The Waiter by Bradleigh Collins (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

boys headed to the bar to get drinks, I told Katie and Lucy about my day.

“He wants to move in with me and I’m freaking out.”

“He said that?” Lucy asked.

“Yep. Told me to think about it.”

“And what do you think about it?” Katie said.

“I don’t know what I think. It’s so soon. I mean literally, it’s like one week.”

“Yeah, that’s soon,” Lucy agreed. “But aren’t you guys spending every night together anyway?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you feel like you need a break or something?”

“No, I love being with him.”

“That’s what happened with Josh and me,” Katie said. “We were spending every night together, and it just made sense.”

“Lucy, how long did you and Kyle date before you moved in together?”

“About six months, I think.”

“That’s not that long,” I said.

“Here’s the thing, Sam,” Lucy began to school me. “The real estate market in New York speeds up the relationship process because apartments are incredibly rare and even more incredibly expensive.”

“Yeah but look what happened when I moved in with Dalton.”

“I know what happened,” she replied. “He showed his true colors. You saved a shit ton of money, and now you have a new apartment and a new man. I’ve never seen you this happy.”

“She’s right,” Katie agreed. “Besides, we never know how long the people we love are gonna be around. Don’t you wanna spend as much time with him as you can?”

“The Lama has spoken,” Lucy said. We’d nicknamed Katie “The Lama” because she always came up with profound words of wisdom precisely at the moment we needed it most. “Anyway,” she added, “I think you should go for it. He’s crazy about you.”

“I agree,” Katie said as the guys began walking back to the table with our drinks. “And I like him so much better than Dalton.”

“Me too.” I looked up at The Waiter as he sat my martini down on the table. He smiled at me, and in that moment, he replaced Dalton as the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Katie was right. I had no guarantee that he - or anyone - would be around forever. And I definitely wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. The DJ started playing Prince’s “Pussy Control” and George came running over to the table screaming.

“Oh my god! This is my song! I just requested it. You have to dance with me.”

“I guess you’re dancing,” The Waiter said.

“Yes,” I replied, as George pulled me, Katie and Lucy onto the dance floor. Then I turned around and yelled at The Waiter. “Hey, you know that thing we talked about earlier?”

He nodded.

“Yes to that too,” I said.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “Seriously.”

CHAPTER 27

◆◆◆

“You look like a tick,” Josh said.

He, The Waiter and I were walking down 125th Street to catch the B train to Nick’s gym. Last night, The Waiter invited everyone to come with us, but Josh was the only one that had taken him up on the offer.

I was freezing. The temperature was in the mid-forties, but being from the deep south, I considered anything below sixty degrees flat-out-frigid. As much as I loved New York, I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to the cold. I was wearing a black unitard and one of The Waiter’s Columbia sweatshirts. On top of that was a big blue puffer jacket.

“I don’t know how you guys deal with this cold.”

“This isn’t cold,” Josh said.

“Yeah, wait until January,” The Waiter added.

We took the B train four stops to 161st Street in the Bronx. It was the first time I’d ever seen Yankee Stadium in person. It looked like a cathedral, and I guess in a way, it was. The Yankees had just swept the Braves in the World Series a little over a week ago. I’d watched the final game at The Gin Mill with Josh, Katie, Lucy and Kyle. That was the night before I’d packed up all of my shit and left Dalton for good.

The gym was located a couple of blocks from the stadium on the top floor of a brick building. It had floor-to-ceiling windows and an incredible view of the stadium. As soon as we walked in, Nick immediately came over and greeted us.

“You don’t know how happy I am to see your beautiful face.” He gave me a bear hug and lifted me off the ground. “This guy’s been moping around the city for weeks.”

“Really?”

“You can’t believe anything he says,” The Waiter responded. “He’s been punched in the head too many times.”

“So, this is your gym,” Josh said looking around. “Cool place.”

It was a cool place. There were two boxing rings and several heavy bags hanging from the ceiling. There were two guys sparring in one of the rings and about a half-dozen others scattered throughout the gym.

“It’s my Dad’s gym actually. I just work here.” Apparently Nick’s dad had been a pretty successful boxer in Argentina in the sixties. When he retired, he moved the family to New York and opened this gym.

“How did you end up performing in De La Guarda?” I asked.

“My cousin. He was involved in the original production in Argentina. When it came to New York, he asked me if I wanted to be part of it and I said, ‘hell yeah!’”

“So, boxing coach by day, Peter Pan by night?”

“Exactly. Now, are you guys ready to get in the ring?”

“Yes!” Josh said.

“No,” I said. The Waiter laughed at me.

We began our workout by jumping rope. In just a few minutes, I was already sweating and it was time to lose The Waiter’s sweatshirt. I was a little uncomfortable, being the only girl in the gym at the time. And I wasn’t the only one feeling self-conscious.

“There’s no way in hell I’m going shirtless in here,” Josh said. The Waiter and Nick had already shed their shirts. “These guys look like they were created in a lab.”

Josh and I started competing to see who could jump rope the longest without missing a skip. I was crushing him. After a half-hour or