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"Holly, Halleigh, Lucy….do you three have time to meet for a few minutes to through the schedule for the week?"
The event season was in full swing at the museum and we would be in a flat sprint until Memorial Day. Taking a week off to go to Greece after the Party of the Year didn't feel right, but my ticket was purchased, and truthfully, I had a great team who could handle everything in my absence.
Quickly the three filed in, calendars in hand, and settled around the conference table.
I looked around the table at the three of them and smiled. "First of all, thank you for helping me to acclimate to the special events department. I've been so impressed with the quality of work that you do and I'm glad to be on your team. As we move into this busy stretch, please, please don't hesitate to delegate up to me if you feel like you're drowning, okay?"
The three nodded their agreement. "Holly, will you start? If you'll just run through the events on your plate for the week."
"Sure," Holly smiled. "Tomorrow night is, of course, the Morgan Stanley dinner in Engelhard Court. United Technologies has their corporate meetings in the Trustees Board Room all day Wednesday and Thursday, and Pfizer is hosting a small dinner for 60 on Thursday night in the Velez Blanco Patio."
Holly managed the majority of the corporate events that were held at the museum and Halleigh handled the bigger internal events. Lucy's role was largely administrative, but I was encouraging her to take on some of the smaller internal events for the museum. I oversaw the overall work of the three and took primary responsibility for the museum's six benefits. There were plenty of events to go around so I wanted to make sure everybody was getting to work on projects that were challenging and suited their interests.
Halleigh piped up with her schedule, "Tonight we have a membership event in Petrie Court, Tuesday is the Frederica von Stade concert in the auditorium, Wednesday night is the opening of the Gordon Parks exhibition in the Photography Galleries with a reception in the Temple of Dendur, and Friday afternoon we have a lunch for the American Paintings supporters in their galleries."
I looked at Lucy expectantly for her schedule. She was still quite timid, but I thought once she gained some confidence she'd be an excellent event coordinator.
Lucy began, "Um, the Apollo Circle is having a gallery talk in the Vanderlyn Panorama Wednesday evening, and then the Photography Department is having a small lunch in the Rose Room on Wednesday for the underwriters of the Gordon Parks Exhibit. That's all for me this week."
"I think we need to have all hands on deck Tuesday, and Thursday. But Holly and Halleigh….I'll stay here with Lucy Wednesday night so you two can take a night off. Lucy, you don't need to stay tonight. The next couple of months are going to be punishing, so I want to make sure everybody had at least one night off a week when it's possible, okay?"
"Now, on another note...as you may know, Catherine is concerned about cultivating a younger audience of donors for the museum. Don't kill me for suggesting this, but I'd like to propose to her that we institute a Young Friends benefit aimed at a younger crowd – say under forty, but skewing closer to thirty. I was thinking something in June…maybe in the Temple of Dendur?"
The eyes of all three sparked with excitement at the thought of conceptualizing a 'junior' event. "Think about it over the next couple of days and let's meet to discuss later this week. I'd like to present the idea to Catherine next week because we'd obviously need to have her blessing." At that we decided to break, feeling the pull of the mountain of work on our collective plate.
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Bill and I had planned to have lunch together on Tuesday. I'd hoped we'd be able to venture out, but I was pinched for time so we stuck to the cafeteria. The food was actually decent, but I was craving a change of scenery.
"How's Augustus?" I asked between bites of my tuna melt.
Bill sighed. "The process is slow as molasses. We're still consulting with experts at other museums about the best methods for reconstructing the statue. Technology has advanced so much over the last two years that we're almost in uncharted territory. I know the museum and especially the Greek and Roman Department are frustrated that it's taking so long, but we have to make sure the restoration is flawless."
"So, how do you even do it? It sounds like an impossible 3D puzzle. Do you use tweezers to put together the little shards back together?" I had visions of the game Operation from my childhood in my head. I had always sucked at Operation.
"You really should let me give you a tour of the lab so you can check it out. Do you have any time this week?"
I squished my face us a bit as I answered. "This week is pretty busy. The only time I could do it is Friday afternoon."
"Friday would be perfect! Chip gets in from LA Thursday night and I was going to have him swing by Friday afternoon."
"In that case, count me in. I can't wait to meet him!" I waggled my eyebrows at Bill.
"He wants to meet you and talk shop about events. And he's curious to see if you share what he fondly calls my 'regional peculiarities'." I was about to ask him more about these 'regional peculiarities', but Bill's attention had suddenly latched onto something behind me. His eyes got as big as saucers, so I turned around and gasped when I saw Eric approach our table.
"Oh my god, Eric. What happened?" I uttered through my hand which had flown up to cover my mouth in surprise. Eric was sporting a nasty looking black eye.
Eric waved a hand dismissively. "It's not as bad as it looks. I just took an elbow to the eye last night playing basketball. May I?" he asked, indicating the empty chair at our table.
"Of course." I tugged my tray a little closer to me to make room. My eye hurt just looking at his.
"Compton," Eric said in acknowledgement of Bill. Bill gave him a friendly nod back.
"Sorry to interrupt your lunch, but I wanted to make sure we're still on for the play. It's this Saturday, right?"
"Yep – it's Saturday. I'm glad you still want to come. We've got a good group lined up to come. Feel free to invite anybody else you think would want to come – we can just buy tickets at the door."
"I might have a couple of friends who would be interested. I'll see."
"Well, the more the merrier. We're going to meet at Schiller's Liquor Bar at seven-ish, then head over for the play at eight. You're welcome to join or just come straight to the theatre." I pulled a scrap of paper out of my purse and scribbled down the address of the theater and slid it over to Eric. I wondered if he'd bring the brunette from the park. Ugh.
He looked it over for a second, then folded it in half and slid it into his pocket. Rapping his right hand on the table a couple of times, he pushed back his chair. "I'll let you get back to your lunch. See you two later." He gave me a crooked smile before standing and weaving his way through the tables to the exit.
"He wears that shiner well." Bill said appreciatively.
I laughed shaking my head. Bill always seemed to have some quip about Eric. "Let's get out of here."
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On Thursday morning, I was shocked to find that both Holly and Halleigh had already arrived when I got to the office at 8:30 a.m.
"What brings you ladies in so early?" I called from my office as I hung up my coat.
They entered my office with notebooks in hand and smiles on their faces. "Well, we've been thinking about the Young Friends event and wanted to discuss our ideas with you," offered Holly.
"Excellent! Have a seat. What have you got?" I asked settling into a chair. I was thrilled to see them taking the initiative.
Holly spoke for the two of them, "Well, we were thinking that it would be cool to run with the whole Egyptian thing since you wanted to have the party in Dendur."
"Uh, do you mean something in the vein of Cleopatra or King Tut?" I was unable to keep an edge of skepticism out of my voice.
"No, no." Holly laughed. "We were thinking along the lines of Colonial Egypt – 1920's."
A smile spread across my face as I rolled the idea around in my head. It was perfect. "I love that idea. Didn't the Met acquire a large portion of their Egyptian collection at that time?"
Halleigh jumped in. Since she handled internal events, she'd worked closely with the Egyptian Department on a few openings and was familiar with the history of their permanent collection. "The Met actually took an entire team over for a dig around that time. There are a ton of black and white photographs and even some film footage of the excavations."
My mind began to race with the possibilities of their proposed theme. "You know, we could project the film onto the eastern wall of the space – have the picture be as large as possible without losing the image quality. It could run silently on a continuous loop through the event. If this event is approved we'd need to do this on a shoestring, so I think we should do a cocktail party – and maybe just pass bite-sized desserts to keep the costs low. We could rent some tall palm trees and transform the platform surrounding the temple into a exotic lounge setting. Like a desert oasis."
"What do you think of "Glamour on the Nile" for the name of the event?" Holly asked.
I nodded with a smile on my face. "I love it. I think the audience we're aiming for would be drawn in by it too. I'd like to ask Sophie-Anne if there might be a designer who would be interested in sponsoring this. Maybe Dolce & Gabbana? From what I've read they're trying to court this demographic."
We were interrupted by a knock on the door. Swiveling my head to see who was there, I was shocked to see Alcide's large frame looming in the doorway.
"Uh, hi Sookie." He said sheepishly with a grin on his face.
"Alcide! What are you doing here?" I said popping out of my chair.
"I had an appointment on the Upper East Side and thought I'd drop off these proofs in case you want to keep them."
He crossed the threshold and extended an oversized envelope to me. I looked down at the envelope. A peculiar mix of anxiousness and dread swept over me at the prospect of seeing the photos. I definitely didn't want to look at them with an audience.
"Thanks for bringing them by….that was so thoughtful of you."
He gave a little shrug. I guess he figured it was the least he could do after checking out on me in the middle of our date.
"Oooh, are those from the photo shoot?" asked Holly.
"Uh, yeah….I'm sorry I didn't make introductions yet. This is Alcide Herveaux, the photographer from the shoot. This is Holly and Halleigh, the museum's event coordinators."
They both were gazing at Alcide with starry eyes. "Nice to meet you," they murmured in unison.
I looked back at him again. Tousled hair, nice smile, rugged features, animated green eyes…. he was definitely attractive, but the bloom was off the rose for me.
"Can we see the photos?" Halleigh asked.
"Oh, you know…." I started looking down at my watch, "I've got this thing, um, with…" I lightly snapped the fingers of my right hand as I was searching my brain for an excuse but was coming up blank. "I'm supposed to call somebody about a potential event at nine." I was a lousy liar.
Halleigh looked down at her watch and looked back at me. "It's only 8:50. You've got time to look at them."
Alcide gave me a knowing smile. "Well, I'll leave you ladies be. Holly, Halleigh – good to meet you. Sookie, it was really nice to see you again."
"Thanks for dropping off the photos, Alcide." I gave him a peck on the cheek and he slipped out of the office.
Holly and Halleigh looked at me expectantly, but I stuck to my guns. "Listen, this whole photo shoot thing still kind of freaks me out. Let me look at them first and then I'll show you, okay?"
Begrudgingly, they left the room and I sat at my desk. I slid my finger under the flap of the envelope until the adhesive popped open. I tipped the envelope a bit and the slick pieces of photo paper spilled out onto the desk surface haphazardly. At the sight of the images I inhaled sharply and groaned a little when I released the breath.
The images were beautiful, intense, and…well….intimate. I slowly sifted through the photos. It was odd to remember those moments with Eric in such vivid detail, and then see it from an onlooker's perspective. Unlike most photos that never seemed to quite capture the magic of a scene or memory, these not only captured, but also enhanced the memory of what I had experienced.
I worked to put the photos in chronological sequence, then bent down to more closely inspect them again. As I flipped my way through, I became aware that my heart rate was rapidly increasing.
"So?" Halleigh hollered from the other room. "Can we see them now?"
"Just give me a minute," I called back. I looked through the photos again and realized that I wasn't embarrassed by them, I simply didn't want to share them with anyone. But, of course, at least one of them would be run in Stila and circulated to over a million people. I rubbed my palm in a circle on my forehead in an attempt to relax the tensed muscles, and picked out the photo that seemed the least charged and walked it into Holly and Halleigh.
I dropped the photo on a small table between them and laughed as Halleigh launched herself from her desk chair and pounced on the photo with Holly close behind her. I was interested to gauge their reaction. The two jockeyed to get a better look at the photo.
"Oh, my God," Holly said as she examined the photo. After a few seconds they looked at each other before looking at me with a shared stunned expression.
"Whoa." Halleigh said. "That's just…..whoa."
"You and Eric are like…wow."
Apparently the shock of seeing me in the photo with Eric left both Holly and Halleigh verbally impaired.
"Okay, okay. Enough." I said and snatched the photo back. Retreating to my office, I returned the photo to its proper order, slid the set back into the envelope, and gingerly tucked it into my bag. If Holly and Halleigh were any indication, the release of the magazine was sure to cause a stir in the museum. Glancing down at my calendar, I nervously chewed on my thumb. It would be on the stands next week. Pushing the bubble of anxiety to the recesses of my mind, I turned on my computer and emailed Catherine's assistant to set up an appointment to pitch the Young Friends benefit.
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Between meetings on Friday I slipped down to the conservation lab to meet Chip and get the grand tour from Bill. Chip was an absolute hoot. He never stopped talking and was one of those people whom you instantly knew was meticulous - an absolute perfectionist. I could tell he was very well suited for his chosen career path and I'm sure he was extremely successful.
Bill had us don white lab coats and led us through the fluorescent lit expanse past the countless items that were being handled by the conservation department. I was amazed to see this whole other world that existed below the museum. We neared the back corner of the lab to a large area that had been designated for the Augustus reconstruction. Desks with computers ringed the area that held a multitude of tables covered with padded trays containing various pieces ranging from a large torso to tiny shards of the demolished statue. It reminded me of a C.S.I. set.
At one end of the space hung a large plasma screen that showed the image of Augustus before the accident, and a 3D map of the statue showing the major breaking points. Bill talked us through the fascinating process and showed us some of the computer technology they were using to aid in the reconstruction. Before long I needed to leave for a meeting, so Bill promised I could come back again to see how the work was progressing.
By the end of the workday I was wiped out, but knew I needed to gather the energy to volunteer. Considering my schedule for the upcoming weeks, I was concerned about my ability to continue volunteering. I felt like I was starting to burn the candle at both ends. As much as I hate to admit it, I considered skipping my commitment for the night. In a split second though, I pictured the faces of the children I'd come to know, thought back to some of the lonely days of my childhood, and put on my big girl pants.
When I left the group home around eight, I was feeling renewed and more centered. My involvement with this organization had become vital to me and I resolved to figure out how to make sure I could continue to fit it into my life.
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Muddy's was as crowded as I'd ever seen it. I felt like a fish swimming upstream as I fought my way in the entrance. Not a single table was available and I was just about to leave when I saw Eric wave from several tables away. Once he saw that he'd caught my attention, he beckoned me over to his table. As I approached he pushed a chair out from the table with his foot.
"Have a seat," he said simply.
"Thanks. I was on the verge of bailing and suffering through my home brew."
"We can't have that," he said smiling. His eye looked much better. It was mostly a greenish tint with just a couple of streaks of dark purple.
"You know that black eye makes you look pretty tough." I joked.
He reached up to touch it with his fingertips and winced a bit. "I'm just glad it's almost gone. I have to give a series of lectures next week and I'm afraid this look wouldn't go over so well with the stuffed shirts."
Over my shoulder a woman's voice called, "Hi, sweetie!"
Eric's face lit up. "Hi, Thalia."
I turned to see the petite brunette from the park and a pit opened up in my stomach. Eric stood to hug her and she sat in a chair next to him and ran her hand up and down his forearm.
She turned to look at me and flashed me a genuine smile. "Hi, I'm Thalia," she said extending her hand to shake mine.
"I'm Sookie. Eric and I work together at the Met," I offered, smiling as best I could.
"Ah! I've always been jealous of Eric for working at such an amazing place. Are you a curator there too?" She was adorable and personable. As much as I wanted to dislike her, I just couldn't.
"Oh, no. I work in special events. We're working on the Party of the Year together."
"No way!" She playfully smacked Eric on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me you were working on that? I've always wanted to go. In fact, I was just telling Jess that we need to figure out a way to finagle tickets. I didn't realize I could just ask you. Oh, Jess should be coming any minute."
"Sookie is the one who organized the play tonight," Eric told Thalia. Turning to me he added, "Thalia and Jess are going to come tonight too."
I fervently hoped Amelia would be coming to our table soon. I could use an Irish Coffee. An extra strong one.
"Jess!" Eric said standing up.
"Hey man, good to see you." I was surprised to hear a masculine voice. Eric and Jess did the male half-hug, back slap thing that I always found humorous. Jess then bent down and gave Thalia a tender kiss. It was only then that I noticed the huge rock on her ring finger.
Thalia introduced me to Jess just as Amelia approached.
"Hey everybody, can I take your order?"
"Amelia!" I jumped up and gave her an enthusiastic hug. I'd never done that before and it clearly startled her.
"Sookie! What got into you this morning?" She chuckled backing out of my embrace. She eyed me with a little suspicion.
"Just excited to see your play tonight. Meet some of your audience." I swept my hand to indicate our table and made introductions.
"It's nice to meet you, Thalia and Jess. Gosh, thanks in advance for coming tonight! Let me get your orders and I'll be right back." She walked away with a spring in her step, energized by the thought of tonight's show.
Jess and Eric were deep in conversation about college basketball so I turned my attention to Thalia. "How do y'all know each other?" I asked.
"College," Thalia answered. "Eric dated three – no, make that four of my friends."
"You two never…" I started to ask teasingly.
"God, no! Eric's always been more of a brother to me. Plus, I always had a thing for Jess," she said, winking at her husband.
Jess and Thalia told me a few stories from their college days. Eric was the butt of each story. I laughed until my ribs ached and Eric shook his head with a mock scowl. I'd finished my latte and was needing to run some errands, so said my goodbyes.
"It was nice to meet you both. I'll see you all tonight." I smiled.
"We'll definitely meet up at Schiller's. I love that place," enthused Thalia.
I caught Amelia to give her a quick goodbye and was out the door.
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There was a knock on my door at six o'clock on the nose.
"Come in!" I yelled from my bedroom as I pulled on my boots. Lafayette was meeting me at my apartment and we were going down to Schiller's together. I slung my purse over my shoulder and hurried into the living room.
"Hey, Sookie gi…" he abrubtly stopped short and gave me a once over. "What the fuck is that?" he asked indicating my outfit with a slash of his pointer finger.
"Uh, my outfit." I answered with sarcasm, looking down at my black boots, dark blue jeans and black turtleneck sweater. Perfectly acceptable in my book.
"Wrong. Get back in there and try again." He shooed me with a flick of his wrist and sank onto the couch.
I rolled my head back in exasperation and marched back to my room in a huff, tearing open my closet door. I reemerged a minute later in a v-neck crimson blouse. Lafayette looked at me and rejected my second effort like a pitcher shaking off a sign.
I cocked out my leg and stood with my arms akimbo. "Well, what am I supposed to wear, Lafayette?"
Lafayette wordlessly got up off the couch and pulled me by the elbow down the hallway to my closet. I sat on the edge of my bed and listed to the sound of crinkling dry cleaning bags, the metallic scrape of hangers against the hanging rod and heavy sighs as he tore through my selection. Eventually he spun around holding up a black blouse with the tags still attached.
"This." Lafayette said simply.
"Oh, Lafayette - I was planning to return it," I whined and scrunched up my face. "It's just…."
"Too fashionable to be in your wardrobe? Not boring enough? Just put it on." He tossed it to me and swept out of the room closing the door behind him.
The top was an impulse buy from a couple of months ago. It had seemed like a good idea in the dressing room, but once I'd gotten it home I realized I'd never wear it. The blouse was fairly simple; it had long dolman sleeves and draped – almost plunged - rather dramatically in the front. The back had a deep keyhole opening. It was sexy in an understated way and revealed more than I was accustomed to, but substantially less than I frequently saw on other women.
I loosely pinned the front sections of my hair back so it was half up, threw in some long dangly gold earrings à la Studio 54, and stacked a few gold bangled on my left wrist. I returned to the living room and raised my eyebrows and hands to wordlessly ask for Lafayette's approval.
"Much better. Let's go."
We were lucky to find a cab and made it to the Lower East Side in record time, and actually arrived a little before seven. Since it was still early we were able to land a table that seated four close to the bar. I ordered moules frites and a glass of white wine, thankful that I had time to eat before the play.
Wendy arrived next and Bill and Chip followed closely on her heels. Wendy sat with us and ordered too while Bill and Chip staked out a spot at the bar. Schiller's was a relatively new restaurant that was designed to look like it had been around for decades. The white subway tiled walls and penny tiled floors were sufficiently covered in enough faux grime to make a neat freak's skin crawl. Vintage light fixtures, cloudy mirrors, an L-shaped zinc bar and mismatched, beat up furniture all added up to a transporting, albeit deafening atmosphere.
"Sookie," Wendy leaned over so I could hear her, but I still had to strain to hear her over the din of the crowd. "I need to talk to you about the Night Out piece."
I raised an eyebrow while I took a sip of wine to let her know I was listening.
"Listen, I'm sorry, but it just didn't work to include the bit about the group home in the piece."
"What? That's the whole reason I agreed to do it in the first place!" I was livid, and felt like I'd been cheated.
"Hey, I know, but you've got to trust me on this. A tiny mention of the visit in the piece wouldn't do the organization or the cause justice. I pitched the idea to my editor, and they've agreed to let me do a feature length article on the organization."
"Really? That's fantastic!"
"I know! Truthfully, it's great for me too. I've been dying to write something other than the Night Out piece for over a year now. God, it'll be nice to finally write something with a little substance."
"Well then, congratulations to you!" I lifted my glass in a toast and clinked it with hers.
"I'd really like to interview you for this article. Please?" Wendy implored.
My raised glass sank down to the table and my shoulders slumped at her request. I was facing way more press exposure next week than I'd ever wanted, and now Wendy was wanting me for more.
"Remember, Sookie, it's all about the kids." She said in a gratingly sing song voice. I closed my eyes and took a moment to get over myself.
"You're right. I think it's terrific that you'll be writing it, and I'll be glad to help you however I can." This wasn't about me at all, and I was really thrilled that the group home and the plight of foster kids in general would get more exposure.
This time Wendy raised her glass to clink mine, and winked. "I knew you'd come around." At that moment I could see her attention was captured by something behind me. "Mamma Mia, would you look at that?"
Lafayette and I turned to see what she was making a fuss about. Eric, Thalia and Jess were working their way to us through the crowd and, of course, Eric's face was looming above the rest of the crowd.
I stood to make introductions as they approached. Wendy got out of her chair too and glued herself to Eric's side. Soon she and Eric were engrossed in a conversation with Bill and Chip. Jess and Thalia joined my table and we all chatted over drinks until it was time to leave for the play. For some reason I didn't feel any threat from Wendy - I just wanted to be talking to Eric myself.
The theatre was the size of a postage stamp and that always made me uncomfortable. I much preferred being an anonymous audience member. In a space this close the actors could see my every expression if they wanted…..it was a lot of pressure. I fixed a thoughtful, pleasant look on my face and settled in for the play.
Surprisingly enough, the play was interesting and well done. Amelia gave a moving portrayal of a deranged young woman. The other actors played out her inner thoughts. It ran without any intermission, so was over in a little less than an hour and a half. We lingered for a bit afterwards, and Amelia soon bounced out from the dressing room, ready to hit the town and celebrate finishing the first weekend of the show. I hugged her in congratulations and gave her a bouquet I'd picked up from a Korean deli on the way over.
Amelia suggested we hit a bar around the corner and roped one of her fellow actors into joining us. Upon arrival, Bill kindly bought me a gin and tonic, and I hung out near the bar with him and Chip. Eric was behind me talking to Amelia and her friend Lisbeth. I wanted to jump into their conversation, but couldn't find a graceful way out of my current conversational pairing.
"This place blows," Amelia announced after about twenty minutes. "Let's get out of here. I know another place around the corner that's usually pretty fun."
We put on our coats and like lemmings followed Amelia out the door. Lafayette and I walked arm and arm behind Amelia and soon were ensconced in a booth with Amelia and Lisbeth. I'd scooted into the seat first, so was blocked in by Lafayette. Feeling trapped, I immediately regretted my decision to slide in first, but didn't say anything. From my vantage point I had a great view of Wendy sidling up to Eric again and I was ready to jump out of my skin.
Lafayette noticed I was a little uptight and squeezed my shoulders to try to relax me a little.
"Jesus, you're tense. You've got knots in your shoulders the size of boulders."
"It's where I carry my tension I guess." I shrugged.
"I think you need to get laid."
"Lafayette!" I shrieked. I reddened and glanced around to make sure nobody else aside from our table heard him.
"You do. When's the last time?"
"I'm not telling you that." I snipped back indignantly.
"Two years." Amelia answered for me. I shot her a death glare.
Lafayette's jaw dropped. "Are you telling me that Quinn was…."
"Uh, huh," Amelia answered for me again.
"Sookie girl, I had no idea. Your case is more dire than I realized." He looked at Amelia, "We really need to work on this." She nodded back gravely.
"Good Lord. Can we please not talk about this? At least not right now?" I pleaded, my hands shielding my eyes.
"Fine, but this conversation is not over." Lafayette conceded.
Mercifully our waitress arrived with our drinks and I took a long draw from my gin and tonic. The conversation moved on to the play's crazy director who was dating the producer but sleeping with the stage manager. Before long, Amelia got antsy and rounded up the troops to once again move.
We reached our third post-play destination - a quintessential downtown dive. By this point I was very frustrated at my lack of one-on-one time with Eric and felt a little uninhibited after a couple of gin and tonics. We settled in around a couple of tables that had been haphazardly pushed together. Eric was one of the first to sit down. I was determined to finally sit next to him, but before I could reach the chair, Wendy darted in to snag it. I chuckled to myself at the ridiculousness of the situation and claimed my consolation seat next to Wendy. My eyes landed on a pool table situated on the far side of the bar and I craned my neck a bit to see if anybody was playing.
"Do you play?" Eric asked me over Wendy.
In response I gave him a half smile, stood, and threaded my way through the crowd to the empty table. I didn't look to see if he'd followed me. I knew he would. Eyeing the cues on the wall, I pulled down a 19 ounce cue and squinted down the shaft with one eye while rolling it with my hand to make sure it was straight. Eric looked at me with amusement.
"What?" I asked in an innocent tone. "Pick your cue. Are you gonna rack 'em, or should I?" My alcohol intake was causing my speech to get lazy and I was slipping into a thicker southern accent. I was also becoming more brazen.
"I think I'd like to see you rack them." Eric grinned with a slightly cocked eyebrow.
"Fine." I laid my cue on the table while pulling the rack from the slot under the table, and with a practiced ease flipped the triangle out and slid it against the bumper. Reaching under the table I extracted the pool balls, efficiently dropped them in the rack, then arranged them properly for the break. Sliding the rack and balls back and forth a couple of times, I lined them up perfectly before carefully lifting the rack up with a flourish and depositing it back under the table.
I retrieved my cue and rolled the cue ball down the table to Eric. "Your break." I directed.
He cocked his head to the side, narrowed his eyes a bit and questioned with a smile, "Why do I feel like I'm about to get hustled?"
"Oh please, Eric. I would never conceal my abilities in order to win. I don't cheat." I said in a mockingly offended tone.
"But you clearly know you way around a pool table."
"That I do," I grinned back at him, "and I did make a lot of money playing pool in college."
"So how'd you do it? Do you have Black Widow skills?"
"Pffft, hardly. Do you know how many guys thought they could beat me at pool simply because I was a woman? I'm good but I'm not that good. I know my limitations. But there were a lot of guys with egos that though they couldn't lose to me. They'd want to put ten bucks on a game - I'd beat 'em. They'd want to go double or nothing - I'd beat 'em." I shrugged my shoulders and laughed thinking about it.
I stood at the opposite end of the table from Eric. As he was about to break, I chalked up the end of the cue then gently blew the loose dust from the top. The sound of a poorly hit ball snapped my attention back to the table. Eric had totally blown the break.
"What happened there?" I asked with a skeptical expression on my face.
"Uh, I got distracted."
"Oh, really?" I laughed. "I think you should break again. But after that promising start maybe we need to put a friendly wager on the game?"
A glint sparked in Eric's eye. "Okay. You call it. What are we playing for?"
"Well I hadn't thought that far. A latte?"
"Come on, Sookie. You can do better than that."
"Uh, help with my itinerary for Greece?"
"I already said I'd do that. Plus, what would I get if I won?"
I blew out a breath as I thought. "How about lunch? And bragging rights of course."
Eric looked slightly disappointed. "Fine. But I must say I'm…surprised by your lack of creativity."
"Whatever. Just break, Eric," I said, delivering the head shake, eyeroll, with a slight smile trifecta.
This time he hit pay dirt on his break and sunk two balls – a stripe and a solid. He followed it up with a stripe, but then missed his next shot. With laser focus I proceeded to sink five solid balls, but my last bounced off the corner of the pocket giving Eric a chance to come back. He hit a couple in before it was back to me. I easily dropped my last solid, then called the eight ball to the far right corner pocket. To my immense satisfaction, I hit the ball cleanly and authoritatively for the win.
Crossing to Eric, I reached out my hand to shake his. "Good game," I smiled. My pool 'mentor' in college, Jeremy, taught me to always shake my opponent's hand and look them in the eye after winning so they'd know it wasn't a fluke that I'd won.
"Not so fast, Sookie. Best two out of three?" He began to rack the balls.
"A glutton for punishment, eh?" I laughed.
"I don't plan on losing again. I believe it's your break?" He rolled the cue ball to me.
As I leaned down to line up my shot, my brain suddenly registered the music blaring through the bar. It was Bonnie Raitt's 'Something to Talk About'. Casually scanning the establishment for the jukebox, I finally spotted it at the end of the long bar. Lafayette and Amelia were conspiratorially huddled over it, pointing out song possibilities to one another and laughing heartily. I quickly turned back to the task at hand. I could only imagine what was coming next.
With a satisfying crack, I broke the balls up across the table, but nothing fell so it was Eric's turn. I never had the chance to shoot again that game – he was on a tear and everything dropped for him.
As the eight ball fell into the pocket I raised my eyebrows and nodded. "Impressive."
"I don't like to lose." He said with a cocky grin all over his face.
"Well, then I apologize in advance, cause you're about to go down."
"Talking smack will get you in all kinds of trouble, Sookie."
"Only if I can't back it up." I racked the balls to 'I Can't Fight This Feeling Any Longer'. I was going to kill Lafayette and Amelia.
Eric had a decent break, but he only hit one ball in the pocket before it was my turn. I knocked a couple in before missing. We pretty much matched each other shot for shot, but I managed to stay one up on Eric throughout the game and was determined to win. I was up with only the eight ball to sink and Eric still had one left on the table. I didn't have a clear shot, but it was one that I had successfully made plenty of times before. 'Hooked on a Feeling' began to play next. I smiled and shook my head a little.
Leaning down over the table, I carefully lined up my shot. My muscles were tensed with deep concentration and I was about to let it rip when Eric's low voice rumbled in my ear, "You sure about that? I think you've got the angle all wrong."
I jumped a little at the sound of his voice and froze in place, then noticed his large hand gripping the bumper just to my left and the heat from his body radiated against my side. He was leaning right over me to see my shot.
"Excuse me," I said, remaining in place, but stiffly turning my neck to look back at him, "Can you give me a little space so I can shoot?"
He backed up, but my concentration had completely evaporated. I tried to regain my composure and line up the shot again, but I was flustered. I took a deep breath and shot. The eight ball dropped, but the cue ball followed right behind. I lost.
I spun to face Eric with my hands on my hips and leveled a dirty look at him. "What was that?"
He shrugged. "All's fair in love, war and pool. I'll look forward to lunch when I'm back in town." With a self-satisfied grin on his face he returned the cues to the stand on the wall.
We rejoined the group but the bartender bellowed out last call shortly thereafter. After lingering a while longer, we all made our way outside. Jess, Thalia, Eric, Amelia and I were all headed to the Upper West Side. We tried to convince a cab driver to take all five of us, but he was adamant about only four.
"You and Amelia take this one," Eric offered, "we'll take the next."
We all said our goodbyes and Amelia and I sunk into the back seat. We rode for several blocks in silence before Amelia finally spoke.
"What are you going to do about Eric, Sookie? It's pretty obvious that you're into each other."
I looked out the window at the passing traffic and giggled thinking about the evening. "I don't know. It's fun, you know…the tension. Sometimes it's the most exciting part, don't you think? Plus it's such a busy time with work, and the Party of the Year is coming up. It seems like it would be better to sort of just let things continue as is until the event is over."
Amelia grumbled unintelligibly under her breath.
"I give you my word….assuming everything is still good, I will make my move as soon as the Party of the Year is over."
"Really? That's so progressive of you, Sookie." Amelia said with an eyeroll.
I playfully punched her arm. "Oh, shut up. We'll just see how it all plays out."
A/N As always, thanks for reading. Your comments, story alerts and favorites help spur on my writing - they are greatly appreciated!
On another note, for those who are interested, I've posted a link on my profile to an article about the reconstruction of the statue Adam at the Met. It's what I based the Augustus statue incident on - it's pretty fascinating.