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“Is he as hot as he looks in photos?”
“Mom!” I groaned at the thought of my mom and me both finding the same guy attractive.
“It’s just a question,” my mom replied absentmindedly.
Tommy’s bright-blue eyes flashed in my mind. Along with the tattoos that stood out against tan skin on his arms during practice. And how his hair curled out perfectly from his baseball hat. Even the reminder of these small details seemed like they could take my breath away. I had never felt like I could be intoxicated by someone before. I cleared my throat, trying to break through some of the heat that had started to build inside me at the thought of Tommy.
“He’s better in person,” I mumbled, hoping she didn’t read too much into me actually admitting that.
“Are you sure you’re okay, sweetie?” My mom’s voice dropped to a soft whisper. Every part of me hoped she was only circling back around and not that she had picked up on the very real attraction that I felt toward Tommy.
“Absolutely,” I told her.
“Okay, well don’t forget we have family dinner coming up soon.”
“Of course. I’ll see you guys then.”
My mom told me goodbye before the phone line went dead. Even if I didn’t feel like I was ready to admit to my mom that I was physically attracted to someone, just hearing her voice seemed to put some of my worries at bay.
I had a few hours before I would need to catch a bus that would take me to Burt’s to meet Olivia. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew that was the last thing I needed to be doing. I had finally gotten to a place where I didn’t feel like I wanted to spend all of my free time asleep, and I didn’t want to go back.
So I did the next best thing and turned on an episode of Sex and the City to allow myself to get lost in Carrie Bradshaw’s glamorous New York City life, leaving my own behind.
Maggie
Olivia was waiting for me at our usual table when I walked into Burt’s later that evening. For the past three years, Burt’s had been our Opening Day routine. It was a run-down diner that had the best food in Chicago, but it was a well-kept secret. Every year at some point during the last few days leading up to Opening Day, we ordered the greasiest items on the menu and shoved them in our faces before our lives weren’t ours anymore. It was the second-best day of the year.
“Find it?”
“The guys picked it up for me,” I told her as I slid into the sticky vinyl booth. The vinyl was cracking and it caught on my jeans.
I was sure that there were far better places in town to celebrate the beginning of the next baseball season, but Burt’s would always be home to us. Diane, our favorite waitress, always saved the best slice of chocolate cake for Olivia and me on the days we frequented the restaurant. Our cups were never empty, and our stomachs often felt like they’d burst at the seams when we left.
Olivia slid my usual coffee across the table to me, followed by a plate of french toast piled so high that I was sure I wouldn’t be eating for the rest of the day. Burt’s had become one of the few places in town that didn’t remind me of my old life. It was purely something new that Olivia and I had discovered. I didn’t feel cold sweats when I walked through the door. I wasn’t nervous to run into any of my old friends from college. It was a safe haven for me.
As I was halfway through the monstrosity in front of me, Olivia caught my eye over her cup of coffee. The look on her face told me I was not going to like what she was about to say. It was a look I’d come to know well whenever she was planning on pushing me out of my comfort zone.
“What if we went tonight?” My fork stilled halfway to my mouth. She wasn’t asking what I thought she would be asking. Of all the things that I thought would come out of Olivia’s mouth, that was at the bottom of the list.
“We always watch Pretty Woman after Burt’s.”
“What if we didn’t?” Olivia looked at me with her signature puppy-dog eyes.
I started to shake my head, putting my foot down about this one tradition. Olivia probably thought this was the perfect opportunity to get me out of my apartment, but there were just some things I wouldn’t give up, and watching Richard Gere fall in love with Julia Roberts was one of them. But Olivia continued to give me those stupid puppy-dog eyes, and I knew I was a goner.
Those puppy-dog eyes were the exact reason why I found myself in a dress at a nightclub and not on my couch with my favorite blanket while watching Pretty Woman. I wasn’t the only one that wasn’t comfortable with the club environment. Olivia’s sister, Charlotte (or “Lottie”), joined us tonight. Olivia had gone on during the car ride about how Lottie needed a night away from her clinic. Lottie was the best sports physical therapist in the city of Chicago and worked at a private practice where she spent practically all of her time. She was ambitious, with the goal of joining the staff of one of the professional teams in Chicago, and worked exhaustingly to try to achieve that goal.
The three of us scanned the crowd, looking for the VIP section where Jamil had told us they’d be. The club was all of the things I hated: loud, crowded, and poorly lit. It was more packed than a stadium during the World Series, the music was reverberating through what felt like my very soul, and I had the urge to pull out my phone to use the flashlight just so I could make it through the dance floor without falling over some poor guy passed out on the ground. And all of those very reasons were why Olivia would be having the time of her life by the end of the night and I would be counting down the minutes until I was safely under the covers in my bed.
Olivia pulled her sister and me in between bodies and around couples displaying a little too much affection on the dance floor before we finally ended up at a roped-off section that was elevated from the rest of the club. I spotted Jamil holding court with some of the younger players. Most of the married guys were nowhere to be found, probably at home with their families. I found myself jealous of them as Olivia gave the bouncer our names and he unclipped the rope to let us in. Jamil noticed us a few seconds later and excitedly motioned for us to come over.
“Are my eyes fooling me, or is Canon bestowing us with her presence on a night out?”
I rolled my eyes at him before letting him wrap me up in one of his massive bear hugs.
“It’s all Olivia’s fault,” I mumbled into his ear.
“Sounds like Olivia deserves a drink on me,” Jamil exclaimed as he turned to embrace my best friend. Olivia loved Jamil as much as I did. The two were like twins, and I was sure there would be disastrous consequences from them partying together tonight.
