CHAPTER 2
The next morning Anya woke up early. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night. In fact, she hadn't gotten much sleep in months. She went to the bathroom and noticed herself in the mirror. She was 24 years old but looked to be more like 90. The bags under her eyes looked to be the color of coal. Her pajamas were many sizes too big for her. She had lost a lot of weight in the last few months and hadn't bothered to buy new clothes, or more like she wasn't allowed to buy new clothes. Her hair was a mess. Why can't my hair be either straight or curly? This in between junk is just nasty. This Florida humidity is going to wonders for it. I can see it now, frizz girl. She laughed at the thought.
She was glad it had been Saturday. She would be able to look around the city and get familiar with the place before she started work on Monday. Although she had graduated from college and worked in wildlife preservation, she had decided not to work in that field. That's where it all started. I know it would be different here, but I just can't do it yet. Working with animals had been her childhood dream, but too many bad memories came from it, ones she wanted to forget. So, she had decided to start slow. Next to animals, she loved children. She got a job at the hospital in the children's ward. It was part-time for now. She had a lot of things going on right now and didn't think she could handle a full-time job. The job didn't pay enough for her to live with Lisa but she had saved up a good amount of money before she moved. She would be okay financially, and now that she was here, physically, too. Emotionally was a different story.
She was thinking about all of this when she heard Lisa up. She walked into the kitchen to find her friend eating a bowl of cereal. She grabbed a bowl and spoon and joined her. They ate in silence for a while. The suspense was killing her, so she asked, "how was your date?"
That was a fair enough question she thought. She didn't expect the answer she got.
"Joey is a whore-seeking, hormonal, son-of-a…."
"LISA!"
"What? He is. All he did was flirt with every girl that he came across. He didn't even pay attention to me. When I asked him why he had asked me out, then left me for all those girls, he said that he thought we were just friends. And you know what the worst part is, I really liked him. I thought maybe we could have something together. We are so much alike, you know?"
Anya watched her friend relive the events of last night and she felt sorry for her. "Yeah, I know. Maybe you two were too much alike. I mean, you do have a tendency to go out on a date and flirt with other guys, too." She pointed out to her friend.
"Hey, we are not talking about me here. We are talking about what's his name."
"Joey?"
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me."
"Listen, it couldn't have been that bad, right?" She hoped her friend would be okay.
Lisa sat there and thought for a moment. "No, it wasn't that bad. I'm just embarrassed, I guess, because I thought we might have had something."
"Well, at least you're not seeing him again."
"Well…."
"What? Let me get this straight: you have the hots for this guy, he blows you off for other girls, and you still want to go out with him. Is there something I missed?" Anya couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"No, you didn't miss anything. He did all that. It's just that I really like him and if we can't be serious, I at least want to be friends with him. He is so funny and nice. You will have a great time with him today." Lisa got up to put her bowl in the sink.
"What do you mean I'll have a great time with him today? Lisa, what is going on?" Anya was trying not to lose her temper with her best friend.
"Oh, I didn't set you up on a date or anything. He noticed the park over there." She pointed out the window. "He said him and a couple of friends would come over and we could play ball with them, simple as that."
"Simple maybe for you. I don't play basketball. You know I suck at it. I can hardly dribble let alone shoot the dumb thing." Anya was unsure about this whole thing.
"Well, listen, I told him that we would probably be in the park running or something and might show up. We can go and check out the situation and if you feel uncomfortable, we can leave. He isn't expecting me there. He said if we wanted to stop by, we could."
This made Anya feel much better. She hadn't been around a lot of guys in a while and she didn't know what to expect. "Okay, that sounds fine."
A couple of hours later, the girls had finished taking a run through the park. They were ready to find Joey. They found the courts and Joey and his friends were there. They didn't look too scary to her, so Lisa and Anya decided to go say hi.
"Hey Joey, how's it going?" Lisa said as she walked up to the group of guys.
"Lisa, its going pretty good, how about you?"
"Can't complain. So, who's winning?" She asked as she looked around the court. There were five other guys with Joey. They were either taking shots or resting on a bench.
"Well, that depends on which team you are for. My team is losing. Scott's team is winning." He said looking around at the others.
"That's because they play like a bunch of girls."
Lisa heard this remark and swung around to come face-to-face with a guy about her height but much younger. She stared this boy down.
"I think you should either take that comment back or be prepared to die a slow and painful death." Anya said as she came onto the court. She walked up to Joey and said hello to him.
"Anya, right?" She nodded. "Hey, I didn't see you there." Joey said as he went to hug her. She knew he was just being friendly but she wasn't ready for any type of contact with a man. She stepped back and turned towards Lisa before Joey came any closer.
"I was getting some water." She faced the younger man who had made the comment earlier. He, too, looked familiar, but she couldn't place the face. Sunglasses covered his eyes and he had a ball cap on. Something about him reminded her of someone, she just couldn't think of whom. "If I were you, I would go for the first choice and take back your comment." She said looking at the guy in front of her.
"I'm not afraid of her." He said looking at Lisa.
"You should be." Lisa said, glaring at him.
He passed her the ball. "Let's see what you've got. Joey, you want to sit this one out and let…um…."
"Lisa"
"Thank you. Let Lisa play for you?"
"Sure thing. We'll just watch from over there." Joey led Anya over to the bench as the others introduced themselves to Lisa.
"Can your boy back up that mouth of his?" Anya asked.
"Can your girl?"
"Hell yeah. Just sit back and be amazed." Anya was all smiles. She knew how competitive Lisa was and wouldn't take crap from anybody, especially some punk kid who ran his mouth too much.
"This ought to be interesting."
Anya looked over at Joey. She hoped that they would become friends. She liked him and thought he would be fun to hang out with. If he would only stop trying to hug me.
The game started back up and right away Lisa's team was catching up. Lisa impressed all the guys. They didn't know she had played all her life: from middle school up throughout college. This was what she loved, her release from life, and her sanity.
When the game ended, Lisa's team had lost, only by a basket, but still lost. Anya thought that the guy with the smart mouth would start back up with Lisa but he didn't. He came up to Lisa and congratulated her.
"You play good, even for a…." he trailed off when he saw the look of fire come to Lisa's eyes. "Um…I mean…you play good, better then those bozos over there." He pointed to the other guys now collecting their stuff.
"Thanks, you too." With that, she turned and walked over to Anya and Joey.
"Great game. I didn't know you could play like that. Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't ask, Joey, but thanks." She turned towards Anya. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go. It was nice to see you again, Joey." Anya felt comfortable around him but she noticed the other guys coming towards them and she didn't like it.
"Hey, we were going to get something to eat, do you two want to join us?" Joey asked.
"No, we're fine. We're going to go home. Anya still has some unpacking to do." Lisa informed him.
"Okay. I'll talk to you later."
"That would be nice." Lisa and Anya made their exits and began to walk back to their apartment.
"So, do I see a love connection from you and big mouth back there?" Anya asked, knowing it would tick Lisa off.
"No way. That boy, and I repeat, that BOY is not my type. I bet he'd go for you." She said with a smirk.
"What? Why would you say that?" Anya questioned.
"Because he was watching you and Joey the whole time."
"Come on, he was probably just trying to get my attention so he could show off." Anya did not like this conversation. "Besides, like I said before, I'm…"
"I know. You swore off men. How long are you going to be like this?"
"Until it stops hurting so much." Anya looked down at the ground.
Lisa hung her head, ashamed at what she had just said. "Anya, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"
"I know you didn't mean anything. I have to let go. I have to move on, I just don't know how to, yet." She wanted this pain inside her to be gone. She tried to shut it out, tried to block the pain, but it would always resurface. "Hey, let's get back to the apartment, rent some movies and eat tons of ice cream tonight."
That's the Anya I remember, Lisa thought to herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a man yell out in pain. The girls turned around and noticed a couple of the guys from the game lying on the ground. One looked hurt. Anya and Lisa ran back over to the court to see what was wrong. When they got there, they found Joey, some guy named Mike, and the guy with the smart mouth on the ground.
"You are such a klutz, Joey." Mike said.
"Hey look, I'm sorry. I tripped." Joey apologized.
The other guy slowly got up. He looked like he got the blunt of the fall. He reached up and touched his shoulder. He winced in pain as he felt it.
"You're bleeding." Anya told him as she approached him.
He looked at her and gave her a smile that could melt the toughest heart. "I'm okay. No harm done. It doesn't hurt, too bad." She could tell he was trying to be brave in front of her. Why can't guys just admit they need help!
"Okay, if you say so." She turned to join Joey and Lisa.
"Hey, in case I need to sue Joey for bodily harm, I need your name as a potential witness." He said, giving her that smile again. He's too cute and he knows it.
"To tell you the truth, I really didn't see anything, so I don't think I could help you out, sorry." She said as she returned her own smile to him.
He laughed at her. "Okay, okay, bad line, I know. I had to try. Anyway, so, what is your name? I heard Lisa say something like…ouch." He stopped mid-sentence and grabbed his arm.
"I thing you are hurt worse than you think. Look, our apartment is just over there. Why don't you come up and let me look at your arm, okay?" She was trying to be helpful. Although her first impression of him was that of a loud mouth kid, she had to admit he did have a great smile, one that made her feel comfortable to be around him.
"What are you a nurse or something?" He questioned this girl before him.
"No, but I start work at the hospital on Monday in the Children's ward. Besides, I've worked with animals before, how different could you be?"
"Hey I resent that." He said, pretending to be hurt. He noticed her smile and couldn't hold his back. "Okay, show me the way, but if you give me a flea dip, I'll sue you."
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she laughed with a guy. Lisa was different. She was her sister, her partner in crime, her best friend. She hadn't felt this comfortable around a guy to laugh.
Lisa stopped talking to Joey and Mike and noticed Anya laughing. Who would have thought? She chuckled to herself.
"What's so funny?" Joey asked.
She patted him on the back. "Nothing, let's go."