Chapter 4: Adding to the Problem

2:37pm: 6 hours and 23 minutes Before Closing:

A man walked into the Quick Stop and looked at the two young men upset behind the counter.

"What's wrong with you two?" he had a thick Spanish accent.

They both pointed to the broken TV.

"What happen?"

They both answered at the same time. "Something stupid."

"Oh..." The guy said and then looked over to the broken AC. "What happen to that?"

Munch was standing on top of the stool trying to fix the conditioner and he looked at the Spanish guy. "Something stupid."

"Okay…" The guy turned back to Elliot and Fin. "Let me get a pack of Newports and a scratch off."

Elliot took both from behind the counter and handed them to the guy. "$4.50"

The guy took out his wallet and paid them. "I'm surprised you two ain't watching the game."

"The TV is broken genius." Fin sneered.

"Smartass," the guy started to walk out of the store. "Both those team suck! The Angels are the best!"

They ignored the guy as he left and they went back to watching Munch trying to fix the AC. Olivia came from the back room with a few tools and handed them to him.

"You two could help." She looked at her other friends.

"Why?" Fin questioned. "Munch is doing fine on his own and you say he never does enough work around here. Put him to good use."

"Screw you; I do plenty of work around here." Munch said.

"Sure you do." Fin leaned back in his chair.

Elliot looked at him. "Speaking of 'putting to good use' why don't you look in the basement?"

"For what?"

"Liv told me Cragen had an old TV somewhere." Elliot said.

"It's small but it should do the trick." She knew her friends really wanted to watch the game. "He used it until I convinced him to switch to high definition. I don't think he threw it out so it should be down there."

"Alright." Fin got up and headed towards the back of the store.

"And hurry!" Elliot hollered. "By the time you find it it'll probably be the end of 4th inning!"

2:50pm: 6 hours and 10 minutes Before Closing:

While Fin was still searching for the old TV in the basement the others were still trying to fix the AC.

John eventually stopped working. "I don't think it can be fixed." He put down the tools and hopped off the stool. "We're going to have to call somebody."

"Nobody is going to fix this thing until Monday." Elliot said.

"Well then make an appointment." Munch told him.

Elliot picked up his cell phone and grabbed the phone book from underneath the counter.

"Well since that's taken care of, who's hungry?" Munch asked.

"Are you paying for all of us?" Olivia asked.

"On my salary?"

"Why don't we get a pizza and split it 4-ways." Olivia suggested.

"Sure," He agreed. "Hey Elliot we're going to get a pizza from down the block."

Elliot was on hold with an electrician. "Half plain half peperoni."

"Like always." Munch responded.

Elliot handed him a few dollars. "Get me a sprite please."

"Okay," Olivia said as they left the store.

Elliot was by himself now and the electrician was on the phone.

"Yes hello, I'm an employee at the Quick Stop convenience store and our AC broke." He spoke into the phone. "I'd like to schedule an appointment on Monday." He waited a few seconds for a response. "Yes Monday at 9am is good, thank you." He hung up the phone.

Soon Fin came back up from the basement and he had a 16 inch TV in his arms. "Found it!"

"Alright, now we can get back to the game!" Elliot cheered.

"Where's Liv and Munch?" Fin asked.

"They went to get pizza."

They set up the TV on a stool and plugged it in. Fin turned it on but when it came to life the picture was in black and white. "How old is this damn thing?"

"Ah what's it matter?" Elliot questioned. "We can still see and hear the game."

They switched through the channels until they got to the game. They high fived each other in excitement. It was the bottom of the fourth inning and the score was Mets 3, Yankees 2 they were still in this game.

"We're catching up Fin." Elliot smiled, hopefully his team won't lose.

3:04pm: 5 hours and 56 minutes Before Closing:

The Yankees were still at bat but they had 2 outs. CC Sabathia was on third base and Ichiro Suzuki was at bat.

"Come on Suzuki!" Elliot said. "If he gets a home we'll be up by 1."

"No way he's going to hit it out of the park." Fin told him.

Matt Harvey was on the pitcher's mound, he threw a fastball and Ichiro hit it.

"Dammit!" Fin swore.

It wasn't a home run but it went far into right field. They watched on as Sabathia ran home scoring the Yankees another point. Ichiro passed first base and then second base but one of the Mets outfielders threw the ball to the second baseman and then to the catcher. Ichiro slid to home base but the umpire yelled "You're out!"

"Yes!" Fin cheered. "Told ya' he wasn't gonna hit a home run."

"We're still tied though." Elliot responded.

The teams started to switch sides and while that was happening the television feed went to commercial.

"Alright, we're tied at 3 and we got 3 more innings." Fin said. "I'm calling it now Mets are going to win."

"Like you said, we got 3 more innings to go." Elliot retorted.

Fin went to one of the refrigerators and grabbed a Gatorade. "Want anything?"

"No," Elliot called out. "Olivia is getting me a sprite."

"Why?"

"Because she was going to the pizza shop."

"Dude, you work in a convenience store. Why didn't you just take a sprite?"

"Because I work here."

"So?" Fin walked back up to the counter. "I work here too."

"You're right." Elliot glared at him. "And since you work here you can stay for the rest of the day and do your job."

"If you leave now by the time you get home the game will be over." Fin smirked. "'sides you getting paid today."

"Well yeah but…"

"But what?" Fin interrupted him. "If you'd stayed home and watched the game your sisters would have bothered you all day. You love our company Elliot admit it."

"You guys are assholes but you are my best friends."

"Exactly." Fin loved being right. "Plus you get to spend extra time with Olivia."

"That's true." Elliot agreed. "Actually this morning I asked her out on a date."

Fin raised an eyebrow. "An actual date? For real?"

His Yankees loving friend nodded his head. "Yep, I asked her out."

"Well what she say?" Fin was listening to his every word.

"She was stunned."

"I kinda figured that, you two are the best of friends." He smiled. "You always driving each other home, she helps you study for the police exam and sometimes you have dinner at her house. It was only a matter of time."

"Well she didn't give me an answer." Elliot told him. "But at the end of the day she should."

"I wish the best for you two." Fin opened his Gatorade.

"I really wish you would pay for that." Elliot got back to the matter at hand. "You're not working so that makes you a customer."

"Put it on my employee tab."

Elliot was about to say something when another customer walked in, it was a young lady with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had an ice cold stare that she was directing towards Elliot.

"Oh great," Fin sarcastically said. "More trouble."

The young lady walked up to the counter. "Odafin, Elliot." She put a lot of emphasis on the ladder's name.

Elliot sighed. "Hello Kathy."

"We need to talk." She was demanding. "Privately." She looked at Fin.

"Just pretend I'm not here." He told her. "I'm just tryin' to watch the ball game."

She rolled her eyes and then looked back to Elliot. "I want to get back together."

Elliot's eyes widen, he was genuinely confused. He and Kathy went to the same Catholic school and they dated for 2 years. But there was a bump in their relationship.

"I told you this a thousand times Kathy, we're not getting back together." He firmly stated. "You cheated on me and I can't forgive you for that."

"I didn't cheat on you Elliot." She looked him in the eye.

"Yes you did." He retorted. "You weren't faithful to me."

"I was faithful!" she was getting angrier.

Fin tried to stifle a laugh. Kathy looked at him. "Like I said, I'm not even here."

"Elliot I didn't sleep with anyone I swear to you." She pleaded.

"But you did go down on guys." He was upset that this topic was coming up. "While we were dating."

"It was only once or twice."

"It was 36 times!" Elliot was angry. "You sucked 36 guys' dicks!"

"But I didn't love those guys!" she was trying to defend herself. "I only love you."

"So?" he questioned.

"So?" she repeated. "So what?"

"So if you loved me then why'd you suck 36 dicks?"

She was silent for a moment. "I-I thought you were cheating on me."

"What?!" he was shocked. "Who'd you think I was cheating on you with?!"

"That bitch who works here!"

"Don't you call her that! Her name is Olivia."

"You were cheating on me with her."

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were! You would spend more time with her than me and you wouldn't talk to me. You'd come in here just to talk to her. I need to ask, was I not good enough?" Kathy was really emotional.

"She's my best friend." He said truthfully. "She understands me, just like those two wise guys." He was referring to Fin and Munch. "You hurt me and these are guys are the only ones I can trust." He took a deep breather. "Kathy, I think it be best if you leave."

She was visibly angry but she complied, however she didn't leave without causing Elliot a little more grief. She saw the small TV on the stool and how fast they went back to watching the ball game. She looked at them before pushing the TV over, it made a loud crash and the screen was busted. They got up from their chairs and looked extremely pissed off.

"Enjoy the rest of your day boys." She gave them an evil grin before leaving the Quick Stop.

The duo went to examine the TV, there were small glass shards on the ground so Fin grabbed a broom and dustpan to sweep up. "We can't catch a break today!"

"That's 2 broken TVs in one day!" Elliot sighed. "Liv is going to kill me."

"Don't forget the broken AC." Fin reminded him. "It's starting to get really hot in here."

"All this and I wasn't supposed to work today!" Elliot threw his hands up. "Can this day get any worse?!"

Author's Note: Oh Elliot, you have 5 more hours of work and a lot can happen! *evil laugh*

Also if some of you think my portrayal of Kathy is harsh she's supposed to be like Veronica from Clerks. She told Dante in the movie she sucked 36 dicks but she only had sex with the guys she loved. I needed a reason why those two weren't together and for this story that seemed appropriate (in an inappropriate matter). Like always review are welcome.