Okay then. I hurried after him. After three flights of stairs, running out of breath and my thighs burning, we reached the destination.
The lights were dim the whole way and the sudden bright lights made me squint and nearly stumble as I stared at the scene.
We were playing pool?
There were rows and rows of pool tables set out. There were a few people already there playing. The sound of the billiards balls hitting others was loud, and “boos” and “nice shots” were uttered as I followed him.
When he reached another flight of more stairs, I huffed.
“Really?” I asked, crossing my arms. He, of course, had no problem.
“Come on,” he prodded, smiling. He reached down and grabbed my arm to pull me up. I grunted.
Why did people even have steps in places? It was health hazard. What if someone tripped over?
When we finally reached the last stair, me out of breathe, I pulled my arm back and leaned over on my knees. Man, that was four flights of stairs. That was like twenty per flight, and that was eighty stairs. Damn it, Dairy.
Then I realised the noise that was coming and looked up.
There were guys, three of them gathered around a pool table, and I stood up trying to look more presentable.
“Darius!”
“My man.”
“Finally made it.”
They all spoke at once and my eyebrows shot up. Darius? My man? I could be mistaken, but did Darius have friends?
Man, today was full of surprises. He grabbed my hand, tugging me after them and I tried not to let my jaw drop and hit the floor. He had friends. This man that was 24/7 centered on work, his whole universe was work, had time for friends.
I was met with three happy faces smiling at me and I shifted on my feet.
“Well, man,” the one closest to me said, straightening up and pulling on his collar. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Darius looked up from his phone. “Hmm? Oh right,” he said, putting his phone into the back pocket of his shorts and smiling. There had to be a new record for the times he smiled today, not that I was complaining. It was a good sight to see him this…relaxed?
Would that be the right word to describe it?
“This is Kristoff,” Darius began, nodding to the guy who spoke first, the one closest to me. Kristoff smiled as he held out his hand for me to shake. I hesitantly placed mine in his.
“Firm grip, I like her already,” he nodded. I noticed that his hair was cut in a military style bob, his clothes smart casual and looked like a ‘no nonsense,’ type of guy. A bit scary. The one next to him was the opposite, dressed in a tank top and shorts, with stripes. He was smirking as he half leaned over the table.
“Hello, pretty lady.”
“This is Matthew,” said Darius, nodding to him and Matthew held up a hand, palm faced forward like telling Darius to stop talking.
“I can introduce myself. I am Matthew Williams the Third. Yes, my dad and grandfather have the same name, but thankfully I inherited the good genes.” He flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes and took my hand off the pool table, raising to kiss it. Just then a hand slapped the back of his head and he dropped it.
My eyes followed the hand, attached to the body of the third and last person who was glaring at Matthew. “Honestly, bro.”
Darius said, “And that’s Lee, Matthew’s older brother.”
Lee nodded. The only thing common was their hair. Their dress sense was definitely different. Lee was in jeans and a white shirt and looked nothing like Matthew. They reminded me of Adrian and Darius.
“I was only joking,” Matthew grumbled, grabbing the pool stick, which I remembered was called the cue, and stood up. Darius shook his head with a smile and took his phone out again.
“Adrian’s not picking up.”
“Adrian’s coming?” I asked, suddenly happy with the prospect of knowing more than one person.
“If he wakes up,” scoffed Lee, grabbing the white ball off the table and walking around.
“I knew we should have picked him up,” Matthew said, grabbing the chalk and rubbing it on the end of his cue and looking at me. “Do you know how to play?”
I nodded. Oh yes, I do. “A bit,” I lied. I was okay at it.
“Catch.”
I looked up as Kristoff threw something at Lee. Beer bottle? He looked at me frowning and then back at the bar fridge that was in the corner, scratching his head. “Someone,” he began, looking at Matthew, “seemed to only buy one kind of drink. Would you like a beer?” He asked me, taking one and holding it out.
Before I declined, Darius reached out, taking it from him. “Never offer her alcohol. She’ll drink it all.”
I gasped, hitting his rib with my elbow. “I most definitely will not.”
Darius nodded. “Sure.” He placed the bottle on the table and grabbed a cue stick.
“Teams of,” Matthew was counting people around the room. I frowned when I realised there were only five of us. Why was he counting again and again?
“We can wait for Adrian, then we have even teams,” Lee spoke up.