Carter's War - 10. Chapter 10

The couch was a wonderful invention, who ever conceived of taking a bed and turning it into one big comfy chair deserved the endless gratitude of men everywhere. For Will, his sense of gratitude at that moment was shared with the great brewer, Alexander Keith. He lay sprawled across the couch staring listlessly at the Leafs as they effortlessly outplayed the LA Kings. No surprise there.

Brody occupied the large chair, legs sprawled over an arm, remote safely tucked into his pocket so Will couldn't change the channel. He still didn't quite believe Will when he said he had actually grown to enjoy hockey.

It didn't really bother Will; the extent of his range of motion was the capacity to lift the beer to his lips, drink, and set it back down. He was done, fried like a piece of the Colonel's best. And yet, there was a sense that he had accomplished nothing for the day. He lifted his bottle and saluted apathy.

The rattle of the door preceded it banging open as Jared stepped inside, clapping his hands against his body to ward out the cold. He stared with bemusement at Will's condition on the couch, as he kicked off his boots.

"Hey there, buddy," he said with a roguish grin as he crossed to the living room, shrugging off the suit jacket he was wearing and stomping over to his chair. "Are we winnin'?"

"Just started," Will replied. "Leafs are putting good pressure on, though."

"Go, Leafs, go," Jared yelled towards the screen as he trotted back through to the kitchen. "So, I go to the bank today," he said as he leaned around the fridge to look at Will.

"Oh?" Will replied turning his head without his eyes leaving the screen.

"Yeah, Jenna was there again, so I get into this conversation with her. They have no idea I go to school." Jared pulled out a casserole dish into which he began to toss pasta ingredients.

"What did you tell her?" Brody responded as Matts Sundin brilliantly deked the puck around a King's defenseman and pulled ahead on the breakaway. Will felt his excitement rise as Sundin passed the puck with little effort to Antropov...back to Sundin... the shot... he collapsed back down into the couch as the puck was deflected at the last minute.

Will felt the exhilaration and revelled in it; this human sport was intoxicating.

"Well, I was depositing my check, and making small talk when she asked me what I did with my time." Jared continued adding a thick bundle of pasta to the dish, "So I told her I work all day, then go to school three nights a week," he grinned, his eyes lighting up with pride, "studying philosophy."

"I bet that took her by surprise," Will said, taking a pull on the Keith's and cursing the King's goalie and his capacity to stop the puck.

"Yeah, she was amazed; I mean, me, I'm a mechanic, I'm not supposed to read let alone know who Kierkegaard is." He stuffed the dish into the microwave and arbitrarily set the timer to an approximate time when he thought it would be cooked. He returned to the living room, "She was all like," his voice changed to a falsetto, "'you're so smart' and 'that's so interesting.'" He shook his head, "So I asked her out to coffee next Friday."

Will nodded, "She's the pretty one, right?"

"No," Jared replied sarcastically. "I asked the fifty-year-old one out; of course the pretty one."

Will snorted, "Never know with you. You're getting desperate." Will was fascinated with Jared's attitude, as he reflected on how he approached life. If someone were to sit down and write a paper about Jared it would be a fascinating read.

Brody chuckled as he held up his hands, "Hey, I'm not saying anything."

Will nodded from his slumped position, as he fought back a tight yawn. At this rate he was going to be asleep before nine. Go Grandpa! He tasted the beer again as he gestured with the bottle to the screen, "We're playing well tonight."

"Of course, bud," Jared responded. "It's the Leafs."

"Yeah," Will chuckled into his bottle. "Well, something strange happened to me today."

"You had that big meeting today, right?" Jared looped a leg over the arm of the armchair.

"Yeah," Will replied, "but that's not it; I got done all that bullshit and I get this call." Will explained to them about Marc's call.

Brody stared at him a moment, digesting the situation then shook his head, "I'd be like 'Dudes on Crack.'"

Will nodded.

"No, no," Brody said sitting upright, "dat's wrong; normal people don't do shit like that."

Will shrugged, "What can he do?"

Jared shook his head, "Don't go for the beer, or if you do, go with people. Dude's probably hitting on you."

Will shook his head, "No, I mean he couldn't..."

Brody looked at Jared and crossed his eyes, "If a girl did that to me I'd think; aw that's sweet... in a stalker kinda way!" He refocused on Will, "'Cause its my place of employment!"

"I know that," Will protested, "but I'm serious. I mean, the guy seems normal enough..."

Brody threw his hands up expressively, and imitated Will, "I couldn't possibly see something bad in that..." He rolled his eyes, "Idjit! Obviously he has the best intentions."

Will remained silent; Brody was on a tear, and Will was trying to focus on the game.

"Hi, I'm a crack monkey," Brody continued muttering. "I'll stalk you at work in the hopes you go out with me. Dude's crazy."

Will angrily took a sip from his bottle; he wasn't that stupid, he could see Brody's point, but he wasn't some little kid, or a girl. He wasn't defenceless, and he wasn't afraid of some little guy who just wanted to go for a beer in a public place. He worked in an office where everyone was older than him. He interviewed people easily twice his age. He couldn't afford to be intimidated by them, let alone a scrawny brown-haired young man.

"Don't go for the beer," Jared warned, seeing Will's jaw set in defiance. "Don't go, you're asking to get hurt. I'll save you the hassle, I'll kick your ass right now!"

Will pointed to the TV, "How about we just stick to the game, huh?"

Jared and Brody shook their heads as they watched the Leafs, on a power play, making a rush for the net. Matts was pure poetry in motion; he received the pass, swept the puck up sailing past the Kings goalie's glove to tickle the twine behind him.

"EN BU!" Brody exploded from his chair and was on his knees before the TV, "La Lumiere est ROUGE!"

Will smiled at his friend's enthusiasm, as he turned he watched the replay, the worry about the next day completely forgotten. Nothing seemed to matter--Toronto had just scored.