Billiards

I walked into the bar and saw four of my guy friends sitting at the bar. I smiled at the irony of the night. I met Justin in this very bar.

"Hey, guys!"

Billy, Tom, and Mark all gave drunken, enthusiastic hellos as Moose stood up and pulled me into an awkwardly cute bear hug.

"I'm glad you texted me," he said as he sat back down on the bar stool. They all had dark beers sitting in front of them and even though Moose's was more than half full, he ordered two more beers. "On me," he said as the bartender went to grab them. I smiled and thanked me. "So," he continued. "Where's your posse tonight?"

I looked away from him as I responded, "at the movies." I was so embarrassed that I got stood up and I knew that's where this conversation was going.

"Oh, and no Justin tonight?" I quickly turned my head and shot him a brief confused expression. Then I realized that I hadn't seen or even spoken to Moose since Justin broke up with me. Between school and work, I didn't even realize that we hadn't hung out with the guys.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. I picked up my beer and took a long sip. "We actually broke up."

I caught a happy expression flash across his face, but he was polite enough to substitute a disappointed expression within a split second. "I'm so sorry to hear that, Caroline."

I gave him a half smile. "Eh, it's okay. I'm getting over it."

We both silently took sips of our beers before turning to converse with the other guys.

After I finished my beer, Moose insisted on getting another round, but I knew I had to drive so I declined. "Just leave your car here," he casually said.

"No, I can't do that," I laughed.

He let out a disappointed huff but smiled at me anyway. I knew he was really drunk, but he wasn't getting rude or emotional yet so he was right at the sweet spot of his drunkenness. "Let's go play pool," he insisted. I agreed and asked the other guys if they wanted to play, but they were invested in some sort of football discussion.

We walked over to the pool table. While the whole bar was pretty open, there was a pool table and a few booths away from the actual bar area. With the set up, I couldn't even see Billy, Tom, or Mark. I wondered if Moose had realized that.

"I'm really good," I teased as I chalked the top of my cue stick. 

"Oh, yeah?" Moose asked, leaning against the pool table and widening his eyes at me. "We'll see how good you are."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Were we still talking about pool?

I insisted that he break, without telling him that it was because I was never able to break, and he didn't get any in. Then I went and got a solid ball in. "I told you," I said with a wink. Moose gazed across at me with an either drunk or endearing look. I wasn't quite sure.

We each took a few more shots before I was faced with a nearly impossible shot. I playfully groaned. "This isn't fair," I said to Moose.

"Please," Moose slurred. "That's cake."

"You're crazy," I exclaimed.

Moose didn't say anything. He began walking around the table and stood behind me. I could suddenly feel his breathe on my neck as he leaned down to see the table from my perspective. "You just have to try it from a different angle," he whispered. Was I imagining things or had Moose become a smooth operator?

Moose put his hands on my hips and I almost jumped from surprise. He positioned me so I was pressed against the pool table facing the white ball.

"Okay," he began as he pulled the stick out my hand, put it back in them a different way, and then placed his hands on top of mine. "We'll get you that shot."

He leaned down and through the laws of physics, I leaned down with him. We were so close and I could feel my heart racing. It was creepily intimate, but he was sincerely focused on making this shot. His pelvis was pressed against me and I decided to push back on it a little bit. Yup, he was a little excited.

I guess I set off his nerves with that, but he started mumbling the instructions for my shot. I still understood what he meant and once he took a step back, I successfully completed what I thought was an impossible shot. We were both surprised. I quickly spun around to face him as we both cheered. We were luckily the only people on this side of the bar, but I'm sure our voices echoed over to the other guys.

I quickly jumped into his arms before we both kind of froze at how close we were. I leaned back to face him as he looked right in my eyes and licked his lips.

As I went to say, "thanks," he spoke at the same time.

"Come home with me."

I blushed and looked away. "Moose, I..."

I felt him suddenly let go of me as the other guys walked over. "Hey, guys," they enthusiastically said. I could tell they were all drunk, as well. "We're heading out."

"Okay, yeah," Moose said as he went to put away the cue stick. Wait, was that it?

All the guys had walked so I insisted that I would drive them home. Moose's house was the closest, so he told me I could drop him off first. Really? I thought he wanted to hang out more?

I dropped off the other guys and arrived home before looking at my phone. Still no text from Justin. And surprisingly, no text from Moose.

So, does that count as two rejections in one night?