Whatever It Is

A few weeks later, after a long road trip, Carlos tiredly walked into Gordon’s apartment along with the younger man.

It was late in the day, and Anne was waiting for their arrival with a nice home-cooked meal. Carlos had wanted to go home, but Gordon convinced him to stop at his place first for some good food.

“Annie!” Gordon called out, setting his bags down. Carlos set his down as well, hearing Anne’s running footsteps. A second later she was engulfed into Gordon’s arms, and he was spinning her around. Carlos clenched his jaw, looking away from them and sitting on the couch.

He could hear Anne giggle as Gordon kissed her, and Carlos ran a hand over his face. Sometimes he wanted a girlfriend, to be able to things like that, but then he remembered all the bad things that would come with it. Carlos was a hardworking guy, sure, but he still wasn’t at the point of wanting to work hard for a woman.

After that scare with Hazel, where he wasn’t sure if he had slept with her or not, Carlos decided to swear off women completely for a while. He had to admit that even doing the one night stand thing was kind of distracting anyway, and all it really did was make him lonelier.

He obviously wasn’t going to admit that to anyone, though.

Suddenly Carlos heard another woman’s laughter, and he immediately froze. He recognized it as Hazel’s laugh, but how he had already come to know it was hers was beyond him. He turned his head, and sure enough she stood in the doorway of the kitchen with an apron tied around her waist.

She turned her gaze away from Gordon and Anne and locked eyes with Carlos, just realizing that he was there. She immediately looked away, backing up into the kitchen. Carlos turned his head to look at the blank television, not moving from the couch.

He heard Gordon greet Hazel, which meant he had gone into the kitchen after finally tearing himself away from Anne. As soon as he thought this, Anne herself sat next to him on the couch.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey,” he grunted back.

“This is a good show,” Anne remarked, looking at the black TV screen. Carlos tore his own gaze away from it to glare at her. “She didn’t know you were coming. I didn’t tell her, because I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. But apparently something happened between you two, or you both wouldn’t be acting this way.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Carlos muttered.

“Fine, be like that. I’m just trying to help, you know. Gordon is oblivious, as always, so I guess you got lucky there,” Anne pointed out. “I don’t think he’d have a problem with you seeing her though. I bet he’d love it, actually.”

“Too bad it’s never going to happen,” Carlos snapped. Anne looked over at him sadly, almost pityingly.

“Alright. Well, dinner should be ready soon. What would you like to drink?” She asked, getting up.

“I’ll take whatever you got,” Carlos said softly. Anne disappeared after that, and when he heard plates and silverware being laid out on the table, he got up to see if he could be of any help. He might have been acting like a jerk lately, but he knew his mom would slap him if she found out he didn’t try and be polite.

Gordon was the one setting the table, and Carlos helped him by setting out the glasses and napkins. Anne and Hazel came out with the food just then, setting it on the table.

Hazel refused to look at Carlos throughout dinner, and the only reason Carlos noticed was because he was constantly glancing at her.

“Carlos, do you think you can give my sister a ride home?” Gordon asked after dessert. Anne glanced at Carlos cautiously.

“Uh…it’s okay babe,” Anne intervened. “I’m sure Carlos just wants to go home after this long road trip.”

“Yeah, but they live right by each other,” Gordon countered, unaware of the underlying reasons Anne had for keeping Carlos and Hazel apart. “Besides, once these two are gone it gives us more time to-”

“Ew,” Hazel interrupted. “Do not talk about sex around your big sister, okay James?”

Gordon grinned, helping his sister grab her stuff. Carlos slowly got up as well, and Anne shot him an apologetic look. He gave her a hug and said goodbye before telling her not to worry about it. Everyone said goodbye as Carlos and Hazel left, and when Carlos shut the door behind him he looked up to see Hazel was already descending the stairs. By the time he caught up to her they were both outside, and she was halfway down the block.

“Hazel!” He called out, trying to get her to stop. She kept walking however, so he jogged to his truck and hopped in. He started it up and drove down the block she was walking on, pulling up next to her. “Don’t you need a ride?” He asked after he rolled down the window. Hazel jumped slightly, startled by the huge vehicle right next to her.

“No, I’m fine,” she refused and continued walking.

“Listen, I know you’re mad at me, but-”

“I’m not mad,” she shook her head. “I thought you were mad. I am embarrassed.” She turned a corner, and Carlos had to wait and give another car the right of way before he could turn and follow her.

“Hazel,” Carlos called again. She stopped and turned to the truck with a sigh, looking at him sheepishly. “Let me drive you home.”

“I’ll get a cab,” she denied, nervously glancing at the car behind Carlos that kept honking at him. He couldn’t have been going over five miles an hour, and other drivers were getting frustrated.

“Just get in the truck,” Carlos ordered, glancing between the road in front of him and the walking girl on the sidewalk next to him.

Hazel finally stopped, but since Carlos happened to be looking at the street he didn’t see her halt. When he glanced out his window again and didn’t see her, he immediately slammed on his brakes, causing the car behind him to lay on the horn and shout angrily. Carlos turned around a little, seeing Hazel a few yards back on the sidewalk.

“Get in,” he waved impatiently. Hazel sighed and scurried over to the passenger side, getting in. Carlos sped off before she could even shut her door, earning a gasp from her. She shut her door quickly and strapped on her seatbelt.

The ride was silent and awkward, like both expected it to be. When Hazel started recognizing their neighborhood, she directed him to her building. Carlos pulled up to the curb and parked his truck, and Hazel hurriedly unbuckled and opened her door.

“Your pie was really good,” Carlos blurted, just as she was about to close it. Hazel swiftly pulled the door back open before it closed all the way and raised an eyebrow at him. “I uh…ate all of it. After you left.”

“All of it?” She asked, a small smile playing at her lips. Carlos smirked at the way her accent made her sentence sound.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And it was good.”

“You said that,” Hazel pointed out.

Carlos absentmindedly nodded and then turned his head to look out his windshield awkwardly before looking back at her. He didn’t know how to say goodbye now that he had rambled on about her pie, so he waited for her to say something first.

“You wanna come up?” She asked, leaning forward a bit. Carlos glanced at her chest before looking back up at her.

Carlos wanted to say yes. She was so damn hot. Her body, her accent, her everything. He wanted to go into her apartment and do things to her that Gordon would slaughter him for.

But that’s why he didn’t.

Gordon would slaughter him. And he valued his friendship with Gordon too much to throw it away by fucking Gordon’s sister.

“Carlos?”

“Sure,” he heard himself say.

Well, fuck.

That wasn’t supposed to come out of his mouth.

Carlos figured it was too late to come up with an excuse now, so he turned his truck off and got out before locking it. Hazel smiled and grabbed his hand once he got close enough, pulling him toward the door of her building. He looked uncomfortably at their intertwined hands, but he didn’t pull his away. Once the two of them made it safely inside her unit, Hazel turned to look at Carlos.

“Make yourself comfy,” she said, walking away. Carlos sat on her couch, glancing around nervously. What the fuck was he doing?

Hazel suddenly came back, holding what looked like two glasses of milk. Carlos raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn’t look at him as she set the cups down and walked away again. The second time she came out she was carrying two plates, and from the smell alone Carlos knew it was her pie. Hazel smiled at Carlos’ excited yet ever stoic expression, setting his plate in front of him.

“Dig in,” she said.

“I really shouldn’t,” Carlos refused.

“Why not?”

“Pie isn’t exactly on a baseball player’s diet regimen,” he answered.

“But beer is?” Hazel countered. “And fried chicken with biscuits and gravy, like you had tonight, that’s okay?”

Carlos fought a smile, picking up his pie. Hazel grinned at him, taking a bite of her own slice. Carlos watched as she slid the fork into her mouth, not realizing that he saw it as a sexual kind of thing. When she slowly pulled it out and licked her lips, Carlos almost dropped his pie. He regained his composure and looked away, trying to eat his pie and clean up his thoughts.

“So how’s your foot feeling?” Hazel asked. Carlos glanced up at her curiously, surprised she even knew about all that.

“It’s good,” he answered. “Not completely one hundred percent, but it’s as close as I’m going to get.”

They continued talking about baseball, and Carlos was surprised that she actually knew a lot about the sport. He found himself relaxing easily around Hazel, something he wasn’t sure he really wanted to do. Sure, he liked her and everything, but he didn’t want to act like an idiot and complicate things.

Or piss Gordon off.