Story: The One You're With - part 2

The One You're With
by Varian Milagro

Part 2

Rachel looked around, but didn’t see Terrance anywhere in the tavern. She grabbed her drink and took a long swallow. Once she finished it she would grab Gabi and leave as quickly as she could. As she began to repack her purse she once again noticed the red light on her phone. When she unlocked it, she saw that she had a message from Paige. It said “Gma says I can borrow car after lesson. Be there at 10?”. As she scrolled up, there was a whole conversation that hadn’t been there before she’d met Terrance. The conversation consisted of Rachel trying to convince Paige to drive out to the Tavern and give her a ride.

Rachel tried to make a call, but as soon as she hit the call button, her phone shut off. She powered it back on and the same thing happened. Any attempt to contact Paige resulted in her phone going dead. Luckily, Paige didn’t have ready access to a car and it sounded like Rita wasn’t going to let Paige borrow hers until later in the evening. That gave her over an hour to get to a working phone and let her daughter know to stay away from the tavern.

Before she could finish packing her purse, a young man approached the table. He was tall, perhaps six-one, in great physical shape and startlingly handsome. There was a calculating intelligence behind his mesmerizing blue eyes. He was also quite young. He couldn’t be more than three or four years older than her daughter. 

“Hi, I’m Cody and I’m hoping you can do me a huge favor. I got myself into a bit of a wager at that pool table over there.” Without looking away, he pointed toward the pool tables in the adjoining room. “I bet a couple guys that I could beat them in a game of doubles and they got to pick my partner. They decided upon you. Which, to be honest, made me quite happy.”

“Really, why?” Rachel found this young man very interesting, particularly the way he held her gaze with a confidence that belied his years and hers.

“You know that you’re beautiful, right? So much better looking than the rest of the women here.”

Rachel cocked her head to the side. “I think you are in desperate need of a pair of glasses, young man. There are plenty of women here much better looking than me and much younger. A lot of them are much closer to your own age, I might add.”

“Desperate is what most of these women are, in the way they dress and the way they act, not that the men aren’t just as desperate mind you. But not you and I find that very attractive.”

“Besides being old enough to be your mother, I don’t know how to play pool.” Rachel drained the last of her drink, 

“That is exactly what my opponents were hoping you’d say. But you don’t need to worry about any of that. I’d consider myself a winner for some time in your company, no matter the outcome of the game.”

As she stood, intending to grab her sister and leave, hoping that she’d be able to arrive at her dad’s place before Paige's lesson was over, a voice in her head reminded her of Terrance’s final warning. Admittedly, she did find Cody interesting, albeit young. Unfortunately, her promise to Gabi had not hinged on the person’s age. She was quite certain that if she refused Cody’s offer, Terrance would make her regret it.

She slung her purse over her shoulder and then flashed him a smile. “How can I possibly turn down an offer like that? I’m Rachel by the way.”

She glanced over at her sister as she followed Cody to the pool tables. She was still sitting with Bill, laughing at something he’d said. It was obvious that they had hit it off. Rachel wasn't going to need a ride home after all. It looked like Gabi wasn’t going anywhere tonight except maybe back to Bill’s place.

There were two rows of four pool tables in the back room, each with its own light fixture hanging from the ceiling directly overhead, which kept the tables well-lit while allowing the rest of the area to have a similar low-lighting feel as most of the tavern. The walls on either side of the pool tables had a wide, chest high shelf that several of the players were using as a table. There were also a few standard tables and chairs similar in shape and height as those in the rest of the tavern and just as clean. Most of the players were standing.

It was easy to tell which table was Cody’s. It was closest to the entrance and had a good view of the rest of the tavern. It also had two men standing next to it that had watched them nonstop since Cody had first approached her. Both of the men were much closer to Rachel’s age than Cody’s. Both of them had a rugged, blue-collar worker appearance to them. One of them was large and bulky and the other was lean as a whip, but had a fire in his eyes that made Rachel think that he seethed with an unfocused rage. 

"I'd like to sweeten the pot, if that's okay with you guys,” Cody said after making introductions. “Let's make it a hundred a game and to further even things out, if I sink a ball on my turn I can't also sink the eight. That’ll ensure that Rachel, my lovely partner, will participate in any game we win. If she doesn't sink the eight on her turn then I can sink it on mine."

"You're on!" Jackson, the lean one, said. He had a buzz cut and wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves torn off which showed off the eight ball tattoo on his right arm.

"That's a bit too rich for me," Lance said around the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. He had a long scar next to his left eye. It didn’t look very old; it was still pink and small indentations ran along either side where the stitches once lived.

Jackson rushed over to his partner’s side. "Don't pussy out on me, man. This is a lock."

"My rent's due."

The two men stared at each other for several seconds before Lance said, "Fine." He shoved some cash into Jackson's hand and then turned away.

Jackson stuffed the bills into one pocket and then from another produced a well-worn leather wallet. He slipped out a single hundred-dollar bill and laid it on the edge of the pool table. 

"Put the money in the rack," Jackson said with a sneer.

Cody’s banknote was so crisp it looked like it had come straight from the mint. He laid it directly on top of Jackson's bill.

“You wanna do the honors, Jackson?” Cody said. 

“Ladies first.” Lance held out a long wooden stick toward Rachel. When she didn't take it from him, he added, "It's your break."

As she took a hold of the long pole, she said, “You want me to break this?” 

Jackson burst out laughing. It sounded mean and joyless. “This will be the easiest hundred I’ve ever made.”

“I don’t have a hundred dollars to lose.” She tried to give the stick back, but Lance wouldn’t take it.

“You don’t have to put up any money,” Cody said as he led her to one end of the green rectangular table. “It’s all on me.”

“I don’t want to lose your money either. You should pick someone else.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Lance said in a low, kindly voice. “If you don’t play he loses the money anyways.”

“Serves him right for being so cocky to begin with,” Jackson added without any compassion.

“Use the pool cue to hit the white ball into the other ball.” He motioned toward the pool table next to theirs. “See how they are doing it?” 

“Hey! No coaching.” Jackson's face grew red.

“For fuck’s sake, at least let him show her how to hold the cue stick,” Lance said.

“No dice!”

Cody caught Rachel’s eyes with his and then made a slight motion with his head to the player at an adjacent table.

Rachel watched the man use the long stick to strike the white ball and send it into another ball, which then fell into a hole in the corner of the table. She tried to copy him, but when she hit the white ball the stick glanced off to the side and the ball only moved about three inches. She wanted to hide under the table as Jackson and Lance burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cody said. He gave her shoulder a tender squeeze as she rejoined him. She was a little embarrassed at how good it felt, especially coming from a man young enough to be her child. It had been entirely too long since any man had touched her with tender kindness.

Jackson went next. He slammed the white ball into the large group of balls. The ball with a blue stripe fell into the side pocket on the far side of the table. Rachel did some quick counting. There were six holes in the felt covered table, two in each side and one in all four corners. There were a total of 16 balls, seven of which were white with a colored stripe while the others were a solid color. The solid white ball was unique in that it didn't have a number.

"What brought you to the Rusty Nail?. It doesn't strike me as your regular hangout," Cody said while their opponent sent yet another ball into one of the various holes on the pool table.

"Oh, what kind of place do you think is my kind of place?" Rachel asked.

Cody looked her up and down. "Applebees with the girls from the office once a month? But not anywhere near here." His eyes lingered on her arm. "Somewhere that the sun doesn't shine very often I'm guessing. By your slight accent I'd wager in the Midwest."

"You're good. I'm from Minnesota. Are you from Nevada?"

"Grew up not twenty miles from here. You on a Vegas vacation?"

"Hardly. Visiting a sick relative." Rachel didn't want to mention her dad for fear that Cody or one of the other guys might ask a follow-up question about him and he was the last person she wanted to discuss.

Jackson slapped Lance on the back. "It looks like you'll have to have one of those long distance relationships."

Lance turned slowly to face Jackson. "I'm not in the mood."

Jackson threw up his hands, but was all smiles. "Okay, Mr. Sensitive. I'll leave you alone. Too bad for you that the same thing goes for her." He made another one of the striped balls fall into one of the corner holes. He did this once more before finally missing. Each time he sank a ball he pumped his fist and did a little shuffle with his feet. When he missed he spewed a long series of expletives.

Cody took a turn next. He sank a red ball with the number three on it. He didn’t hit it nearly as hard as Jackson had hit his balls and he did not perform a celebratory dance. He walked around the table as soon as he hit the white ball and stopped and waited for the white ball to come to him. It was like he knew exactly where it was going to end up on the table.

While Cody lined up his third shot, Jackson sauntered over to Rachel’s table.

“So, how long are you in town?” He slid a chair right next to hers and then sat in it.

“Just a few more days,” Rachel said. She watched Cody sink his fourth straight ball. She hoped that by avoiding eye contact Jackson might take the hint and go back to his own table.

“That’s cool. Why don’t you give me your phone number. So we can hook up before you go back north.”

The thought of hooking up with Jackson made her stomach turn over.

“Maybe later,” she said as she fought to keep the boilermaker down.

“Let me buy you a drink at least,” Jackson said.

"I’m fine, really.” The last thing she needed was to get drunk. She could see Gabi from where she was sitting and her sister was doing shots with Bill. If she was going to get home before Paige departed she would need to be sober enough to drive. Even if Gabi didn't go home with Bill, she wasn't going to be in any condition to drive a car. Besides, she didn’t want Jackson thinking she owed him anything.

Turning to Lance, Jackson said, “She’s not a drinker, dude. I told you she’s not the one for you.”

Cody sank all the solid colored balls and no one complained, but when he took aim at the black one, both of his opponents got excited.

“You hit that ball and you lose,” Jackson said.

Cody’s eyes shifted away from the ball to Jackson’s face. “The rule is that I can’t sink the eight on the same turn that I sink any other ball. There was nothing said about setting up my partner.” Without looking away from Jackson he struck the white ball. It hit the eight which rolled slowly toward the corner pocket, stopping less than an inch from the hole.

“You’re a cocky son of a bitch,” Lance said with a chortle as he walked over to the pool table. He lined up his shot and sunk one of the striped balls. 

Although Lance sank ball after ball until there was only one left on the table, the black one that was sitting right in front of the corner pocket, a shot so easy that Rachel thought that she might even be able to make it, Cody’s charming smile never diminished, not even slightly. He sipped his beer while leaning against the wall like he didn’t have a care in the world. 

When Lance sank the final ball, Rachel got an idea of what Terrance meant about door number three, for he suddenly appeared right next to her opponent and whispered in his ear much like he’d done with her sister earlier that evening. Like with Gabi, Lance seemed frozen in time, at least initially. When Terrance stopped speaking, Lance’s mouth began moving. He was staring right at her as he spoke. Only his mouth moved, the rest of him was still standing perfectly still.

“Now, let’s not be greedy,” Terrance said to Lance. He then turned his head toward Rachel. He gave her a wink as he held up three fingers and then promptly disappeared.

Lance was once again able to move more than just his mouth. He blinked a couple of times and then looked away from Rachel like he’d just realized that he was staring at her. Rachel was too busy trying not to fall out of her chair to care who he stared at. 

“Are you alright?” Cody said as he rushed to her. 

“Uh...,” Was all Rachel could manage at that moment. Her clothes were rearranging on her body. Her flats were turning into a pair of leather ankle boots and her slacks were deflating, like someone was vacuuming out all the air. In moments they hugged her skin like a pair of skinny jeans. Her blouse lost its sleeves and its colorful design. It was a solid red and almost as tight as the jeans. It also had a low neckline. Rachel wasn’t large chested by any means, but she had enough to show off with the right bra and the black lacy number she now wore was doing wonders. 

New information battered her brain once her clothes stopped changing. While she didn’t know what Terrance and Lance had said to each other, she was experiencing the result. 

She no longer lived in the Twin Cities, she and Paige lived less than thirty minutes from where she stood. She’d moved to Nevada last summer to be closer to her dad when she’d found out about his illness. 

She’d been divorced longer too. It was still because her ex-husband was a two timing asshole, but this time she hadn’t wasted as much time trying to save their marriage. The mark on her finger where her wedding ring had lived for so many years had faded and was only visible in the right lighting.

Her counselor in both realities had suggested that she not date anyone until at least one year had passed since her divorce. That was why she was here, to celebrate her reentering the dating scene. Purely Gabi’s idea. The choice of local had been Bill’s. He was a Harley rider and liked to show off his ride at biker hangouts. This was no longer their first date, but their third. Once again, she knew that these memories were because Terrance had changed reality once again. Her home was Minnesota and Gabi had never met Bill before tonight. She needed to keep a hold of that. That was the true reality, not this new artificial one.

Rachel turned her gaze back to the men in her immediate vicinity. As good-looking as he was, Cody was still way too young for her. Jackson was still an arrogant, sure-of-himself, jerk. Lance though, there was something different about him. She couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, but he had some serious potential. He could make the right woman very happy and she was beginning to think that she might just be her.

“I’ll take that,” Jackson said as he snatched the money off the pool table. “Up for another game?”

“I am if my partner is,” Cody said to Jackson. Turning to her added, “Only if you’re up to it, no pressure.”

She was about to say no, having no desire to lose anymore of Cody’s money, embarrass herself any further at the pool table or subject herself to anymore life altering magic, but a little voice in her head told her that it would be a big mistake to refuse her partner, a little male voice that sounded a lot like Terrance.

“Okay,” she said, finally.

“Excellent.” Cody took a final swallow from his beer and then said, “I’m getting another beer, you want anything?”

Before Rachel could answer her phone buzzed like the vibration setting was cranked up to eleven. It was a message from Paige, this one said simply, “here”. She realized that since they lived locally Paige had been at home tonight, not at her grandparent's. She also had access to a car since, just like the original reality, Rachel had ridden to the tavern with Gabi.  

“I’ll be right back,” Rachel said as she snatched up her purse.

“You forfeit if you’re not here for your turn.” Jackson said to Rachel. “Tell you what, give me your phone number and I’ll text you when it’s your turn.”

“Maybe next time,” she said to him. As she passed Lance she let her hand brush his forearm. “Lance, would you be a big sweetie and order me a boilermaker?” Her hand ran up his arm and then across his chest. “And tell them not to be so stingy on the whiskey this time.”

“You got it little darling,” Lance said.

Rachel wasn’t sure why she’d ordered another drink. The deal had been to have one drink and give an interesting guy a fair chance, which she’d done. Her agreement fulfilled, she could go home with her daughter. Yet, she didn’t have any whiskey at her place and she had a real craving for another boilermaker. She was also having a hard time getting Lance out of her mind. It had been a long time since she’d had sex and an even longer time since she’d been with a man Lance’s size. Her husband, Dale, wasn’t a very big man. Lance would make her feel petite in comparison. At five foot six, she was used to looking up to men, but few of them made her feel small, at least in a good way.

Paige was in the parking lot, standing next to her mom’s car, tapping away on her phone. The car was a five-year old, tan Toyota Camry, which made Rachel a little sad. Before she’d met Terrance she’d owned a brand new Lexus. The bank she worked at now was much smaller and didn’t pay nearly as well. She also was no longer the Director of Loan Origination, but a measly senior loan officer. 

Paige heard the sound of crunching gravel and looked up. “So, what’s the emergency?” She stuffed her phone into her back pocket of her skinny jeans. Like her mother she had brown hair, although hers was longer and fell to the middle of her back. She too was tall and slender, but it came to her naturally whereas Rachel had to do hours of cardio combined with a healthy diet to maintain her slender physique. Neither of them had an abundance of curves, but they had killer legs and could wear pretty much anything. Their clothing styles both leaned toward the conservative and casual, or at least they had.

Rachel frowned for a moment, at first not remembering her daughter wearing jeans that tight or having so many studs in her ears. It only lasted a moment before she did have those memories. She also knew that her own closet had some new additions. Terrance hadn’t just changed the clothes that she’d worn to the tavern, he’d changed her taste in clothing. It seemed to have an effect on Paige as well. 

“Turns out that I don’t need a ride, so you can go home.” 

“You have got to be kidding me! First you send me a bunch of IMs saying I have to get here right away and now you want me to leave? What’s the f’ing deal?”

“Just go now. I’ll explain later.”

“You’re making me crazy!” Paige threw back her head and let out a furious groan. “Please tell me that there’s a bathroom in there. I’m seriously going to pee my pants at any moment.”

“Use the bathroom at the McDonalds. It isn’t that far down the road.”

“Fine.” Paige turned to open the car door, but paused. Turning back around she said, “You know, I had the strangest feeling on the way over here. It was like we still lived in Minnesota and we’re only visiting here. It felt so real. I have this memory of playing MahJong with Grandma Rita tonight, but I’ve been at home all night."

“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” Rachel wasn’t sure if she liked that her daughter could remember the original reality. There was comfort that she would have someone to talk to about the changes to their lives, but at the same time Paige would be less confused and worried if she only remembered her current life. Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes.

As soon as Paige touched the door handle her mother screamed, making her jump. She whipped around to see a look of terror on her mom’s face. “What’s wrong?” 

"Let her go home,” Rachel said, her eyes filling with tears. She was looking past her daughter, toward the roof of the car. “Do what you want to me, but please let her go."

Paige scanned the area. There was no one else in the parking lot that she could see. "Okay, you are now officially freaking me out."

"You do realize that she can't see or hear me." Terrance was laying on his side on top of the car, shaking his head slowly, like he was disappointed in a small child.

"Please. I'm begging you," Rachel said. Her whole body shook uncontrollably.

"Who are you talking to, Mom?" The panic was back on Paige's face.

"She’s my baby. She’s all I’ve got."

"What's happening?" Paige cried.

Terrance rolled his eyes. "This is getting annoying." He flicked his wrist and Paige froze in place, almost. Her body slowly relaxed and her face went slack, like she was in a trance. The tears that had run down her cheeks vanished.

Rachel grabbed her daughter's wrist to check for a pulse. "What did you do to her." Her own pulse slowed a little when she felt the rhythmic pumping of blood below Paige's skin.

"Look, I'm not sending your daughter home. Out of the question. I promise not to make any direct changes to her, but apples don't fall far from the tree. Now then, I want you to keep playing pool. That is the option you chose.”

“I already agreed to play another game. When it’s over can I take my daughter home?”

“Here’s the deal. You can quit whenever you want, but if your team isn’t the overall winner when you stop playing, well then, your daughter belongs to me. She’ll be my little plaything until I get bored with her.”

“No, no, no. Anything but that.”

“Now, to make things even more interesting, when one of the men wins a game for their team you will become more to his liking, physically and mentally. If you win a game then it’s your partner who'll get that honor. If you manage to sink the eight ball I'll grant you a single wish to help your team succeed, but you won’t remember that part. I don’t want to make it too easy for you.”

“So, if my team wins the next two games I can quit and you’ll leave Paige alone?” Rachel said.

“I’ll do even better than that. If you win overall, I’ll give you the chance to revert any and all changes made to her, your sister or even yourself.”

She had a strong feeling like this was the best deal she was going to get from Terrance and any more pleading might only make him change his mind about leaving Paige alone for the time being. "What's she going to do while I'm inside playing pool? Stand outside? She's too young to go into the bar with me. Can you unfreeze her at least?"

"You're right that she's too young to be a patron and making her old enough would be a clear violation of my earlier promise." He frowned for a couple of seconds. His face suddenly brightened. "I've got it."

He flicked his wrist and Paige disappeared, causing Rachel to shriek once again.

"Where'd she go? What did you do with my baby?"

"Relax. I made a very slight and temporary modification to her life with no physical alterations to her body. She'll be indoors, occupied and safe. She will have my protection while you're playing pool."

"What modification? Where is she?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Terrance's smile sent shivers down Rachel's spine. “One more thing, the longer you play, the more your sister will change.” He vanished before she could protest.

The story continues with Part 3