I don't make much sense and it makes me lose some credibility.
She scoffed, "How?"
"You are romantically swooning over Andrew, so of course seeing him play baseball was a huge turn on. But me? No. Will is just my friend, so tonight I was simply loving the fact that a friend was succeeding."
My best friend groaned, "Seriously Sophia, you are the densest person I know." Before I could have any time to be offended, she switched gears and gasped. "There they are!" I followed her finger to where she was pointing, and saw Will and Andrew, still in their uniforms, talking together near the dugout.
Andrew looked just a little down, but Will looked way ticked off.
Either he heard her shriek or could sense her eyes preying upon him, Andrew turned his head toward me and Elise (specifically Elise) and smiled widely before making his way over. Elise dashed off to him and I could hear her telling him what a fantastic job he did.
My eyes flickered over to where Will was standing, and I saw that Will wasn't there anymore.
I glanced around the area, trying to find a head above the small crowd that would most likely belong to Will, but I didn't have much luck. After a couple minutes, I finally spotted him sitting on an upside down bucket, tucked away inside the tunnel leading under the stands to the team room. Hesitantly, I made my way over to him.
He didn't glance up, but he looked to my feet, and I know he knew it was me because of the shoes.
"Hey Will," I greeted. He still didn't say anything, so I continued with "That was one hell of a game."
He chuckled, but it was without humor. "We lost."
I shrugged, "You win some, you lose some. Besides, you have nothing to worry about because you played a great game." That must have been what he was upset about, because he abruptly snapped, standing to his feet as he did.
"I played like shit, Soph," His voice was firm and cold. I knew he wasn't angry at me, but the frustration in his voice automatically made me a little bit defensive.
"William, don't you dare say that," I scolded him, just as I used to when he would say the same exact thing back home, but he ignored me.
"It's true though, if I had gone with a different wind up for that last batter then maybe he wouldn't have hit Johnson home."
I sighed, remembering how hard Will has always been on himself after games. Being a pitcher, Will would always place the burden of the loss on his shoulders. "Will, listen to me. You never have anything to be disappointed about when he comes to baseball. It's such a miracle that someone from out little town even made it here. That's an accomplishment in itself."
Again, he did his chuckle of disbelief then hung his head. "That's not it." Since I didn't understand, I just waited for him to continue, if he even would at all.
He sighed, taking off his hat and running his fingers messily through his hair so that is stuck up in all directions.
"Will, what's wrong?" I asked, growing the smallest bit worried that something was really troubling him.
For the first time in our conversation, he finally made eye contact with me. But then, he looked away just as quickly. "I wanted to win it, for you."
"What? Why?"
He let out a loud breath, "Well I was the one who gave you tickets to the game, and I kind of wanted to show off to you what I could do. Maybe make you remember some of our good times, I don't know. I gave you tickets to a game we lost. I just feel like I wasted your time."
I took a step forward toward him, "Hey, I still think you were pretty much a stud out there. And even if you didn't win, that will probably remain one of the most thrilling games of the season." Will didn't look convinced. "If you hadn't given me the tickets, I just would have watched from my couch at home. I got the real deal, the live version. That's pretty awesome."
I rolled my eyes at his muttering under his breath. He didn't look like he was quite believing me yet, but he was almost there, so I said jokingly, "Well you can always win the next game for me."
Surprisingly, he almost instantly perked up and his pout was replaced with his crooked smile, putting his hat on to my head, "You got yourself a deal, Kingston."
I laughed and mocked him by saying, "Whatever you say, Harvey."
"You don't have plans for the rest of the night, do you?"
"Well, I did have an important date tonight with my recliner."
Will nudged me as we started to exit the tunnel. "Sophia, the couch potato? What happened to the runner I used to know?"
"Uh she's in hibernation?"
"I'm pretty sure that's bears. Plus, it's spring time," Will pointed out.
"You're such a know-it-all, I don't even know why I bother hanging out with you."
I sense an egotistical comment coming.
"Does it have something to do with my smoldering good looks?" Will asked, contorting his face into what could only be described as a constipated moose.
"That's the only reason I hang out with you, your personality is crap," I joked before walking a few steps ahead of him to meet Elise and Andrew. As expected, he followed behind. One thing I've realized about him over the years is that if you are sarcastic with him and leave in the middle of the conversation, he follows after pretty quick.
"My personality is not crap!" Will defended as he made his way to the group.
"Yeah, it kind of is," Andrew joined in, causing Will to make a childish face at him and me to fist bump him.
We all fell into a short silence following our laughter, and Andrew was the one who spoke up first. "So, you ladies have any plans for the evening?"
Elise was blushing like a mad woman, probably because of Andrew's light New Yorker accent, which is admittedly very attractive. I answered for us, "No we don't."
"We would be honored to have your presence this evening, may we have the privilege?" At this point, Elise's face was a raging inferno and I didn't know whether to laugh at her face or Andrew's attempt of being chivalrous.
"Count us in."
*****
"Seriously? This is what you do for fun?" Elise asked Will blandly as we approached the insanely fancy hotel. Originally we had planned to go to Will's place just to hang out and relax for the night. But, of course, Will started to get restless, which in turn got me restless, which in turn led to us convincing Elise and Andrew to go out and do something with us.
"Elise, it's such a thrill, you'll see!" Andrew encouraged her.
She shook her head, "No, I mean don't you think this crosses some lines?"
Apparently, from time to time, Will and Andrew play hide and seek tag in fancy hotels around the city. It baffles me why I associate with people who run around like drugged chimapnzees in The Plaza. The only thing that makes this slightly more acceptable, and a little more weird, is that I'm wearing a fancy dress. When we decided to go out, Will and Andrew insisted that Elise and I put on these dresses, which Will just happened to have (he claims Whitney left them there – Pa-HA, it just made my prisoner theory more plausible) and the boys put on buttoned up shirts. To be frank I'm amazed at their energy level after the game they played earlier.
The dress Will forced me to wear was ruby red and with a one shoulder long sleeve. It was very pretty, and definitely fancy enough for The Plaza at this hour. By some stroke of luck I had my pearl necklace in my small purse from the last time I wore it, and it helped dress me up a bit. Everyone around was dressed to the nines and even though I was dressed up myself, I felt out of place. Scratch that, I was out of place.
"Stop fretting, we'll be fine," This time, it was me assuring Elise. Just like I did back in high school, I like balancing on the cusp of trouble. It gives me a healthy shot of adrenaline, plus it's a crap load of fun. Sneaking around and staying out of trouble while simultaneously being on the verge of mayhem is quite a rush.
The game had been going on for nearly an hour, it felt like at this point. Currently, we were hiding from Andrew, and we were supposed to split apart but Will and I decided to stick together since I didn't know my way around The Plaza like him, Elise, and Andrew.
"Uh oh, gotta go," Will said suddenly before turning down the next hall and through a door. Baffled, I stared after him before turning around and feeling incredibly lost.
I wasn't lost for long though, because as soon as I turned around I was met with a familiarly handsome face that belonged to Andrew. He poked my forehead and said, "Got ya!" Before sprinting off in another direction and laughing like the chimp I expected him to be.
I stomped my foot in frustration. This is so not fair! I don't know anything about this game or this place. A sudden wave of competitiveness came over me and I decided to get revenge on Will for throwing me under the bus. Remembering the door he ducked in to, I walked over to it and hesitantly opened it.
There was nothing there but a staircase. Sighing, I looked up, and looked down. It was going to take ages to find him.
*****
Surprisingly enough, it only took twenty four minutes and a couple close calls of getting thrown out for me to find Will. I went down the staircase first, mostly because I was expecting Will to be tucked away in a dark corner of the hotel's basement. But instead, he was the opposite direction — up on the roof. I never would have checked there, but since the door said "KEEP OUT" and it was propped slightly opened, I figured Will had been or was still there.
Sure enough, when I walked out there, he was standing across the way, leaning against a pillar. The roof wasn't very big, so he noticed my presence really quick, even though his back was turned to me.
I was going to run over and punch him in the arm for ditching me, and then rub it in his face that he was 'it' and run away. But when his shadowed face offered me a small smile and said "Hey, Soph," I changed my mind. Something seemed off about him.
"Hey," I replied as I approached where he was standing.
When I got to him, I looked up to him and saw that he was in deep thought about something. "I love rooftops," He said.
I smiled up at him as he continued to stare out at the city, "I do too. They have the best views."
"And the best memories," He added instantly, looking to me and causing me to move my eyes away from his.
Was it referring to our memories on the roof? We each had our first kiss – ever and with each other – on his roof, after all. Even though we are on much better terms now, I still have a little bit of a hard time believing it when Will talks about our history together.
When I didn't reply, he continued, "You still have the necklace, I see." Reaching down and lightly touching it, I smiled. Will had been the one to give it to me. "Do you think about it much?"
Still too timid to look up at him, I continued my gaze at the city lights. "Think about what?"
"Ramsey. Me. Us."
All the freaking time.
I, again thought, have no clue how I was to respond to this. The way he asked and my lack of answer made it clear that we both thought about it often. But what was I to say? I was in no mood to divulge my innermost thoughts to the person who occupied them the most. Was this what we had talked about last Friday night?
Heavens, the way Will was looking at me with such intensity, like he was going to kiss me, was too much and I could practically feel myself turning in to putty before it even happened. Truth be told, fear was starting to broil. So, as he started to lean slowly towards me, I instinctively did the first thing that came to mind.
I poked his nose playfully, and when he pulled away, his eyes held a dazed expression. I mustered up a smile despite my weakness as I said "You're it."