Status: Rated 'R' for langugae and sexual situations.

Anybody

six.

Patrick sat with his knees bouncing nervously and sipping his beer. He’d arrived at the bar ten minutes early in the hopes of calming his nerves.

He didn’t quite understand why he was like this. Usually, he was calm, cool, and collected. He was the Sharp Shooter, after all. But something about Penelope had him wondering. What Patrick didn’t know tended to make him nervous. And he most certainly didn’t know Penelope.

Just two minutes after their planned meeting time, she walked in. Patrick watched her make her way over to the bar and took notice of the girl he was meeting.

She wore a pair of light skinny jeans, a black leather jacket, matching combat boots, and a white V-neck peeked out from the jacket. She carried a canvas tote bag with the dance company’s name across it. Her hair was haphazardly thrown up into a bun with a few strands framing her face. From his seat, he could tell she wore no makeup.

Penelope spoke with the bartender for a minute and he gestured to where Patrick sat in the back corner of the bar in his booth. She smiled to the older man across the counter and made her way over to the table.

“Hey,” she said approaching him.

Unsure of what to do, he stood and quickly put his arms around her in an awkward hug. “Hi. How- how are you?”

Penelope stood back a little before sliding into the booth. “I’m…good. Can’t say I was surprised by your call.”

The look on Patrick’s face must have been amusing, as she laughed loudly.

“I mean, you’re teammates told me you wanted to talk or something earlier tonight,” she said once she had calmed down. “Jon and Pat took Marissa and Shannon out.”

Patrick nodded. “Right, they might have mentioned that.”

“Look,” Penelope sat forward. “I’ve got another early class tomorrow and I would really appreciate it if I could be in bed within the next hour. So, let’s cut to the chase. What do you want?”

“I’m going to get you a drink first,” he said. He was just trying to buy himself time.

Penelope rolled her eyes, but nodded all the same. “Beer, please. I don’t care what kind.”

“No wine? Champagne?” he smirked as he waved a waiter over.

“I might be a ballerina, Sharp, but I’m not a stuck-up prude,” she smiled.

“Oh,” Patrick chuckled. “I know.”

*****

Penelope had walked into the bar feeling confident and ready for whatever Patrick wanted to talk about. But of course, any sense of assurance disappeared as soon as she saw him.

He looked too good and if they weren’t in a public place, she probably would have jumped him. Her mind was flashing back to the night before and it was making her feel uncomfortable.

Patrick had seemed a little nervous too, which took some of the pressure off of her. But there was still some shakiness in her hands and bounce in her knees. Maybe the alcohol would do away with it.

“Okay,” Patrick said after Penelope had her drink. “I’m not going to beat around the bush here, Pen.” She had to try to not shiver at the sound of him calling her ‘Pen’. It sounded much too good coming across his lips. “I’ve been thinking about last night. A lot.”

She couldn’t stop the blush from spreading across her cheeks. “Me too.” Her voice was quiet.

“And it’s getting in the way of my game,” he continued. “And there’s only really one way I can think of to deal with it.”

Penelope’s eyes widened as she came to a realization of what he was possibly suggesting.

“Friends with benefits?” she queried. “That’s honestly a good idea. I mean, I know that I’ve been spending way too much time thinking about everything that went down. Maybe something like that would be a good idea.”

That had been in no way what Patrick had been thinking, but he was too embarrassed to bother correcting her. A friends with benefits deal could do them both some good. He knew there were times after a tough loss where he didn’t want to deal with clubs and puck bunnies, but still needed to blow off steam. Patrick didn’t like using her like that, but if she was suggesting it, maybe it wasn’t as bad.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking.”
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