Whatever It Takes

“And that’s Tazer” Patrick finished as he pointed out his friend wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. Arianna smiled in his direction, “It’s nice to meet all of you,” she said, as she looked at all the guys sitting around the table drinking beer. They smiled warmly back at her, some elbowing each other and smirking.

She wasn’t sure what was going on but since they had reached the table, these guys were paying a lot of attention to them; more specifically to her and Patrick. Although she had seen the young captain’s eyes glance over more than once in Marissa’s direction. Even though she was a little uncomfortable with the stares, she found herself quite at ease. That probably had more to do with the fact that Patrick was still beside her and had his arm around her waist.

“Come and take a seat,” Sharpie said to her with a mischievous smile, as he motioned to an empty chair in between him and Seabrook. “Oh God” she heard Patrick mutter under his breath, but she didn’t question it. She smiled back at Sharpie and took her seat, watching as Patrick went and sat across from her next to Jon. Arianna looked at Marissa and made a discreet motion with her eyes for her to go and grab the chair nearest to Jon.

They were all laughing and talking soon, the guys sharing stories with the girls about infamous pranks between them and stories from their away games. Every now and then, Patrick and Arianna’s eyes would find each other. It was this unspoken connection they had, where they just always seemed to fall back to one another. She smiled at him each time and he returned the gesture, his eyes lingering on her after she broke their eye contact. As Keith told a story, Sharpie leaned in closer to Arianna.

“So are you having fun in Chicago?” he asked her, as he took a sip of his beer. “Yeah, actually I am” she responded as she turned herself in her chair to face him more. “Now I have to ask,” he continued, “is it true you didn’t know who Kaner was when you met him? And he was trying to be all impressive with you and you just ditched him?”. Suddenly everyone was listening to their conversation, Keith having stopped midway through his sentence to hear her response. She looked at Patrick who was shaking his head and smirking, although she could see him blushing slightly.

“Uh, yeah” she responded, looking back at Sharpie with a tiny grin, “I don’t really follow you guys as a team so I had no idea who he was. I thought as first he was just some kid with a big ego”. The guys started laughing, Jon hitting his hand against Patrick’s back. Arianna laughed, and looked at Patrick who was blushing even more. She couldn’t help herself; she took one more look at Patrick and they joined in laughing with the rest of the table. “It wasn’t one of my finer moments. And in his defense, he didn’t deserve that” Arianna said after they regained some control. Patrick shot her an appreciative look, “See boys? I’m not so bad after all”. “Yeah ok Kaner. Maybe when you’re sleeping” Seabrook responded, which caused a few of the guys to chuckle again.

Keith resumed his story again, and every one fell back into it. “I’m going to get us more beers” Patrick said as he stood up and looked at Arianna, “you need anything?”. “Nope, I’m good. Thanks” Arianna responded as she gave him an appreciative look. Patrick smiled back at her, tapping Jon on the shoulder and signaled him to follow. The boys got up and walked towards the bar, Arianna watching Patrick from behind.

“So, you must be pretty special” Sharpie interrupted her daze, as she turned to give him a confused look. “What do you mean?” she asked, nervous for his response. He took a sip of his beer, hanging his arm off the back of her chair. Everyone else was busy with their own conversation leaving them to have a minute for a private chat. “I don’t know how much you’ve seen Kaner play, but you’d realize he’s not much of a fighter. I mean, he’s gotten some pretty rough hits and he never fights back. Mostly I just think he’s scared ” Sharpie joked as they both chuckled lightly. “But something came over him last night. I have never seen him move quicker to start a fight with someone”. Sharpie’s eyes were locked with hers, and she could see underneath all his humor he was trying to tell her something. She broke their eye contact, “He’s a great guy. I mean I know I judged him pretty quickly but he’s a good guy. And I think that he’s the type of person to stand up for someone when they’re being mistreated”.

Sharpie shook his head and smiled at her, “I think it’s a little more than that”. Arianna could feel her heart start to palpitate, as she turned to look towards the bar where the two boys stood. “We’re just friends. It’s weird…” she told Sharpie as she turned to look back at him, “we’ve only known each other for a short amount of time but we’re friends in some odd way”. Sharpie nodded and took another sip of his beer, “that’s good. He needs a friend like you in his life. I approve”. She laughed and put her hand on her heart, “So glad I could win you over”.

“I think we should go help the boys. Clearly they were never busboys” Seabrook stated as he leaned in towards Arianna and Sharpie. The three of them turned to watch as the boys struggled to carry all the beers. They began to laugh as they saw the boys begin to argue with one another over how to carry all the bottles back. “I’m going to go and help them before they hurt themselves” Arianna told them as she got up and made her way over to the bar. She wasn’t sure what was being said between the boys as she left but she did hear Sharpie say, “hopefully he doesn’t screw this up”.

“Need a hand guys?” Arianna asked as she leaned her arm against the bar beside Patrick and Jonathan. They turned to look at her, relief and embarrassment clouding their expressions. “Uh no, we’re good” Jon mumbled as he almost dropped a beer, “I mean, if you really want to help that’s no problem”. She laughed at them and leaned over and made a motion for the bartender to come over. “Hi” she said bubbly, turning on her charm. The bartender was a young guy, probably in his late twenties, who seemed to be having an off night judging by the look on his face. “I was just wondering if I could borrow a tray? I promise to bring it back right away,” she continued as she shot him a perfect smile. The bartender’s frown turned into a slight smile, “sure thing. I’m Craig by the way. If you need anything tonight let me know” he responded as he handed her a tray from underneath. She grabbed the tray and shot him a thankful look, turning to the boys and filling up the tray.

“That’s amazing” Patrick said to her as they began walking back to the table, “how did you do that? We were trying to get his attention for like 5 minutes”. Arianna shrugged, an accomplished grin on her face. “Yeah, I’ve never seen Craig introduce himself to anyone. Other than us” Jonathan told her as they kept starring at her in amazement. “Boys I don’t mean this in an insulting way, but Craig is a guy. And guys are pretty predictable. He heard my voice over all the other male voices, and I have certain assets that most males don’t” she said as she suddenly realized both guys’ eyes had traveled down to her chest. “It’s not that hard to get a guys attention,” she said as she coughed loudly, snapping them out of their trance. Typical boys, she thought as she rolled her eyes.

Once the drinks were set on the table, she made her way back to the bar to return to the tray to Craig. She decided to wait as she saw him running back and forth making drinks. He finally landed in front of her and she handed him the tray, “thanks” she said. He smiled at her warmly, “no problem. Thanks for waiting so patiently. Drink on me” he said as he began to make her a drink before she could object.

“You managed to get in” she heard a male voice from behind her say, as she turned to see the guy from the line outside. “Yeah, and so did you” she responded as she gave him a smile. “So are you having fun?” he asked as he waited by the bar to order a drink. “Actually yes I am. This place is pretty great. I can understand why it’s so busy” she responded. They continued to make small talk as Craig got their drinks ready.

“Yo Kaner, where did your girl go?” Seabrook asked him as he came and pulled up a chair beside him. “Return the tray she borrowed from Craig” he responded as he checked his phone for the time. “She’s a good girl Kaner, don’t do anything stupid” Sharpie said from across the table as he shot Patrick a look. Patrick looked in Marissa’s direction to make sure she hadn’t heard the comment. Lucky for him Jon was keeping her entertained. “Shut up” he responded as he gave Sharpie a look, “it’s not like that”. “Yeah, that’s what you always say” Seabrook laughed as he took a sip of his beer. “No, she’s different. I don’t know how to explain it. But she’s different…”Patrick said as he took a swing of his drink. “You’re not the only one who thinks so,” Sharpie told him as he pointed with his finger towards Arianna at the bar laughing with some guy.

“Kaner found his perfect girl. A girl who gets more attention from men than he does from women” Seabrook joked as him and Sharpie started to laugh. Patrick shook his head and shot the guys an evil look, grabbing his beer and standing up. “Aw Kaner, don’t go. We’re just teasing” Sharpie said as he tried to control his laughter. “I’m not leaving because you guys are idiots. I’m going to go and intervene in that little situation”. With that he took off towards the bar on a mission, growing slightly jealous as he saw them together.