by Lark Maren
Of course it was one of her favorite spots back in college. The Bar was one of those ‘ironic’ places for the rich to come and slum it and watch us peasants like zoo animals before getting in their Denalis and driving back to their mansions in the suburbs. It didn’t much matter. It was a free country, and as long as there was free beer involved, I wasn’t going to complain tonight.
I went back inside and the girls on my team started their classic ‘ohhing’ at me.
“Who was that?” Laurie asked. “You got a hot date or something?”
“We all do,” I said, licking my lips. “Princess Cupcake’s coming down to pick up our tab.”
“What?” Lucy stammered. “You guys are on like talking on the phone terms?”
“I guess so,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and blurting out a laugh. “Don’t get jealous, sweetie. She sounded like she was looking to have a business sit-down or something. I just told her to come here instead. She probably won’t last five minutes.” I took a sip of my beer and grimaced. Maybe when Cupcake got here I’d upgrade to whiskey. Or hey, I could pull an Areal and get into the kind of tequila they keep on the top shelf.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Laurie asked. “You’re not acting like yourself. Don’t get me wrong, you’re mean, but you’re not the kind of person who’s malicious. You’re not the kind of person who uses people for their money. What are you trying to do here?”
“Are you seriously standing up for her?” I asked. “This silly bitch with daddy’s money who’s trying to come in here and ‘improve’ our football team. Make our lives better? This is a joke to her. I’m just trying to get her gone before she has the chance to stomp all over us.”
“You’re being a bully,” Lucy said. “How do you know she’s not genuine? You haven’t even heard her out. From day one you’ve been kind of a dick to her.”
“I can’t believe you,” I said, my temper rising. How could my teammates be so stupid they couldn’t see through her bullshit? They all worked jobs just like I did, the kind of jobs where the money lasts paycheck to three days before the next paycheck, and taking a sick day meant going without gas in your tank or food on your table for the next week. Chronically repressed while Cupcake’s hair and nails probably costed as much as a month’s rent. “You want to hear her out? What could she possibly have to say that isn’t a load of bullshit?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy said, “but I care about the Lady Cats, and if that means entertaining what this chick has to say for a while, I’m going to do it. I’m certainly not going to drag her down here to belittle her or be a bitch to her like you’re planning on doing.” She stood up from her barstool and grabbed her purse from the hook, slinging it over her shoulder.
“If I don’t get another job here soon that works around my schedule, there isn’t going to be any Lady Cats anymore so maybe you should just sit your ass back down and drink your beer, Lucy,” I shouted.
“You think there won’t be a team without you?” she asked, her lips turning up into a sneer. “We’ll probably all be a lot better off without your drama. Hillary is just as good a cornerback as you are, and you know it. And, she isn’t a ho like you.”
“The fuck did you just say?” I pushed aside the barstool that was in between the two of us so I could get right in her face. “Ho like me? That’s pretty telling, considering you’re the one always trying to get me to go to weddings with you and shit. Are you trying to be my pimp or something?”
“Get out of my face,” she said sternly. I continued to stare her down. I’d never lay hands on one of my teammates, especially not Lucy, but I was beyond pissed. Her calling me out here in front of everyone, in front of our team, after knowing exactly what I was going through tonight was just plain rude. Her taking Ella’s side hurt my ego.
“We’re not doing this here, ladies,” the bartender said, puffing out his chest from behind the bar. He was a big dude, but he’d seen us play before and knew we weren’t afraid to scrap. He slid our beer glasses away. “Go take a walk or something.”
“Fuck you!” I bellowed, before slapping my hand over my mouth. I knew it was wrong, he didn’t have any skin in this game and he was just trying to keep things from getting out of hand, but all my buttons had been simultaneously pressed and apparently saying rude stuff was my only release valve.
“Fields, outta here now,” he said. “You want ten days, you keep running your mouth.”
I grabbed my purse and scowled at him, throwing Lucy a middle finger as she stood there cracking her gum. As the crowd that formed around us started shuffling away, murmuring their disappointment in the fact that they weren’t going to get to see a chick fight, I noticed Ella had snuck in at some point, standing off to the side with her hands shoved in the pockets of her skinny jeans, her eyes wide.
“You’re not driving!” Lucy called after me. I fished my car keys out of my purse and tossed them over my shoulder as I brushed past Ella. They hit the hardwood with a loud clank. “I love you, babe. We’ll talk about this tomorrow!” she shouted.
I rolled my eyes. I knew she did. In some twisted way I loved her, too. She was my friend, my teammate, and she wasn’t stupid. Everything she’d said was rightfully true. It was probably for the better I took a long walk home. She could smooth things over with Ella and catch me up tomorrow when I was out hitting the streets looking for another night job.
It was just another example of my life as a whole. Every day was like hitting the reset button. Whatever happened could be fixed tomorrow. I’d never get ahead, but at least I was good at starting all over again. I reached in my purse, feeling for my pepper spray, zipped up my hoodie, and kept my eyes on the cracked sidewalk in front of me as I let the city swallow me whole once again.
Chapter Nine
Ella:
I stood there awkwardly, not really sure what I’d just witnessed. Barstools were strewn around, and the familiar faces from the team were all just kind of staring at me in fascination, as if they were waiting for me to make a move. Tonya had taken off out the front door before I could even get a word in, which seemed to be the usual way we interacted, and as much as I wanted to take off after her, I felt like I was obligated to see what was going on with the rest of the team. I needed to do my best to keep things professional, as my father had reminded me multiple times before I even got out the front door.
I sheepishly waved, and Laurie, the wide receiver who had hair blacker than coal and a crooked grin on her face, motioned me over to the barstool next to her. I sat down and pulled out my credit card, handing it to the bartender. “Start me a tab,” I said.
“Cash only,” he said.
“Oh crap, I forgot,” I giggled. I pulled a fifty out of my purse and laid it in front of me on the bar. “Whatever they’re having, and I’ll have one, too.”
“You really don’t have to do that,” Laurie said. “Seriously. That’s not how we are.”
“I don’t mind at all,” I said. “I know I’m intruding on your personal time, and that’s not fair. I feel like I missed something major though.” The bartender set a pitcher of beer in front of me and a mason jar. I poured myself a glass and topped off Laurie and Lucy’s.
“Just a little lovers’ spat,” Laurie said, rolling her eyes. “Nothing unusual.”
“It was NOT a lovers’ spat!” Lucy said. “Tonya Fields only loves one person in this world, and that’s herself. What she does with the rest of the female population of the city is just a power trip.”
“Well you never seemed to complain about her ‘power trips,’” Laurie said with a giggle.
“Oh, trust me, neither would you.”
My skin began to blush, and I hoped the two of them were so distracted by their conversation they wouldn’t notice the way I was shifting around in my barstool. Obviously I thought Tonya was hot, but apparently she also had a reputation in the bedroom. One that only made her more intriguing to me.
“Oh shit,” Laurie muttered. “Sorry, Ella.
That’s probably a little too much information. You’ll have to forgive us. We’re not really the kind of people who watch what we say.”
“It’s fine,” I said, taking a sip from the half warm beer that I really had no interest in. No, the only thing I wanted to do right now was sneak out of here and find Tonya, but I couldn’t let on like that. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s just having a bad day,” Lucy said.
“A bad twenty-six years,” Laurie laughed. “She’ll be alright. Not the first time she got kicked out of a bar. Usually it’s a lot more entertaining.”
The bartender raised his eyebrows and shook his head knowingly. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to make Tonya sound like some out of control party girl, but the more they talked, the more intrigued I was. Apparently I had a thing for bad girls.
“We were fighting because she was going to bring you down here and take advantage of you,” Lucy blurted out. Now I couldn’t hide the blush on my face. That escalated quickly.
“Stop,” Laurie said, motioning her fingers in a ‘zip your lips’ kind of fashion.
“No,” Lucy said, pulling her stool closer to mine. “If you want to know the truth, Tonya really hates you. Not you in particular, but people like you. She was going to invite you down here, drink on your tab, probably make you feel like shit about yourself, make you the butt of her sad little jokes.”
“Enough!” Laurie said, pounding her fist on the bar. “You’re just jealous, Lucy. Just because someone is paying attention to Tonya doesn’t mean you need to air our dirty laundry all over the city to some outsider. You’re a kiss ass!”
I was at a loss for words. These two looked like they were about to go at each other’s throats with me in the middle. Maybe coming down here was a bad idea. Things were getting way too personal way too quickly. I stood up from my stool.
“You don’t have to leave, Ella,” Lucy said, batting her long blonde eyelashes. “I swear we’re not always like this. We just got off on the wrong foot. Stay here and drink with me! I want to get to know you better!”
I couldn’t read her face. On one hand, she looked so kind and inviting, but on the other, I’d heard what she just said about Tonya, her teammate and friend. She made it loud and clear what I was good for: a free beer or two, and some leverage. I should’ve known better. Maybe Tonya felt the same way, but she wasn’t here to defend herself, and that left a bad taste in my mouth. Now she was out there all alone, walking the streets.
“Maybe some other time,” I said. I left the cash sitting on the bar. “I’ll see you guys at practice tomorrow.” Their bickering continued as I walked out the door, loud enough that I could hear them over the jukebox. I wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. I didn’t have many friends, and we definitely weren’t on that kind of level where we could be at each other’s throats one second and best buddies in the next. My friendships were more like staged public appearances, where everyone had a script to stick to. Nobody ever showed their true colors in public.
I walked two blocks in the cool night air to my car, wondering if I even had a chance at catching up with Tonya. I didn’t even pull out of the parking lot before I spotted a mop of red hair sitting hunched over on a curb in front of a gyro stand. I slowed to a stop.
“Tonya!” I shouted. She looked up at me with a face full of tzatziki sauce before going back to her pita. “Do you need a ride or something?”
“Please,” the man running the cart pleaded. “Get in the car, Tonya. You’re driving me nuts.”
She stood up, wiping her face on her sleeve, and I unlocked the door. She got in with an emphatic sigh, holding out her gyro and offering it to me.
“I’m good,” I said.
“Of course,” she mumbled. “You probably don’t eat street food. Your nutritionist would probably have a field day.”
“Oh I love street food,” I said. “I just know better than to come between a drunk chick and a gyro.”
“I’m not that drunk,” she said, shoving another bite in her mouth. We both laughed as I put the car in drive. “Maybe a little bit.”
“Where do you need to go,” I asked. “Do you want me to take you to your house?”
Even in a black hoodie, with her hair up in a sloppy bun, mouth full of food, smelling like a brewery, she still made me nervous. There was something so sexy about her, and I couldn’t tell if it was her natural cockiness, her repulsion towards me, or the fact that I knew she was a beast in the bedroom. All I knew was that my heart was racing, and I was hoping that maybe she’d want to come home with me, even if it was just to sleep it off.
“Just take me to Lucy’s car,” she said. “You don’t need to be driving this kind of car to my place. You’ll probably just end up getting your wheels jacked.”
My heart sank a little bit. “Are you guys a thing?”
She laughed so hard I thought she was going to choke. “Let me guess. You’re here to tell me you made a new rule and hooking up with our teammates is against it, even if it’s just some meaningless fun.”
“I’m not here to tell you anything,” I assured her. “Just meaningless fun, though?”
“Are you fucking hitting on me?” she asked, swiveling her head around in slow motion, her jaw nearly dropping. She looked amused, and a little bit confused.
“What, no,” I stammered.
“Well you’re awfully invested in what Lucy and I do behind closed doors, wouldn’t you say?”
“Where do you live?” I asked, trying to change the subject. Was she about to laugh in my face?
“Why are you being so nice to me? You know you have no place hanging out with me. Are you trying to piss your dad off or something?”
“I don’t know how to make you believe this has nothing to do with my dad. I’m an independent woman.” It sounded ridiculous coming out of my mouth. She was drunk, but I wasn’t sure if she was drunk enough that she wouldn’t see right through that bullshit.
“I live in the Ashton apartments,” she said. “You know where that is?”
I tried not to gulp too loudly. I had a rough idea of where that was. The only time I’d been there was when my private high school took us on a ‘scared straight’ expedition to show us what our lives could end up like if we did drugs or dropped out of school.
“I know you only asked me to come out because you were planning on making me buy you and your friends drinks and try and humiliate me because of who I am,” I said.
“Lucy tell you that?” she quipped.
“No. I might not be as ‘tough’ as you, or as ‘street’ as you, or whatever you think you are, Tonya, but I’m not an idiot.” I drove across the bridge and into the city, the river twinkling under the lights and stars, and I was finally feeling my backbone for the first time since I’d talked to Tonya. “I know exactly how you and your teammates feel about me. I know exactly how you look at me. You think I’m just some spoiled rich brat who snaps my fingers and gets whatever I want.”
This was the part where she was supposed to say, ‘no, I don’t think that at all. You’re being so nice to me, Ella. Let’s be friends! Let’s be more than friends!’ Instead, I got a grunt, and not even a cute one.
“Do you even know what kind of day I had today?” she asked. “Hell, I am tough, and probably pretty street, but even I’m a little ruffled. Obviously, or I wouldn’t be riding in a car with you.”
“Why do you hate me?” I whined, slapping the dashboard in frustration. “You don’t even know me, Tonya!”
“I don’t hate you, Ella. I don’t even know you.”
Chapter Ten
Tonya:
Nothing like a big greasy late-night gyro to sober you up pretty quick. Combine that with a car ride from Cupcake, and all of a sudden it’s like the pitchers of beer never even happened. Back to square one for me, facing down the reality that my sister hated me, I was going to be short rent this month, I just got kicked out of my favorite bar before I could even get a punch in, and my car was
on the other side of the city and I needed to be on the construction site by five am. I did it all to myself, and if we’re being honest, I’d probably do it all over again before too long.
I hated to admit that Ella was a straight-up smoke show. She had that white blonde hair that curled effortlessly just above her collarbone, long neck, pouty lips, long eyelashes, and she smelled like amber, like the kind of perfume you catch a waft of every once in a while and feel compelled to chase down the source. Now I was surrounded by it, breathing her in as the conversation turned south and the car went north to the shady ass apartment complex I called my home.
We sat there in silence for a minute, the radio turned down so low all you could hear was an occasional high note. I felt like I owed her an apology, even though I technically didn’t do anything to her. Was this how religious people felt? Guilt for even wanting to do something wrong? Her BMW was not a confessional booth, but all the same I felt like I didn’t belong in there. I felt extremely out of place in the buttery leather interior, sitting next to a woman who probably owned handbags more expensive than my apartment complex. I didn’t belong next to her, and she sure as hell didn’t belong here. I looked up and down the street, certain that my neighbors were probably out in full force, sizing up her car.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said. “I swear, I’m not usually such a shit show. None of us are. You caught us on a bad night.”
“I’ll come in with you,” she said. “If you want to talk about it.”
I smiled at her sadly. I wasn’t proud of my living conditions, and who knew what my mother was up to, if she was even home. For the first time since meeting Ella, I found myself a little concerned about what she thought about me. It was weird. It’s not like I could hide where I came from. It’s not like it wasn’t apparent in the way I dressed, the car I drove, probably even the way I talked. “You think I was kidding about that jacking your tires thing?” I pointed at the front porch of the house across the street from me, where a group of teenagers had gathered, watching the car in interest.
