A Reckless Bet.

Ryder 20 - time flies, as they say

Thursday 9.08pm

"Shut up." She laughed, her happiness flowing through the room. "I bet you never even played before."

Grinning I shook my head, "No, but what does that matter anyway? Still gonna beat you."

She handed me a cue stick, a slight smirk on her face. "Okay, go on then."

The light from the chandelier above the pool table reflected on her glowy olive skin. Her dark eyes sparkling as she looked at me, waiting for me to start moving.

And when I finally did, I regretted it immediately after the first time I hit one of the balls. Of course the amount of pressure I had put on the stick was far from hard enough to get any other ball moving. And my great eye-hand coordination also worked perfect, of fucking course.

She just stifled back a laugh as she got on with her round. "Taking it easy on me, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "Duh, what does it look like?"

Hiding my face in my arms while fake crying I doubled over from laughing so hard. One of the balls had literally gone flying through the room because I thought it'd be a good idea to put more pressure on the stick. Well, guess what..

"Please, I'm done with this." I exclaimed, sneakily grabbing her cue stick out of her hands to put it back into the stick holder.

"Ha!" She laughed again, shaking her head wildly. Her cinnamon colored locks bouncing around her face. "Told ya I'd win."

"Uh no? You didn't win because we didn't finish anything." Mentally rolling my eyes at myself for not being able to lose.

"And?"

"Charlotte," I groaned, putting my hands over my face in exasperation. "Why did I even agree to come here with you in the first place? Please remind me not to go next time."

"But where's the fun in that?" She smiled, tugging me along with her to the bar. "Let's get us something to drink."

"That's why I agreed to come here anyway." I teased her, resulting in her very maturely sticking her tongue out at me.

After sitting down at the bar, we started talking again. Mostly our usual banter though, but still, I enjoyed every part of it. It felt nice to have a friend again. She really was a great person.

Downing a few shots together, she left me alone for a bit to use the bathroom. I sank in thought while mindlessly brushing my finger along the rim of the glass that carried the last of my whiskey.

Yes, alcohol made me think too much. Quite emphasized the over-thinker in me, I guess.

After Jason had dropped out of co-owning the business and Everly moved states I had been debating whether to hire someone else or start something else. Lucinda had been a great option, hadn't she moved back to her hometown.

And as you might guess, I chose the last option. It was great to finally have a fresh start, far away from all the people that knew me and my story.

The only one who knew the complete story was Charlotte.

We met when Lucinda and I wanted to grab something to eat after dropping Jason off at the revalidation centre. Now around 2.5 years ago I think? Time flies, as they say.

Charlotte was the owner of the diner where we settled. We actually had a great time that night, spending it together with the rest of the staff.

As we were leaving we exchanged phone numbers. It took a while for me to actually gather the balls to send her a first message though. But I was glad I did.

We had chatted hours away on the phone. Texting each other every free minute of the day. Even emailing each other stuff.

Telling each other about our days, adventures but we both talked about our futures a lot too. We laughed about silly jokes but we also got serious too. We shared our dreams and wishes with each other and it felt refreshing, to say the least.

And to be honest, when we first met I didn't expect us to essentially want the same thing in the future.. But we did, much to my surprise.

We both wanted away from the same old, we both wanted to start a new thing somewhere else. Away from everyone that knew our story.

That's what led us both here, I loved owning a business and was looking for something new and fresh to start up. She loved being the welcoming persona in a restaurant, the person who made her guests feel at home the second they entered the room.

She really was good at that. She had made me feel comfortable the second Lucinda and I had entered the diner back then.

You'll never guess what happened after we finally realized our dreams intertwined. In essence we wanted the same thing. So that's exactly what we did.

We had started a new diner just outside the suburbs of Calgary. A new neighborhood was just finished around there, causing us to have a great start with the diner.

Sure, sometimes I did miss my old job and the regular customers but it wasn't something too bad. I mostly missed the homey feeling I had with them, changes always took a big toll on me.

"You want another one?" The guy working the bar tonight interrupted my train of thoughts.

"Sure, why not." I lazily grinned, holding out my glass for him to refill. The brown liquor slowly filling up the glass, making the remaining ice cubes twinkle a little against the sides.

I am surprisingly good at managing to keep the liquor flowing tonight. And besides that, we already are on the thinking spree tonight, aren't we.

Speaking of managing, I had never owned nor managed anything quite like this a restaurant before. But for the time we've had it, it had been more than worth it.

Charlotte and I worked together a lot but also let each other freely decide on things. That was why being friends with her is such a great thing.

For example I let her choose most of the things involving the interior while she let me take bigger, financial, decisions. We formed a great team together, but also really made sure the business wasn't getting in the way of our friendship.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asked grinning at my face of shock, her pupils dilated a little as we locked eyes.

"Us." I admitted, looking down at my now empty glass. "We're such a good duo."

She nodded, proudly smiling. "Yea, we are, aren't we?"

I stood up, shoving the bar stool back. "Tag along for a cig outside?"

"Sure."

And so we went on with our night, babbling and laughing and dancing along to the music. Enjoying and celebrating life itself, in a way.

Just like we were meant to be.