Whatever It Is

The whole silent ride to Gordon’s, Carlos realized how wrong of an impression his younger teammate would get. He wasn’t with this girl. Hell, he didn’t even know her name.

It was too late now though, he’d just have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

Once they had reached their destination, they wordlessly made their way up to Gordon and Anne’s door. Carlos knocked, and Anne called out that it was open.

Carlos turned the handle, walking in and standing aside to let Hazel in before shutting the door behind her. They could hear Anne and Gordon coming out of the kitchen to greet them.

“So, Carlos, I didn’t know if you wanted…” Anne trailed off, seeing Hazel as well. “…coffee.”

“Babe, why’d you stop?” Gordon chuckled from behind her, walking into the room. “Zell, what are you doing here?”

Gordon glanced at Carlos before looking back over at his sister.

“You right sack of shit,” Gordon barreled over to Carlos, tackling him to the floor.

“Gordon!” Hazel and Anne both exclaimed. The two men wrestled on the ground, the older one not knowing why he was just attacked.

“Gordon…what’s…your…problem?” Carlos asked in-between breaths as he tried to escape his teammate’s grasp.

“I specifically asked you to not go there with her,” Gordon grunted.

“Go where with who?” Carlos managed, flipping Gordon off of him and using the moment to attack right back. As they were going at it, Hazel tried to break them apart while Anne tried catching everything they were knocking over. Soon, Hazel gave up on trying to intervene and instead helped Anne protect her belongings.

All the while, Gordon and Carlos were arguing with each other, and Anne and Hazel were also yelling at the boys. Anne was sure her neighbors were going to talk to her about this later.

Soon enough, Carlos and Gordon began to tire out, and while they were still wrestling they weren’t moving around so much. Hazel and Anne were able to stand back without having to worry about them breaking anything, giving both women an opportunity to just watch.

Hazel let her eyes roam over Carlos’ toned back, where as Anne was able to enjoy both men’s bulging muscles.

They wrestled around a bit more until Hazel pried her brother away from Carlos.

“What are you doing?” She scolded.

“Yeah Gordon, what are you doing?” Carlos echoed, breathing heavily.

“Hush up,” Hazel barked at Carlos, who closed his mouth immediately. Gordon smirked at him tauntingly until Hazel smacked the backside of his head. “Are you going to answer me?”

“You’ll just hit me again if I tell you,” Gordon mumbled.

“I’ll hit you worse if you don’t,” Hazel remarked.

“I asked him not to sleep with you, and then you both come strolling in here this morning like-”

“You never told me not-” Carlos interrupted.

“Hey!” Hazel yelled, shutting them up and turning to Gordon. “You told him what?”

Gordon looked at her sheepishly, not wanting to answer.

“James Gordon Beckham,” Hazel warned.

“He doesn’t have relationships, okay? He just sleeps with women. I was just looking out for you,” Gordon argued.

“First of all, my love life is none of your business, so be like the old lady who fell out of the wagon,” Hazel said.

“Be like…the what?” Anne interrupted.

“It means stay out of it,” Gordon snapped. He hadn’t meant to yell at his girlfriend, but all the arguing had clouded his mind. “Sorry,” he amended.

“You fucking better be,” Anne mumbled.

“Second of all,” Hazel continued, completely ignoring the couple’s bickering. “You do realize that by assuming Carlos slept with me you are also implying that I’m some easy trollop.”

“No, Zell, I never meant that, it’s just Carlos I was worried about,” Gordon assured.

“Well what the Hell is wrong with him?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” Carlos butt in. “And before I even go any further, who are you?”

“Hazel. Gordon’s sister,” she answered. Suddenly everything started coming back to Carlos. He remembered meeting her, he remembered getting drunk, and while the rest of the night was hazy, there were still certain things he recalled. Or, at least he thought he recalled.

He could clearly see him kissing her, but at the same time he wasn’t so sure she would have let that happen.

He remembered throwing up, and her taking care of him. He also vaguely recalled watching TV with her.

That was why they woke up on the couch.

“You don’t even remember having sex with my sister?” Gordon accused.

“We didn’t have sex, James!” Hazel screamed, exasperated. “I wish you wouldn’t go around half cocked and counting your chickens before they hatch.”

All the southern expressions were making Carlos’ head spin, and it also sometimes made it hard to follow the conversation. Carlos never thought he’d have to translate English into English.

“You didn’t?”

“No. He was three sheets to the wind, so I took care of him. I stayed the night, since Carlos was concerned enough not to send me home in the dark at that time of night. Then you called him over for breakfast this morning, and he brought me along,” Hazel explained. Gordon nodded, avoiding eye contact with everyone. “I ain’t no Jezebel.”

“I know you’re not, Hazel, I just…I thought…I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah. Apologize to your teammate.”

Gordon looked over at Carlos, who had an un-amused look spread across his face.

“Carlos, listen-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Carlos pardoned, a small smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

“Go fix us some breakfast,” Hazel ordered.

“Yes ma’am,” Gordon grinned, grabbing Anne and disappearing into the kitchen. Hazel began to follow, but Carlos caught her wrist.

She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak, but he just kept opening and closing his mouth. Soon Hazel had had enough, and rolled her eyes before walking away. Carlos stood there frustrated for a moment, and then walked into the kitchen with everyone else.

Breakfast was awkward to say the least, but not between Gordon and Carlos. It was awkward between Carlos and Hazel, which was really Carlos’ fault. He was being reclusive, not joining into the conversation. What made it awkward between him and Hazel, however, was that he always found himself looking at her. Studying her. Trying to figure her out.

Yet, at the same time, he wasn’t sure what the mystery was. What did he want to know?

He finally sighed and excused himself to the bathroom, where he splashed water on his face. He was hung-over, he was tired, and he just needed to regroup.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Gordon was looking curiously at his sister.

“What?” She asked him, not even having to look at him to know he was studying her.

“I’m sorry,” he responded.

“Gordon, let’s just forget it, okay? No harm no foul,” she shrugged.

Gordon nodded, turning back to his food.

“So when do I get to see your place?”

“Whenever you’re free little brother,” Hazel smirked. Gordon gave her a lopsided grin as Carlos came back into the room.

Anne began cleaning up, and Hazel shot a look to her younger brother to help her. Gordon immediately rose, walking over to the sink and drying the dishes Anne had washed.

“Carlos, you going back home?” Gordon asked.

“Well, I’ve got my bag, but I need to take your sister home,” he replied.

“I can take her,” Anne offered. “If it would make things easier.”

“Alright. Let me go grab my stuff,” Gordon said, walking out of the room. A few moments later, he called out to Anne, not being able to find something. She sighed dramatically before smiling and excusing herself, leaving Carlos and Hazel alone.

“So, you’re a regular Casanova then, huh?” Hazel stated.

“What?”

“Womanizer,” Hazel clarified. “Heartbreaker. Don Juan. Lady-killer. Skirt chaser-”

“I get it,” Carlos snapped. “And no, I’m not.”

“So you don’t ‘just sleep with women’ then, like my brother said?”

“No.”

“So, you sleep with men then?” Hazel teased. “Are you light in the loafers?”

“No,” Carlos said, clenching his jaw. “I sleep with women, I just don’t have relationships with them.”

“Oh,” Hazel nodded. Carlos looked away, thinking the conversation was over. “So, you’re a womanizer.”

Carlos didn’t answer, and instead took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm himself.

“Why are you so against relationships?”

“Because I’m afraid that one day I’m going to get stuck with someone like you and never have a moments peace ever again,” Carlos said through gritted teeth. He walked away after that, picking up his bag just as Gordon and Anne came back out.

“So Zell, I was thinking, after Carlos and I are done with practice and working out, how about you take me to your place and the two of us catch up over an early dinner or something?” He asked.

Hazel nodded, still a little stunned by Carlos’ words.

“Alright, so Annie don’t worry about taking her home. I’ll just swing by here and get her. See you ladies later,” Gordon said, kissing them both on the cheek before leaving with Carlos in tow.

The two girls sat on the couch in the living room, chatting over a cup of coffee.

“You can come tonight too,” Hazel offered.

“No, Gordon really wants to catch up with you alone. I’m actually going to meet a girl from work for dinner tonight,” Anne said. “Gordon is so excited that you’re here, you have no idea.”

Hazel grinned, happy that she made her little brother happy. Although, she hated saying ‘little brother,’ because Gordon always acted older and protective. And he was always bigger. She might have actually been older than him, but the two always acted as if it were the opposite. She really looked up to Gordon, and always felt like he was her safety net.

Hazel and Anne talked a little longer before Anne got an idea. She decided to show Hazel a few of the games that Gordon had already played in that she had recorded on TV.

A few minutes into the first game, Carlos was up to bat.

“Is he always so…angry?” Hazel asked as Carlos struck out. He had sworn loudly, causing Hazel’s eyes to widen.

“Yeah. He’s really serious when it comes to baseball,” Anne explained. “He’s pretty hard on himself if he doesn’t perform well. Actually, he’s pretty hard on himself even when he does perform well.”

“That’s intense.”

“That’s Carlos. He’s the most intense guy out there,” Anne nodded. “This one time, he got mad at himself for fouling off a pitch so he slammed his wrist against his bat in frustration. No one really thought anything of it, but then later it tuned out he had broke it. He had to miss the rest of the season. Boy, was he pissed.”

“Idiot,” Hazel muttered. If there was one person on the face of this planet that Hazel was pretty sure she'd never understand (and never want to), it was Carlos Quentin.