4. Rock
4
ROCK
My buddy Wes shakes his head as he tosses the basketball in my direction. “I don’t know, man. Seems like a bad idea to me.”
I take a shot. The ball swishes through the hoop. “Why’s that?”
“You know how clingy girls get. She might never leave.”
I breathe out a half-hearted laugh as I jog to grab the ball before it bounces into the grass. “Yeah, I’m not worried about that. Besides, my place ain’t exactly a five-star resort. I can’t even keep a damn houseplant alive.”
“Since when are you buying houseplants?”
“I didn’t. It was a gift.”
Wes rolls his eyes. “Let me guess. Emily gave it to you.”
I don’t like the way he says that. I throw the ball hard at him and it thuds against his chest as he catches it. “What’s your problem with her, man?”
He backs off. “Nothing. I just don’t want to see her take advantage of you.”
“Take advantage of me? Bro, you’re talking out of your ass.” I shake my head, annoyed at Wes’s perspective. I know he’s had some bad experiences with women, but he really needs to learn that it’s not cool to make assumptions about people. He has no clue about the kind of friendship that Em and I have.
Wes takes a shot, misses, sighs. “Sorry. I’m just in a shitty mood today. Work’s been stressful.”
“That sucks. Sorry to hear.” I grab the rebound and toss it to him. “Take another shot.”
He dribbles in place a few times. Squints at the hoop. Grips the ball, then sends it flying. This time the ball goes through the hoop, swishing as it goes through.
“Nice,” I say, jogging to grab the ball. I take my own shot and get it in. But when I turn to throw the ball to Wes again, I twist my neck too fast and wince in pain.
“You okay?” Wes asks.
“Yup. Just slept on my neck funny. I took the couch last night so Emily could have the bed.” I glower at Wes before he can say anything. “Don’t, dude. It’s fine.”
He holds up his hands. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, but you were about to.”
“I know a good masseuse, if you want her contact info. I was going to her a lot when I messed up my ankle. She’s got magic hands, I swear.” He breaks into a grin. “She’s pretty damn hot, too.”
“Jesus, Wes,” I groan. “Don’t tell me you tried to sleep with her.”
Wes bursts out laughing.
I stare at him, waiting for his answer.
“I didn’t!” he insists.
I shake my head and take another shot. We keep shooting hoops until we both have to go our separate ways. From the park, I ride home and take a quick shower. Emily isn’t there so I’m assuming she’s already at the bar. I was hoping she’d wait for me so we could go into work together. But she likes walking and all that.
When I arrive at the bar, I find her in the back office, frowning at the screen of the old laptop we keep in there.
“Look at this,” she says, turning the screen toward me. “I can’t believe it.”
The article headline staring back at me blares its letters at me. My stomach drops. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“And they’re opening right across the street! I mean, seriously, what the hell?”
It’s rare to see Emily in a mood like this. Normally she’s so cheerful. Optimistic. But right now she’s pure indignation.
I wonder if this is how I seem to her all the time.
“That’s bullshit,” I say. I sit down and scan the article, soaking up all the information at once. “ A brand new location of the popular sports bar is set to open in a few months… ”
“I can’t believe it,” she says, slumping in her seat.
I sit back and stare at the ceiling. I’m so fucking sick of things not working out. My whole life, it’s felt like sooner or later, things always go wrong. When it’s something small, I can handle it, but if anything were to happen to our bar, I don’t know how I’d get over that. I have so much invested in this place. I don’t just mean the money, or the time we spent building it up. I’ve invested my heart in it, too.
Emily takes a breath, sits forward, and turns the computer screen back to herself. As she starts to type something on the keyboard, she says, “Well, we’ll figure it out. We’re going to have to up our game, though, Rock. We need to make this place shine.”
I’m not sure what she means by that. I lean forward to get a peek at what she’s writing. Before I can get a look, my neck twinges with pain. I feel myself wince, but I quickly cover it up and shift positions.
“You okay?” she asks, her fingers pausing on the keyboard.
“Yep. All good. Just tweaked my neck while I was playing ball with Wes.” I’m not about to tell her the real reason, or she’ll put up an argument about the couch tonight.
“I think there’s a cold pack in the fridge,” she says.
I resist nodding in case it makes it worse. “Yep. I’ll check.”
Emily gives me one more evaluative look before turning her gaze back to the computer.
“I’m not letting you sleep on the couch tonight.”
Emily makes this declaration shortly after we get home after closing the bar. She’s standing in front of the couch, arms crossed, as if she has the physical capability of getting in my way.
“Em, we already talked about this,” I mutter. “I’m not letting you sleep out here. End of story.”
“It’s messing up your neck. I saw you wince a dozen times tonight.”
“I’m not letting you sleep out here.”
“Fine! We’ll both sleep in your bed. God knows it’s big enough.”
Her suggestion feels all kinds of wrong in ways my brain is too tired to fully articulate. She’s right about it being plenty big, though. I have a California King-sized mattress because at six foot four, I need all the length in a mattress that I can get. But the width is more than enough. We could both easily fit in one bed. It’s the obvious solution, and yet I still feel this huge wave of resistance toward it. Spending the night with those curves of hers next to me…I don’t know, man. Seems like a bad idea.
“I snore,” I warn her.
“I know. I heard you last night through the walls.” Emily bites back a smile before her face goes serious again. “Look, just please come sleep in your own bed. I feel bad enough crashing at your place. Don’t make me feel guilty for messing up your neck, too.”
I’m too tired to argue further. I grab my pillow off the couch and carry it into my bedroom. I turn on the lamp on the nearest side of the bed for Emily and then go around and get in the other side.
My eyes are already heavy with exhaustion as my head hits the pillow, my aching muscles grateful for the return to the familiarity of my mattress. I close my eyes, only faintly aware of the sound of Emily going into the bathroom and getting ready for the night.
A few minutes later, I feel the mattress shift as she slides in beside me. I get a faint wisp of her perfume. Great , I think hazily. Wonder how many washes it’s going to take to get that out of my sheets.
“Goodnight, Rock,” she says quietly, clicking off the light.
“Night,” I say drowsily, already falling asleep.