At The Pogue
Rating: PG-13Not mine ~ they're just borrowing my head for a playground! :0)
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It took longer than usual to find a parking space when we got to the Pogue. I think everyone in Boston was out celebrating. Yeah it was the Brewers, but it was still a win, and we were still tied for first with the Yankees! Finally I found a spot a few blocks away ~ a parallel parking spot in between a BMW and a Mercedes. Great, just great. I had trouble doing it in a tiny car, much less a large, cumbersome SUV. My idea of parallel parking is finding a long row of available spots and pulling all the way down the line to the last available spot. Hector knew it, too.
"You want me to park it, baby?"
"No thank you. I'm perfectly. . . Jeeze I hate this!"
"You're doing fine. Just pull up a little farther and cut back a little more sharply."
"Shut up! You're worse than Dad when I was trying to learn to drive!"
"Alright. If you change your mind, I'll just be over here waiting. And trying not to laugh at you."
"Thanks." It took a few tries, but I finally maneuvered the tank into the spot.
"Well done!" Hec playfully grabbed for me as we got out of the car. This siblingesque picking on each other went back a long time with the two of us. When I was in LA, everyone thought we were together, but that thought never even crossed our minds. Well, at least not my mind. Hec's just a good, solid, platonic friend ~ and the big brother I never had. Well, you know what I mean. James doesn't count. Whenever someone threatened me, Hec was all over them.
Our play continued all the way to the door of the Pogue, by which point, Hector had me upside down over his shoulder. If Dad hadn't known that he was coming into town and I'd planned for us to drop in, I think he would have been worried to see a big burly guy carry me through the door that way. As it was, he spotted us and yelled hello.
"Hector Chirullo, get over here right now ~ well, without dropping my daughter on her head."
"Yes, sir." He proceeded to carry me over to the bar and plop me down right in front of Dad. "It's great to see you again, Max. It's been a long time." Hector looked at me, and I felt slightly guilty for leaving LA without even telling my best friend.
"Welcome to Boston! Boy, you guys had quite a game to watch today! The place has been buzzing!"
"Yeah. The game was incredible. And with the Cubs beating the Yankees, we're still tied! It's amazing!!" Caught up in the excitement, I threw my arms around Dad.
"This place looks amazing, Max. It doing well?"
"Things are getting straightened out. It started a bit slow, but things are picking up."
"You should have seen this place when Dad got it! It was a mess. He did everything himself ~ well, along with a little forced labor."
"Watch it or you'll be playing bar wench for the rest of your life!"
"Ha ha! Oh, you see the fireplace? Dad found that himself when he was getting things ready to open."
"Very cool! What do you want Jordan? My treat."
"Oh no you don't. Your drinks are on the house tonight."
"Max, you really don't have to. . ."
"Nonsense. I can certainly buy the man who kept an eye on my little girl out in California a few drinks. What'll it be?"
"Two drafts?" He looked at me questioningly and I nodded. About that time, Nigel found his way over to us.
"It's about time you got here! The party's been going on for a while!"
"Yeah, well, when you drive. . ."
"Public transport, luv! It's the only way to go! Ahem, introductions?" Nige nodded towards Hector, who was collecting our beers. I motioned towards the small table in the back, just right for conversations, which was amazingly still empty. As we got there, Hector set the drinks down and turned towards Nigel, his hand held out.
"Nige, this is my friend Hector Chirullo. Hec, this is my computer guru Nigel Townsend."
"Nice to meet you man! Computer guru, huh? You gonna get this girl into the 21st century?"
"Kicking and screaming all the way. But she's learning."
"Say Nige, I see you made it out of Fenway alright, but what about. . .?"
"Woodrow? He made it out alright."
"Where is he? I know Hec wants to see him again."
"He's over there." Nigel motioned with his head towards the opposite corner of the bar where Woody sat staring dejectedly down at the table as he rolled his beer between his hands.
"He looks so pitiful! Tell him to come over here and have some fun! Hey, we've been doing it for years here in Boston when our team loses."
"Well, there's that, and then. . ."
"What?" I could tell that Nigel had more to say but wasn't sure if it was alright to talk in front of Hector. The gracious guy that he is, Hec offered to visit the facilities for a minute.
"I gotta go anyway after Cavanaugh's driving. I'll be back." I punched him on the shoulder and pointed out the door he was looking for, then motioned for Nigel to sit down.
"What's up Nige? What else happened?"
"I think Woodrow's suffering from a bad case of jealousy."
"What? But Hec and I are just friends ~ he's like my big brother and we haven't seen each other since I came back here. And I didn't exactly leave him nicely."
"Same old 'Jordan sends a note?'"
"Yeah." I was embarrassed that Nigel knew my M.O. so well, but then again, he and Garret had been the recipients of one of those notes before.
"Jordan. . . But never mind. That's not what we're talking about here. Woody had binoculars with him."
"Well yeah, to see the game. Far left field isn't exactly ideal, though you might get the occasional long foul ball."
"It wasn't the game that had his attention most of the time."
"Huh?"
"Jordan, he managed to find the two of you and spent a good deal of time watching you rather than the game."
"He knew I had a friend coming into town."
"I think he assumed the friend was female."
"But Hec and I. . . Oh my God. He thinks we're together together?"
"I think so. And I've gotta say, luv, from what I saw when he pointed you out to me, if I was in his shoes, I'd think the same thing."
"Oh God no! Hector and I are just friends. We've always picked on each other and messed around ~ but not that way."
"It's not exactly the side of Jordan Cavanaugh I know, but I have to admit it was good to see you having fun for a change."
"You now how it is when you get pigeonholed into a certain role. I've got the dark, slightly psychotic role at the morgue here ~ I don't think Garret can see me any other way than troubled. There no one knew about my background. Hector was the detective on the first case I was assigned in LA and we just sort of bonded. I can't explain it. But I've never felt anything other than platonic love for him. Never. Sort of like you and me. We're close, but not the way most people think of when a guy and girl say they're close."
"I do understand, luv. But I don't think that Woody does. He said something about 'even after all the chili-cheeseburgers' or something like that. . ."
"Oh lord! He really bought it. Damn I feel bad now, Nigel."
"Why?"
"You remember when Woody went out to LA when he was supposed to be in Wisconsin?"
"How can I forget?"
"Ha! Anyway, he got into a bit of a mess and called me and asked for help. I knew Hec was gonna be his best shot, so I gave him Hec's number. When I said we had 'issues' I meant from the way I left. . . I'd heard from him and knew he was upset, but he understood things. And Woody jumped to conclusions and figured he was my 'angry Latino ex-boyfriend.' And I let him believe that."
"Jordan. . ."
"Well, Hec was always sort of my protector out there, not that anyone else ever knows about that ~ he just looked out for me if guys started bugging me. He had this routine about chili-cheeseburgers and how he'd been all that until I 'decided I had intimacy issues and left him.' Most of them ran, the creeps anyway. I called him to tell him that Woody would be calling, and we decided based on Woody's assumption to mess with his mind a little bit. I guess maybe we went too far." Without realizing it, my face had apparently become pensive and even sad. Hector had returned from the restroom, and he and Nigel both laid their hands on my hand. They spoke over each other so that I had to ask them to repeat themselves one at a time.
Nigel simply looked at me sadly and said "Oh, Jordan. . ."
"Oh God Baby, if I'd known you really cared about the guy. . ." Hector, on the other hand, felt immensely responsible for the whole situation. I could tell from his voice and the look in his eyes.
"Hector, it's not your fault. I'm the one who let Woody believe. . . And anyway, I don't think I realized how much I care about him until I looked over there and saw him sitting all alone. Shit! What the hell have I done?"
"Let me go talk to him." That's Hector ~ always doing whatever he can to make things better and make me happy.
"No. Well, not alone anyway. I helped to make this mess. I should help clean it up." We walked over to the table where Woody sat. He never looked up until I was right on top of him.
"Hey Woody."
"Hey." Oh God he sounded down.
"I know that your team. . . Well, did you and Nigel have fun?"
"Oh tons Jordan. It was a barrel of laughs. Thank you so much." There was no missing the sarcasm in his voice.
"Woody, I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"I let you make an assumption about Hector and me ~ an incorrect assumption. And I'm sorry."
"What?"
"We were never together the way you think we were. He's just a friend. A very good friend ~ like a big brother. We never did anything."
"Hard to tell that from what I saw."
"Oh Woody, I'm so sorry. Hec and I. . .we've always been like that. Real physical with each other, but it's strictly platonic." I saw Hector moving towards us. "Don't believe me? Ask him."
"Hey man. Good to see you again." Hector held out his hand and I prayed that Woody would take it.
"Hi." Well, he did, but that was the sickest excuse for a handshake I've seen in my life.
"Man she's telling you the truth. We never had anything physical in our relationship ~ not physical that way."
"So the whole chili-cheeseburger thing?"
"A little routine I developed in LA to protect her."
"She doesn't need 'protecting' from me."
"Woody, I know that. I just thought it would be fun to mess with you a little. I had no idea that. . ."
"That what Jordan? That I care about you? Even love you? I know you say you're not good at relationships, but even reading signals? I was in idiot to think I had a chance with you. I mean, look at you ~ you're beautiful. And smart. And when you let yourself open up, more passionate and caring than anyone I've ever met in my life. And I'm just some dumb 'farm boy' from Wisconsin. Thanks, Jordan. Thanks a lot." During his speech, he got up and as he finished it, he moved towards the door and went out, letting it slam behind him.
I sank down into the chair at the table, stunned not only by his words but by my inner reaction to them. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut, the head, the heart, everywhere. I felt physically sick. What had I done?
The bar had thinned out enough that Dad heard everything that Woody said and quickly made his way to the table where I sat with Hector and Nigel standing there, not knowing what to do. I might not have said anything, but Dad could read me like a book and he knew what I'd begun to feel for Woody, even before I was ready to admit it to myself. He knelt down in front of me and took my hands in his.
"Oh sweetheart. I'm so sorry." And he embraced me in one of his great Dad bear hugs.
"Dad, I don't know what there is to do. I really hurt him. I didn't mean to, but I did."
"Go talk to him, Jordan. Tell him how you feel. Believe me, I know how scary that is for you, but tell him everything. I've watched him for the past year and a half and in spite of your warnings and my warnings, he's fallen in love with you."
"Your warnings?"
"We can talk about that later. Jordan, he's hurting now, but if you're open and honest with him, he'll come around. This is. . . I know he will." I knew what he was going to say. This is nothing like the affair that Mom had that resulted in James. But would Woody see it the same way?
"Go on, luv. I'll entertain your friend here and get him back to your place. It'll be fun to get to know someone who knows Jordan Cavanaugh from outside the confines of the Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office."
"Thanks Nige."
"Babe, I'm so sorry for causing this."
"It wasn't your fault Hector. I thought it would just be a joke. I never expected for him to. . . But that's a moot point now."
"If it's easier for me to stay somewhere else. . ."
"You can stay with me." Nigel finished his sentence for him. "It's not a problem at all."
"Thanks Hec. Nige. Dad."
"Now go on and get out of here." Three voices spoke in unison as they pushed me out the door.
I ran to my car and started driving to Woody's place. I just hoped that he was there. And that I wasn't too late. . .
. . .to be continued. . .