Thanks for the reviews and favs, guys! And thanks to lovely Kasee Lara for editing even though she’s abroad :D

The Methods of Scoring: Second Match

On Monday, Arthur was late for the first time in six months, when there had been a massive traffic jam on Main Avenue. This time though, it was actually his fault and he wasn’t walking in late next to at least half of his co-workers that had been stuck with him. This time he had stumbled out of the elevator alone and panting as he had practically run all the way from the bus stop to the building. His floor’s receptionist gave him a look but made no comment so Arthur rushed through hallways, responding to people’s hushed greetings with nods and short waves. Once he was sitting in his cubicle, he turned on his computer and allowed himself to breathe normally again. He had always been very proper and punctual, and being late put him on edge.

He could feel his face burning a bit and his skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat, so after a minute he got up to go to the restroom. He sent a quick look at the top of the dividing panel separating his and Patrick’s desks before turning the corner, a habit, he’d realized, but Patrick wasn’t there. He was a bit nervous about meeting him after leaving like he had on Saturday, he was afraid that he might be mad or maybe Arthur had offended him or something. Things were already awkward enough between them without any of that.

On the way he spotted Vince and he appeared to be in the middle of a discussion with two girls from their floor. Arthur knew one of them, she was Karen Grey and they sometimes met in the break room. She had a daughter around Janey’s age so sometimes they would talk about their children over a coffee. Vince spotted him first and nodded at him with a quick smile before he retorted to something the woman Arthur didn’t know had said. Karen turned to look at him and smiled. Arthur waved at her and kept going, completely missing the way her gaze lingered before he disappeared into another hallway.

Once in the restroom he went straight to the faucets to splash some water on his face before taking a look at himself in the mirror. He cringed as soon as he lifted his head. His flush was receding and he could start to make out how the skin under his eyes was slightly darker than the rest of his face. A few seconds later his face was the pale color it always was. His short hair was sticking to his damp forehead and his eyes were shiny.

Arthur sighed as he dried his face with a paper towel and then tried to comb his hair back with his fingers. If he planned to keep this up, he should really come up with some sort of schedule. He hated being late when it came to work; he preferred to have his day planned out, complete with no surprises. Little miscalculations like having your car run out of gas and forgetting about it until you needed to drive to work the next day just didn’t happened to him. Not on week days.

He had been in a bad mood on Sunday. He had called Allison in the morning to talk to Janey and see if she wanted to spend the day with him, but Janey had barely said anything and had basically told him no. Then Allison had grabbed the phone and complained again because she was counting on him to take Jane for the day because she had plans and they had already been spoiled the night before. Arthur really wished Janey hadn’t been in the room when Allison started to number in clipped tones several occasions when this had happened before.

A while later Arthur had hung up the phone and was sitting quietly for a moment until he was calm enough to decide what to do. He looked around him and wasn’t able to come up with anything. When had his life become like this? How had he grown so old in only a couple of months? He felt like the divorce had drained the life out of him. The will to get out and move on. He wished he had close friends he could call. Some old classmate from college or someone at work. Patrick came to mind and it just made him feel worse. Patrick had always seemed willing to start a friendship with him, something outside of work. Arthur didn’t even have his cell phone number, even though Patrick had had his since day one. And even if he had had his number, he wouldn’t have dared to call after Saturday.

He had shaken those thoughts away and stood up, determined after Saturday’s events had replayed in his head. He had changed into an old pair of sweatpants, grabbed his car keys and headed out.

That night he had noticed that he was almost out of gas when he was parking the car back in his building’s parking lot. He was already tired and cranky after spending the day running and doing push-ups and sit-ups and basically feeling like an idiot so he got out of the car and made a mental note for the next morning.

That morning though, he had gone running around his block enough times to have people pointing at him and after taking a shower he was running late. His mental note had been lost in the jumble of thoughts that had been swimming around in his head the night before, going from Janey to Allison to Patrick, so he was already sitting in his car when he remembered the gas issue. He took a bus and now here he was, looking like an asthmatic thirteen year old in his floor’s restroom.

Arthur threw the paper towel into the trashcan more viciously than necessary and had to laugh when it didn’t go in or otherwise he would have just started crying. He was just leaning down to get it when the door slammed open and he jumped what felt like a foot in the air.

“Sullivan!” Vince exclaimed from the door. “Good, I need you out there. Those women are ripping me apart. God, I swear they’re plotting against me. I wouldn’t be surprised if my wife was a part of this as well…. Come on, I just need backup.”

“What’s wrong?” Arthur managed to ask before he was being pulled out of the room.

“You’ll see when we get there. It’s unacceptable, I can’t even say it.” Vince dragged him through hallways until they were back where Karen Grey and the other woman were standing. Karen smiled the way she always did when Arthur was around and Arthur instantly knew Vince was overreacting. He was starting to smile back at her when Patrick walked by, just behind Karen and his smile froze before it could even reach his face.

He had maybe half a second to wish Patrick would just walk by and not turn around before Vince spoke up.

“Roberts!” he called and Patrick turned his head and stopped before entering the hall leading to the break room. He took a quick look at the group standing before him until his gaze settled on Arthur. He smiled and started walking over to them and Arthur was suddenly feeling claustrophobic.

Patrick stood next to Karen and smiled at her too, “Hey,” he said, “What’s going on?”

“Tell them!” Vince made everyone jump, “They’ll back me up.” He patted Arthur on the shoulder and almost sent him to the floor. Arthur managed not to grimace. He was looking everywhere but at Patrick but he could feel the other man’s eyes on him. At least he didn’t look angry or anything, he looked like he always did, pleased to see Arthur and just content with the world and everyone around him.

“What is it?” he urged and Arthur’s eyes flickered to him against his will, just for a moment, but Patrick caught him. Next to him, Karen rolled her eyes.

“We just think it’s unfair that you guys get to play around on Saturdays while we’re just there to cook and watch your kids,” she said, “We were just telling Vince to let us play one of the matches and he went insane, yelled at us and stormed off to find you.”

Arthur looked over at Vince who was looking between Patrick and him with a face that clearly said “Can you believe it?” Patrick laughed.

“Why can’t they play?” The look Vince sent him made him laugh again, “What?”

“Why can’t they play?” he almost yelled, “They want to make a girl’s team and play against us on Saturday!”

“So?”

“So? So?! What’s wrong with you? How can we play against them? It wouldn’t be fair, someone might get hurt, someone-”

“Oh, come on!” the woman Arthur didn’t know the name of snapped, “Are you that afraid we might win? Though I have to say, after the way you played last Saturday, I don’t think there’d be a struggle. No offence, Sullivan.”

Arthur felt himself flush but pretended he didn’t hear. He looked over at Patrick out of the corner of his eye and caught him smiling. He was laughing at him again and Arthur blushed even harder.

“We won, didn’t we?” Vince growled and the woman snorted.

“Thanks to Roberts.” And so another discussion started. While everyone bickered Arthur considered going back to his desk, he doubted anyone would notice he was gone. But then he turned and Patrick was standing next to him.

“I was wondering where you were earlier,” Patrick said and Arthur started to fix his tie, just to have something to do.

“I was late,” he replied and closed his eyes in annoyance at how rude that had sounded. He didn’t want Patrick to think he was brushing him off.

“I caught that,” Patrick said softly and put his hands in his pockets. “You’re never late though.”

“I overslept,” Arthur blurted. “And I had to take the bus.”

“Oh?”

“Uhm, yeah.” Arthur wasn’t about to tell him how he had spent his Sunday. He looked up and Patrick was still looking at him, he dropped his hands away from his neck and averted the other man’s eyes as he tried to smile back.

“Was everything okay on Saturday? You left wi-…. You left.” God, why did he have to feel so guilty? Patrick was just asking, he wasn’t mad or upset. He didn’t even really care, he was just being polite, like always. Arthur took a beat longer to answer as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse.

“Jane wasn’t feeling well,” he said. It wasn’t entirely a lie but he still couldn’t meet Patrick’s eye and felt twice as guilty as before. He was using his daughter as an excuse. Could he get any lower?

“Is she okay?” Patrick asked, leaning over a bit to catch Arthur’s eye. Arthur fidgeted a bit.

“I took her to her mother’s place. She’s fine now.” The bitter tone in which he said this was as much as a surprise to him as it was to Patrick. But before Patrick could ask about it, Vince voice cut in between them.

“Most of you can hardly still be considered girls anyway,” he muttered.

“How dare you?!” The nameless woman cried in outrage but she was laughing. Vince was smiling too and he turned to Arthur and Patrick with fake seriousness.

“Some help you two were… Anyway, Sullivan please send an e-mail to the members of our team and let them know not to worry too much about this Saturday, we’re playing against girls.” Karen and the woman both slapped his arm, “Roberts go and tell the advertising guys that they’re not playing this weekend. I expect you can dodge when they start throwing things.”

“Sure,” Patrick replied but didn’t move to leave until Arthur did.

“I’ll see you later in the break room?” Karen asked before they turned the corner. Arthur lifted his head and nodded with a smile. On the way back to their desks, Patrick was quiet. It was odd, especially because the silence felt heavier than usual and not on Arthur’s part but on Patrick’s.

Arthur dared a glance at the other man’s face and was surprised to find him frowning a bit, his jaw set and his eyes strained straight ahead. Once near Arthur’s desk Patrick turned to him, opened his mouth to say something, closed it again, shook his head and left with a wave over his shoulder.

--

It was on Thursday when Arthur figured out some sort of explanation for Patrick’s moody behavior during the last few days. Well, not so much an explanation than a pattern. Patrick appeared to be just fine every morning when Arthur got to work or when he found him in the parking lot. He would try to make conversation and would laugh and do all the other things that Arthur liked but was unable to reciprocate. It was after Arthur’s coffee breaks that he started acting weird.

Arthur would go to the break room at about eleven to have something to drink, a moment later Karen would come in and she would say something about how he always seemed to be here when she came to have coffee. They would talk for a while and, yes, Arthur noticed how she stood too close to him or how she grabbed his arm when she was saying something, but he didn’t really think anything of it - that was just the way she was. She did the same thing to everyone. Then, he would go back to his desk and the next time he’d speak to Patrick, Patrick would act all distant and quiet. Which was bad, because without him to start up conversations, Arthur was doomed.

Arthur tried to think of a reason as to why he seemed to be in a bad mood every time he came back from the break room but couldn’t come up with anything. Except…maybe he wanted to go too. Maybe he was waiting for Arthur to ask him to join him, as an apology for Saturday, or something.

On Thursday Arthur was finishing his lunch with Freddie Broderick, the guy who was supposed to buy his lunch for the week, when Karen came to sit next to him. They were eating at the diner across the street, where everyone from their floor went for lunch.

“Hey, d’you want to grab a coffee when we get back?” she asked.

“Sure.” Arthur replied politely and ignored the way she was leaning into him. Suddenly, Patrick was sitting next to Freddie, right across from them.

“Hey.” Was all he said, Arthur could tell he was in that weird mood again. Karen sat up straighter and detached herself from Arthur’s shoulder. Patrick’s face, which was usually cheerful, was now shadowed and wary and his eyes were going from Karen to Arthur in quick, suspicious movements. Arthur was very, very confused for a moment before it hit him. And then he wasn’t so much confused as he was…sad. Or something along those lines. It was odd, like Patrick being attracted to Karen put some kind of new barrier between them, which was ridiculous. Arthur thought of the last week, all that running and exercising, and felt like a moron all over again. He didn’t understand what was happening, since Patrick…he was married, wasn’t he? What-

“Arthur, are you okay?” Karen touched his arm lightly and Arthur snapped out of his little bubble and turned to look at her, avoiding looking Patrick’s way. Not that that was anything new.

“Yes, I was just…thinking.” He tried to smile, but he was seeing Karen in a new way and it wasn’t exactly a nice one. Karen didn’t seem to notice anything weird; she just gripped his arm and stood up. Arthur tried very hard not to send a guilty look at Patrick.

“Let’s go get that coffee now, then,” she said and let go so Arthur could stand too. He didn’t right away, he stared at the table top for a moment before lifting his gaze to level his eyes with Patrick’s. He was surprised when he found Patrick was staring at Karen and felt a pang of something hit his chest.

“Do you…want to come with?” Arthur asked his glass, but somehow Patrick understood he was talking to him. He saw out of the corner of his eye how he turned his way and he lifted his eyes again. Patrick’s face was soft and nice again, he wasn’t frowning or doing anything weird anymore and Arthur tried to convince himself it had nothing to do with Karen. He was obviously imagining things; Patrick had never showed romantic interest in anyone, least in her, he had never even seen them talking for more than three minutes straight. Though, that could be because every time Arthur was with Patrick, Patrick spent his time trying to get him to talk and didn’t have time to be chatting with anyone else.

God, Arthur hadn’t realized that he liked that, even though those moments were terribly awkward, until now.

“Love to,” Patrick replied softly and got up to stand next to Karen.

--

At first, Karen didn’t seem very happy about the new member in their little coffee circle but she didn’t comment on it. Patrick was at ease, talking and joking and soon Karen was so into their conversation that she didn’t notice how quiet Arthur was compared to the times when they were alone. He was leaning against the counter, next to the coffee machine and basically feeling like a third wheel. The queasy feeling in his gut hadn’t subsided, if anything it had been growing steadily since they had left the diner and now it was threatening to make him sick. Karen laughed at something Patrick said and put her hand on his shoulder to playfully push him and Arthur’s cup nearly tipped over as his hand jerked. He set it down with a frown and decided that maybe he wanted some tea rather than coffee. Behind him Patrick kept talking. His voice filled the room and Arthur couldn’t hear anything anymore but his low laughter and his teasing tone and Jesus, there was something really wrong with him.

Maybe the divorce was doing stuff to him he hadn’t realized. Maybe he wasn’t okay at all. Maybe he just needed someone that stuck around and he’d felt Patrick could be that someone (in a platonic, friendly way because Arthur didn’t expect him to replace Allison or anything) and now he was being snatched away and he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle that. Maybe he wasn’t going to be able to. Or maybe, Karen just needed to keep her hands to herself.

Arthur rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. After the last couple of days he was actually pleasantly surprised that he hadn’t passed out yet, he wasn’t used to the physical strain. His legs and arms were sore, yes, but in a nice way. A way that let him know he had actually been doing something right and the work was paying off. Now he really needed to sit down.

“Art.” Patrick said near his ear and Arthur jumped, making tea bags fly out of their box. Patrick chuckled. “You were spacing out.”

“Yeah.” Arthur nearly chocked on his tongue. “Sorry.”

Patrick was standing behind him and all of Arthur’s nerve ends seemed to be focusing on his back, buzzing and tingling. He felt the back of his neck warm up as Patrick sighed through his nose.

“Don’t apologize,” he said, sounding amused and way closer than he had before.

“Right.” Arthur gulped. “Sor- uhm, right.”

He started to put the bags back in the box, his hands a little unsteady and he hoped Patrick wasn’t looking. He reached up to grab a mug out of the cabinet above him when Patrick’s voice startled him again.

“Grab one for me too?” Thankfully he had moved away and was now resting his back against the counter next to him. Arthur took two mugs out and set them down.

“Where did Karen go?” he asked as he put a tea bag in each mug.

“She went to get me a list of her team members. For Saturday. Vince asked for it, he’s been acting crazy since Monday.”

“Mmh.” Arthur wasn’t really listening; he was mentally kicking himself for being the one to bring Karen up.

“So…you and Karen are close?” Patrick asked while Arthur poured hot water into the mugs.

“A bit….” Patrick handed him the sugar packets.

“She likes you.”

“Oh.”

“Do you like her?” Patrick was stirring his tea with a spoon Arthur had passed him and his eyes were set on the counter. He was frowning again, but in a less annoyed way. He looked thoughtful instead.

“Sure.”

“Oh. Oh, because she asked me for your number and,” Wait. Wait, wait, wait. “I didn’t give it to her because I thought I should ask you first, if you wanted-”

“Wait. No, I don’t like her!” Arthur exclaimed and then felt his face heath up. Exactly why wasn’t he getting along with Janey if he spent half his time acting like a grade schooler? When he spoke next, he was mumbling, “I’m not interested, I- She doesn’t-”

“She does. She’s been all over you.” Patrick cut him off, sounding certain and not all that cheerful anymore.

“But you….” Arthur had never wished Patrick would meet his eyes so much. He could feel his face still burning and he leaned in, a bit, just so the other man would look at him. Patrick did, and Arthur suddenly remembered why he made him so uneasy. His unnaturally pale eyes were narrowed a little and were too close. Way too close, but Arthur was frozen and he couldn’t look away or move back or talk, apparently, because his mouth was hanging open. It didn’t really matter because he couldn’t remember what he was going to say anyway.

“I what?” Patrick breathed over his face and Arthur felt that jolt. The one that shot through his legs whenever Patrick looked at him. Only this time it was stronger and it made his breathing hitch. He gulped, finding his mouth extremely dry and he didn’t even try to break eye contact. He felt kind of dizzy, lightheaded in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. A really good way.

Patrick was hypnotizing him somehow, he was sure, but he didn’t care.

Two seconds passed, the longest two seconds of Arthur’s life, and then Patrick looked away, leaving Arthur wide eyed and disoriented because he had been sure something was going to happen. What exactly, he didn’t know.

Karen had come back carrying a single sheet of paper in one hand and she and Patrick were already chatting again. Arthur felt a bit empty, even though Patrick hadn’t moved from next to him and maybe he disliked Karen a bit more than before. Maybe.

--

Eventually, Saturday rolled around and Arthur was a nervous wreck.

First he had to pick up Janey and try to convince her to go to the game with him while simultaneously trying to exchange as little words with Allison as possible. Then, once at the game he would have to face Karen and Patrick, which he didn't think he'd be able to manage without grimacing. And then there was the actual game, the part he was most scared about. The fact that they were playing against women didn’t soothe him at all, if anything, it made it worse. What if he made a fool of himself playing against them? He would never live it down….

All these thoughts were going through his head as he drove to Allison’s place. He had left earlier than necessary so that he could drive slowly and pull himself together before facing her. He didn’t want a screaming match with Janey there, especially when he was already at the verge of breaking down. He had the radio on and he was listening to a children’s station, hoping that it would maybe improve Janey’s mood if they had to force her to come.

He parked across the street from Allison’s and took his time unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car. Walking the little stone pathway that led to the front door, he could see the television on through the thin drapes of the living room’s windows and he could hear some kiddy show tunes. So he was a bit surprised when it was Allison opening the door instead of Janey. Janey loved opening the door for him so he knew she was still upset.

“Hey. She’s watching TV,” Allison said, turning around and walking into the kitchen while she dried her hair with a towel. Arthur stepped inside, closing the door behind him and peeked into the living room. He could see the top of Janey’s head leaning against one of the arms of the couch.

He walked towards her and found that Janey was dressed, shoes on and ready to go. Though he could tell, by her puffy eyes and her grouchy expression and her refusal to meet his eyes, that she had put up a fight. Arthur sighed and crouched down on the floor.

“Ready to go?” he asked his daughter and placed a hand on her head. She just lifted the remote control and changed the channel.

Arthur wasn’t a short tempered person, between him and his ex-wife, she had always been the loud one. The one that cut to the chase, didn’t bother negotiating and lost her temper at the first “but”. Arthur had never been so grateful to hear her stern voice before; he was sure he was about to snap.

“Jane,” Allison said from the doorway, “get up and answer your father.” Arthur sent her a quick look before returning his attention to the girl now sitting up and crossing her short arms over her chest. He internally cringed at the resemblance between her and her mother.

“Ready to go?” he asked again and Janey replied with a sulky,

“Yes.”

The ride was mostly quiet, except for the music and Janey humming a few songs towards the end. Once there she was in a relatively good mood, so Arthur gave himself a mental pat on the back for the idea.

When they reached the picnic tables Janey ran off with some of the girls from last time and Arthur was left alone, scanning the crowd for someone to talk to. He tried to keep his head clear of any thoughts concerning Patrick or Karen, telling himself that he would talk to whoever approached him. But, when he looked up and found Karen walking towards him in shorts and a tank top, he turned around and made a bee line for the changing room.

Patrick couldn’t be right. Why would Karen be anywhere near attracted to him? He had never looked at her like that. He'd be more interested in seeing Patrick in shorts than her….

Now, that made him halt, stopping right at the changing room’s entrance. He felt like his mind wanted to lead him somewhere, a feeling very much like the strong certainty that you’re forgetting something and you can’t figure out what.

He forgot all about that feeling when a hand closed around his shoulder and he turned to meet paralyzing eyes.

“Hey, Art. You’re here earlier than last time,” Patrick said, smiling. He had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder; Arthur noticed when his own eyes dropped to the other man’s chest. He laughed a bit. Or tried to, at least.

“Yeah,” he replied, “Uhm….”

“I said hello to Jane a minute ago, she wasn’t happy to see Oz.” Patrick kept going and Arthur was so grateful he actually smiled genuinely before frowning. His eyes settled on Patrick’s forehead.

“He’s a bit-”

“He’s a brat, I know. We’re working on it.”

“Right.” Arthur didn’t miss the wife reference, it made him a bit angry. How could Patrick…flirt so openly with Karen if he was married? Well, if he really thought about it, it was actually Karen who was always touching him, but he didn’t stop her- Okay, maybe Karen did that with Arthur too, but still-

“You’ve been spacing out a lot lately,” Patrick said, his tone light, “Are you going in?”

“Oh, uh, yes.” Arthur moved out of the way, confused at what he had been thinking about, but certain that he was mad about something concerning Patrick. Though he wasn’t exactly sure what Patrick had done.

He followed him inside where a few other guys were changing and sat with his back to him so that he wouldn’t stare, since apparently he had some kind of…problem with that. Everyone in the room was talking loudly and Patrick soon joined in, leaving Arthur to more confusing thoughts.

“Think you can handle them, Roberts?” someone teasingly asked Patrick and everyone chuckled.

“Ah, I don’t know…. Some of them are a bit…fiery,” Patrick replied, causing a few hoots and laughs. Arthur took his shirt off a bit more forcefully than necessary making his short hair stick up. He bent down to untie his shoes while everyone kept joking around and suddenly, he felt a not so gentle slap on his back. The smack it made echoed in his mind, causing his already tensed muscles to string even tighter. Still leaning down, he turned his head around, jaw set, to face John Allen with his stupid glasses nearly falling off of his nose.

“Yes?” he asked. He could feel Patrick staring at him, his eyes burning the back of his neck. That made him madder and he didn’t even know why.

“What about you, Sullivan?” Allen asked, smiling and clearly well-intentioned, but Arthur did not care he just wanted his hand off of him, “You think you can go through this one without tripping?”

Arthur was just about to say something, maybe point out the fact that he hadn’t been the only one completely clueless last week and that Allen hadn’t exactly won the game for them either. But before he could utter a word, Patrick spoke up and he remembered himself, bit his tongue and turned back around to stare at his shoes.

“Now, now,” Patrick said. “Let’s all settle down, the girls are probably already waiting for us.” There were a few hushed agreements and Allen’s hand finally moved away and then Arthur couldn’t quite remember why he had been mad at him. Once he finally looked up as he was standing to change into sweats he noticed the whole team was already there. How had he not heard Vince’s loud voice before now? Then he dropped his eyes and Patrick was there, calmly sitting on the wooden bench, already changed and just…staring. Arthur wished so hard he hadn’t let his pants drop right that second. He stood there trying to make his obvious attempt to hide himself with his hands to go unnoticed and feeling his face and chest become warmer and warmer.

Patrick’s eyes roamed him slowly and Arthur thought about his knobby knees and bony elbows and wanted to hide inside one of the lockers. Especially because Patrick’s arms looked even better than last week in that loose tank top he was wearing now, and Arthur’s were still too pale in comparison.

“Sullivan!” Vince suddenly bellowed and Arthur jumped and snatched a t-shirt from his bag. “Get dressed already, we’re starting in ten.” He nodded, not really listening and hastily putting his clothes on, feeling his blush spreading.

Patrick didn’t stand to leave until Arthur was done.

--

Out in the field Arthur went to stand near the opposite team’s goal, his stomach kept making weird turns and his hands were clammy and cold. Having Karen standing close to him didn’t help at all. She kept turning every ten seconds, attempting to meet his eye, and he kept avoiding her, pretending to be looking over at the crowd or the open field. Which left him staring either at a grumpy faced Janey or a jumping Patrick. Once the game started, it didn’t get any better. It was slow; everyone was goofing around, no one making a real attempt to steal the ball from the girls, so Arthur mostly just stood there staring out at space. About twenty minutes into the game Patrick scored the first and only goal, which Vince was loudly and exaggeratedly grateful for and the women whined about for all of ten seconds before laughing it off.

It was after the game when Karen finally cornered him. He had been sitting at one of the picnic tables, watching Janey playing hide and seek with the other kids when she sat in front of him, her chin on her hands and her elbows propped up on the table.

“So….” she said and there was an awkward pause in which Arthur fidgeted and Karen stared expectantly.

“So,” Arthur muttered.

“Would you like to have a cup of coffee sometime? Out of the break room, maybe at a nice café…alone?” Arthur sighed; he had been preparing himself for this the whole day. After the game Karen had tried to talk to him several times but Patrick had always conveniently appeared and interrupted. Arthur had been relieved the first couple of times but after the third he just wanted it over and done with. Now Patrick was playing around with the kids and a few other parents and Arthur had stayed behind hoping Karen would come over to him so he could go home with a clear head. He was tired, it had been a crappy week and an even crappier day and he wanted it over already.

So, he said he was sorry. He wasn’t interested in her that way, he was still getting used to being alone and he wasn’t ready to start anything yet. She nodded, her smile maybe a little off, but overall Arthur thought it went pretty well.

Then Patrick came running towards him, once Karen had already walked away.

“Art!” he called and stopped a few feet away from him, he was sweaty from running around after the kids and his hair was tousled and standing up in odd places from running his hands through it. He looked…fresh and relaxed, a half smile playing around his lips. “I saw you talking to Karen.”

“Yeah,” Arthur replied, now watching Janey and pretending he hadn’t been watching Patrick like that again. He thought he pulled it off quite nicely. Patrick plopped down in front of him.

“Are…are you two going to go out or something now?” Arthur rubbed his forehead.

“No,” he replied. “I- I told you I wasn’t interested in her.”

“Oh. Well, good.” Patrick got up and was starting to turn around, his smile wider now, but he abruptly leaned over and roughly ruffled Arthur’s hair. “I have to go; I’m supposed to be seeking.”

Arthur was frozen in his seat as he watched Patrick trot away towards some trees. He slowly lifted a hand to his head and ducked it so his chin was pressed against his chest. He felt like smiling and laughing and leaving all at the same time.

Besides, he was sure his face was going to burst into flames and it was completely ridiculous.