He waited and nothing. He was starting to get a little suspicious. He pulled up his contact info and called him. To his credit he did answer his phone.
"What's up?" he said loudly over music.
"Where are you?"
"I came into the city today," he said in an easy breezy manner, like he wasn't a minor who had just gone into the city without permission.
"What?" Cash growled in the phone. He did not want to be dealing with this right now.
"Chill. I just took the train in."
"Chill...are you fucking kidding me? River, you better get back here now before I send you back to your mom's. I didn’t agree to this so you could rendezvous in the city."
"I thought you would be cool..."
"You thought wrong. Get your ass back here now." He looked at his watch. It was after five. "If you get on the next train, you can be back here by eight. I will be at the train station to get you."
"Cash, I can't just leave."
"If you are not at the station at eight, you’re going back home to spend your summer in Colorado with your mother."
"I –"
"No. Be here or go home."
"Fine."
Cash put his phone on the table and let out a deep sigh. He wiped his hand over his face. He still wanted to go get dinner.
Cash - Are you busy?
Taylor - No. What's up?
Cash - Wanna go get some dinner and a few beers?
Taylor - Westside?
Cash - See you in 20?
Taylor - Yeah.
He didn’t want to deal with Wes or Conner since both of them were currently obsessed with their girlfriends and he couldn’t figure out what was going on. Taylor was his closest friend after Conner, and with Taylor, was what you saw was what you got. He wouldn’t bug him about what was going on with Evie.
He pulled up and headed to the area where the players usually sat during the season. A waitress came and he ordered a beer.
"You're Cash Hawthorn, right?" she asked with a small smile.
He just nodded.
"Do you come in here often?" she asked, her smile turned slightly sultrier. Cash looked up at her through a raised eyebrow. She was pretty, it would have been different months ago. He wouldn't even have thought about it, he'd had sex with half the waitresses in here, but he hadn't had sex with anyone else since Evie. Which meant he's only had sex twice in the past two months. He hadn't gone that long since he started having sex, but she was it for him. It was still so hard for him to believe, but he couldn’t bring himself to even flirt with another woman.
He didn't know how or why, but he wasn’t interested in anyone else since he held her close on the dance floor at the gala. And of course, he found a girl he could actually see a future with, and she was so far out of his league, and she knew it too. He didn't for a second regret fucking her on the desk this afternoon, but the way she looked at him when it was over bothered him. She still couldn't stand him, and he just couldn't figure out why.
"Hey man, how's it goin’?" Taylor asked as he sat down.
"Good," Cash said, trying to reign in his wandering thoughts.
"Hey, I'll take a beer and a steak sandwich," Taylor said, handing the waitress the menu without even glancing at it.