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The lighting in here isn’t great, which is perfect, a contrast to the bright sunshine of outside. There are at least ten screens behind the bar, each of them showing a different game: two baseball, two American football, one basketball, and the others seem to be flicking between various matches without any particular pattern. I scan the screens for soccer, and my heart sinks when I can't see anyone playing the beautiful game. I know that it isn’t a particularly popular sport in America, but for a bar that seemingly has every other type of sports, to not have at least one game is a bit disappointing.
A girl in a short skirt comes up to us, welcomes us with a smile so wide it must be fake, and leads us over to a small table with an ideal view of the bar.
The waitress drops some menus in front of us, and in a voice that seems to be a caricature of itself, says, “Hey, folks, how are you today? What can I get for you both? My name is Kelsey, and I’ll be your server. Just let me know if I can help you with anything at all.”
I blink in surprise. “I'll just get a water, please,” says Olivia, pulling her phone out of her bag to stare at it.
“Water? Sure thing, honey. I'll get that right over for you. And for this handsome gentleman here?”
“A beer, please, hon,” I say with a wink.
The waitress doesn’t react or falter with her smile. “Which one can I get you?” She reels off a list of beers, and I pretty much pick one at random. I feel like I should have done some more advance research on this one. Whatever. They’ll bring me something and I’ll drink it. And if I hate it, I will never order it again.
The waitress gives us another huge smile and bounces off towards the bar. Olivia fixes me with a stern look. “All right, Livvy?” I ask, confused at her sudden sour face.
“Don't call me that,” she snaps back.
I throw up my hands in mock surrender. “Whoa, sorry.”
“Look,” she says. “I don't really want to be here any more than you, but we both signed a contract and we both have to follow it. Couldn’t you just at least try to make my life a little bit easier?”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” I say. “I didn’t realize my presence was taking that much of a toll on you.”
“I’ll blame it on the jet lag for now,” she huffs, folding her arms.
She is one of the most hard-to-read people I've ever met. Usually I'm great with people, even if we go slightly too hard on the drinks, but Olivia doesn't seem to want to engage with me at all. It's fascinating. And it makes me want to work even harder for her to like me.
“I’ll be even sweeter tomorrow,” I say, hoping that teasing will soften her up.
No such luck. Her sour look just gets sourer. Fortunately, the waitress comes back over to us and breaks the awkwardness, dropping our drinks down in front of us. I order a burger and a whole banquet of sides. Olivia doesn’t order anything to eat at all.
As the waitress skips off to put our order in, I beam at Olivia and raise my glass. “Cheers.”
“To what?”
“To lunch with a pretty woman and the next few months of your wonderfully happy company.”
That at least gets a smirk from her. She hesitates, then picks up her glass too. “I’m so excited,” she says dryly, though she doesn’t return to her scowl. That’s better than nothing. If I can just keep her from frowning, then I’ll be winning. “To the next few months.”
Our glasses chime together and a silence falls, filled with the burbling of crowds cheering the players on the various screens, and the chatter of other diners having a nice day out with their friends.
CHAPTER 5
OLIVIA
I don't even say anything when I meet Miles at the gate to the training grounds. For a second, I think he’s going to shove his way past me, pretending he hasn’t seen me at all, but he stops just in front of me, folding his arms and glaring. Wordlessly, I turn and head to the parking lot, glancing over my shoulder the whole time to make sure he’s still following me.
We share a look and he gets into the car with a face like a slapped toddler. I slam the door behind him and swing into the driver’s seat, and as the engine growls to life, he says, “I can't believe they're making you to babysit me this much.”
“Well,” I say as we turn out of the parking lot. It’s easier not to be angry at him if I don’t have to look at him. “If you would just act like a real human being for a change, maybe I wouldn’t need to.”
“I am acting like a human being,” he replies, folding his arms to be contrary. “I have human urges. You're telling me you want me to deny my nature just so you can get a pat on the back from your boss.”
“No,” I say taking a sharp breath. “What I want is to not have to do this anymore.” I make a gesture between the two of us with my pointed finger. “Much as I enjoy your company, I'd really love it if that company didn't have to involve me treating you like a three-year-old.”
He doesn't have a response for that, so he just sighs and stares out of the window instead. It’s a nice change from his snide remarks and comments. He thinks he’s so clever and funny, but it’s driving me nuts. Time is stretching ahead of us and it’s looking far too long.
“Where are we going anyway?” he asks as we hit traffic and grind to a stop.
