Between a Rock and a Hard Place

by Bohannon, Hipsy

  “I bet you do, speaking of which, how did your date go, brother? Did you finally, score?" Cole questioned, slapping his friend on the back.

  "No, but it was amazing! We drove down the coast on my bike. Thanks again for storing it. I’d hate to have to cab it everywhere and they won’t let me smoke in those stupid ass rental cars." Able confessed, with the shake of his head.

  He had started storing his bike in Cole’s garage about four years back. He was always having to fly out to Cali for work, it was much easier, just to leave one of his bikes out here for safe keeping until he needed it again. If it was raining or he needed a car, he borrowed the one Cole had parked in his garage. It was a Volvo, which, was kind of an off choice of car for Cole to keep around. Not that he ever drove the thing. The first time Able had taken it out for a spin, he had had to pull a big pink bow off the top so he assumed it had been a gift. Another perk of being a star.

  "Don’t even mention it, and nice, very smooth with running her down the coast. I bet she was loving that! Chicks eat that sunset bullshit, right up! Works every time." Cole chuckled, sipping his drink with a knowing smirk.

  "Yeah, I think she liked it just fine. I know, I sure as hell did. This girl, is fucking amazing, man!" Able announced, waving the bartender over.

  "Well that’s great and all, but you best hurry up and get that deal closed. Times running out. Tick tock brother, tick tock." Cole reminded tapping his deep sea diving watch. It reminded him that he had forgotten to take it off. Good thing Penny didn’t see it. She was pissed enough about them fishing for sharks, how pissed off do you think she would have been, if she found out that they had actually, been swimming with them, instead.

  "I know, I know, and normally I would, and then I’d just skip out, but, there's something about this chick. I don’t wanna just hit it and quit it, never to see her again.” Able confessed in a bit of a rush.

  “What do you mean? Use your words, Able?” Cole coached.

  “Like, she makes me wanna… damn it, I don’t know, I don’t know how to explain it!" Able sighed out, lost for words, yet again.

  He always wished he could be more like Cole. That man never had trouble with explaining just what he meant. Words came easy to him, right along with everything else. The man just had his shit together. At least, that’s how it always looked to Able, anyway.

  "Oh man, you really got it bad, don’t ya? Shit, if you ask me, you better run, and fast! You don’t wanna get caught up with some chick, way out here. You’d never even get to see her. Look at you and me, we hardly ever get to see each other. You live in New York, which means Cali girls are fun to fuck with, but you can't keep em. You love the city, you know you’d never leave there, that’s your home. And, you told me that this chick’s got a kid, right?”

  “Ya, so, I like kids.”

  “You are a kid,” Cole smirked, nudging Able with his shoulder. “but anyway, what that really means, is baggage. That means, baby daddies and school shit. She's prolly not gonna wanna rip her kid out of school and away from his father, just to head all the way across the country to the frozen North." Cole mused, trying to be the voice of reason. His friend Able had a bad habit of falling head over heels for a woman if they just gave him a nice smile.

  Cole had yet to meet one of Able’s little flings that he thought was worthy of his friend. They were all leeches, just out for his fame and the others, well his friend also had a bad habit of getting mixed up with girls that he had absolutely no chance of having. Not that he couldn’t have them, as in bed them, shit, Able was capable of bedding any woman he wanted, if he would just put his mind to it. No, as in keeping. He tended to fall all over himself for women who simply couldn’t be kept, not by him, nor by anyone else for that matter. Just like with this new one.

  "I didn't say I was gonna ask her to fucking marry me, man. I just feel like there’s something there between us. Something I kinda wanna explore a little deeper is all." Able reasoned, with a shrug.

  He should have expected the lecture from Cole. The man didn’t believe in true love or in settling down with any, one woman. As far as Able had been able to tell, over the years, Cole had never let himself get attached to a woman for any longer than a couple of nights, after that, he was putting them back out to pasture. Maybe he was the smarter of the two. Able sure knew Cole’s heart didn’t seem to get beat on as much as his own. Maybe always wanting to be in love was a bad thing. Cole had never appeared to be, and he, was doing fantastical.

  "Listen, brother, I know you, which means, I know how you are. You have a big heart and it makes you fall into shit. I see that look in your eyes and it scares the hell out of me. I've only seen that look one other time and that was with…,”

  “Please, don’t say her name.” Able groaned, letting his forehand come to rest on the bar in front of him.

  “Okay, fine, I won’t… but look how that shit turned out, look how it always ends up turning out for you. Face it, man, you have a bad habit of falling for women that you can't have and then you get hurt in the end, it never fails. I just don’t wanna see it play out that way again.

  “I know, you’re just being a good a friend.” Able mumbled, his head still pressed to the bar, knowing Cole was only telling him truths.

  “You said, this girl was a dancer, right?" Cole questioned, hating that he had to give his friend this speech. He wasn't trying to rain on Able’s parade, it was just that he had to. He wasn't about to let his friend get his heart handed to him, yet again.

  "Yeah, she's classically trained, like ballerina kinda shit. I think, anyway. She was kinda vague about it." Able shrugged, sipping from his Jack and coke.

  "That means, she's a stripper."

  "What, no freaking way, man!" Able scoffed, almost shooting whiskey out of his nose. The idea of his beautiful Livi, being a pole dancer, and shaking it for dollar bills was laughable. Strippers always had a bit of a needy look to them, Penny was the absolute opposite of that.

  "Whatever man, but my guess is, she was a dancer until some jackass knocked her up and then dipped out because that’s what jackasses do, they dip out on beautiful women and awesome kids.”

  Able didn’t miss the condescending tone that tinged Cole’s voice as he spoke about the fictitious deadbeat dad.

  “So, left high and dry she does the only thing she can do to support her kid, she trades in the ballet slippers in for a pair of hooker heels.”

  “That’s a terrible story.” Able said, his brows drawing in as he turned to his friend. Why did it feel like Cole had way too much insight on how strippers ended up being strippers? Able didn’t have time to question it, though before Cole started up again.

  “I’m telling ya, man, she prolly lives in a shitty little apartment downtown and is way more trouble than she’s ever gonna be worth. Hell, she prolly has some psycho ex, who still stays at her house a couple nights a week, I bet you money, he’s ready and willing to break any assholes leg that dares come sniffing around her. Why else would she be single? I mean you said so yourself, she’s amazing, right?”

  “Ya, she is.” Able nodded.

  “Alright then, there ya go, amazing women don’t stay single unless there’s a reason. That’s just a fact dude. Don’t hate me for it, it just is what it is. The girls out here in Cali, all have about the same story, only usually, they’re, ‘actresses’, not ballerinas.” Cole informed, giving his friend a knowing look.

  Able chewed his thumbnail for a moment, thinking it over, before slowly shaking his head.

  "Yeah, ya know what, you’re probably right." He continued to nod, still mulling his friend's words, over in his head.

  Cole usually did know what he was talking about when it came to this kind of shit, and Levi, did live downtown in a shitty apartment. He had nailed that part. Maybe he was right about the other stuff as well.

  "Hey don’t give me that look.”

  “What look?

  “That one, like I just kicked your fucking puppy or something.
I just worry about you, is all. Have fun with this girl, get your dick wet, live it up for the week but leave it at that, okay? Don’t go falling in love with another man's leftover family, alright?" Cole warned, nudging his friend with his shoulder.

  "Yeah, you’re right, I'll just keep it simple, get out while the gettin’ is good.” Able agreed, knowing that he might not be able to help himself when it came to following through. He was already head over stupid for the woman. Even though he really didn’t know anything about her. He didn’t wanna appear weak or stupid around Cole, though. He thought it better to just change the subject instead. "So, what did you do with your day?"

  "Not much, just went fishin’ with one of my buddy’s." Cole shrugged.

  "Catch anything?"

  And, so it started, big fish stories and tall tales circled the pair as the minutes turned to hours, and one drink turned into ten. Last call came and went and left the pair traveling the streets of Cali on foot, with nothing but each other and one very overpriced bottle of Jack at their disposal.

  "So, out with it man, time to fess up! What's the deal with you and that Penny chick?" Able slurred.

  After three pictures of beer and an almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels the boys were more than just a little faded. They had spent the last hour playing truth or dare and now, it had dwindled down to nothing but truths.

  "There is no deal man, it just is what it is, whatever the fuck that is." Cole slurred right back, taking a large sip out of the bottle they were currently passing back and forth between them.

  "Bullshit, come on! I told you some fucked up shit tonight. You owe me something that’s real. I wanna hear about Penny and the kid." Able said, sounding a bit whiny.

  Cole sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slow, as he looked out across at the lights of the city that he called home. Every time Cole accidentally mentioned either Penny or T.J., Able would try to pry out some info, but Cole had never turned anything substantial over to him. It wasn’t as if he was ashamed of them, not by any means. It was just that they lived in a separate world than everyone else in his life. They were his hide away from all the fakeness of his career. Penny never wanted to hear about the other part of his life, so in turn, he never told the other part of his life about her, which included Able. He was his best friend, but some things, you just don’t talk about.

  Tonight, though, Cole’s lips were feeling loose from the booze.

  "Alright, fuck it, here goes… so, I was teaching some Jujitsu classes at this community center, back in Texas, where I grew up. I’d just finished up with a lesson and was walkin’ down the hall, more than ready to head on back to my hotel for the night. That’s when I saw her for the first time. She was putting up an add on the center's bulletin board. And let me tell you what! This girl, was fucking mint, dude. Like ten out of ten, perfect!”

  “I literally, don’t think I’ve ever heard you give a chick a perfect ten, like ever, ever.” Able mused thinking back on all the beautiful women Cole had banged out over the years, models, starlets, fans, he’d had them all in his bed, one night or another. Yet, never had he thought enough about one to grace her with the number of perfection.

  “Ya, well, that’s because she’s the only one I’ve ever seen. And, I’ve been chasing her ever since. I guess once you’ve seen that kinda perfection, nothing else can really compare, nothing else will do, ya know?”

  “I do know, she’s your Moby.” Able said with a hiccup from beside him.

  “Ya, she’s my great white.” Cole nodded, knowing it was the truth. “She was wearin’ some kinda little spandex number, and dude, if you would have seen her ass, dear Lord, I didn't stand a fuckin’ chance. So you know me, man; I played it all smooth and shit, walked right up behind her, all casual, just trying to check out her ‘add’, if ya know what I mean….,”

  On the other side of town, spread out across Penny’s bed, was a lifetime worth of photos. She hadn’t intended to venture down memory lane. She had only meant to find a picture that T.J. needed of himself for a school project.

  Three glasses of wine later, and she had found the picture, but for some reason, hadn’t stopped flipping through the things she kept in her secret little box. Photo’s, keepsakes, and documents that made up her entire life.

  She usually kept the box hidden away under her bed, far out of sight and mind. She didn’t need to look at the things inside it, to be reminded that she had lived through it.

  The wine had her feeling nostalgic, though, and as an old song played out on her little clock radio, she found herself zoning in on images she hadn’t wanted to remember in years. She had told herself a million times that she needed to take an afternoon and go through the box, throw away all the pictures and shit that had a bad habit of haunting her. For some reason though, she just never did. It just never seemed like the right time to do it. Or maybe, it just didn’t seem right in general. You don’t get to pick and choose which memories you remember and you also don’t get to edit out pieces of your life, just because they hurt to look back on. You just have to learn to live with it, to just sit with it sometimes. So the pictures had stayed, lurking.

  Mostly, they were of T.J. growing up, but there were a few album's, that had nothing to with her son at all, well, not really anyway. Those ones, she tried never to take notice of. They were the ones filled with her life before she had had her son. They held her childhood inside their pages. Dance recitals, holidays, and trips with her family.

  Her family… she missed them, her mom, her dad, even her little sister, but that was all spilled milk. No need to cry about it, now. They had made it more than clear, that she was no longer a part of their family. That was her weight to bare, though. She had gone against everything they stood for, everything they had wanted for her in life. She had let them down and in turn, they had let her down. Penny guessed they were even now. That’s the way she saw it anyway. No longer did she wish them ill, life was too short to hold grudges that can never be resolved. She didn’t need them anyway, she had a family of her own, now. She had T.J., and in some ways, she had Cole as well. He was sorta like family, scratch that, you don’t fuck family.

  She let out a heavy sigh as she tossed one album away from her, only to pick up, another. Opening it’s pages, brought on heavy-hearted breath. She readied herself for what was held inside its layers. The very first page held a flyer, more so, an add really. The words it held were scribbled in her sloppy handwriting. It was meant to tell the world that she was looking to make all of her dreams come true. It pleaded with someone, anyone, to help her escape to a life that she wanted more than anything else. It was a pretty heavy burden to jot down on a little scrap of paper, but it had worked. It thrust her into a whole new life, just not the one she had thought it would be.....

  Year's Gone By

  O livia whispered a little prayer as she stuck the tack, into her ad, before thumbing it up on the corkboard that hung in the lobby, of the community center. She was out of options, and in desperate need of getting out of the hick state known as Texas. The one she had been trapped in ever since birth. The little town she lived in was too small for her, she needed city lights and freedom. Also, she needed to get away from the pressure her family was always putting on her. The pressure that always had her feeling like she just couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. If she could just make this one little dream come true, then all her prayers would be answered.

  And, as if her fairy Godmother, had heard her plight, she felt the gentle electric shock of an arm, brushing across her own. It had her jumping in her skin before twisting around to come face to face, with the boldest, peacock green eyes, that she had ever seen. The man they belonged to was just inches away from her. She wondered how she hadn't felt him standing so close behind her.

  "Oh, I’m sorry," she offered out of habit, apologizing for something, she just really wasn't sure, what, that something was.

  What she did know, was that the stranger was way too hot to be standing so dam
n close. That fact, had her palms going a bit sweaty and her cheeks turning a bit red. As for him, he had a cocky little smirk on his lips that had Olivia certain he somehow knew every naughty thought she had ever had.

  "You probably should be." He agreed, ripping her number off the bottom of the ad that she had just pinned up.

  Smoothly, he stuffed it into his pocket but didn’t take a step back, instead, he stayed right tight to what should have been, Olivia’s personal space.

  "For what, exactly?" She questioned, wishing that she could get a little distance between them, but the wall was right behind her.

  She was stuck, smack dab, between a rock and a hard place. A wall and this odd, but beautiful mans, muscled chest. He appeared to be older than she was, but not like creepy old, more like, ‘I have an older boyfriend and he’s stupid hot’ kinda old.

  "For being so damn distracting.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I mean, here I am, just trying to mind my own business, snag a lead on a…," Cole stopped to glance over her shoulder, finally reading, what was listed on the flyer.

  "You're a dancer?! Oh my, God, that's great! That's my ad, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Olivia rambled, her tone growing high-pitched with excitement.

  Cole wasn't a dancer, though. I mean, he could two-step with the best of them, and slow dance like no one's business, but a for real, for real, dancer, hell no!

  He took a moment to glance down at Olivia’s skin tight get up, before his eyes darted back to the flyer, on the wall. She didn’t even bother to notice, just went on and on about whatever it was she was blabbing about. He only caught a few words, here and there. It was something about happiness, and dying in a small town, or making dreams come true. Some kind of girlie ass, crap like that.

  ‘Shit, shit shit,’ Cole cursed in his head, reading the add more carefully. A ballerina , she was a fucking ballerina! Which meant, that she wanted some poor dude to put on some, crush your nuts, spandex, and then go flutter around with her, to some lame ass, classical music. If he didn’t treasure his cock so much, he would be punching it in its head at this very moment. It was just like the, not so little, prick to get him into something like this.