Mind the Gap (In Too Deep) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Josh

Rap music was playing loud enough for me to hear before I even opened the door to my apartment. I knew I'd find E
than with his boxing gloves on—otherwise the music would have been coming through his headphones. He kept right on working out, even as I crossed the room and turned the music down. I was in the middle of eating a bowl of cereal at the kitchen bar by the time Ethan stopped throwing combos on the heavy bag and spoke to me.

"I was thinking about going to Annie's. You
wanna come?" he asked.

I shot him a confused look and pointed at the gigantic bowl of cereal in front of me. "Why didn't you ask me that three minutes ago?" I asked.

"Because I wasn't really paying attention to what you were doing," Ethan said as he took off his gloves and began to unwrap his hands. "Besides, it's just a bowl of cereal. It's not like you're sitting there with a big steak in front of you."

"A steak actually sounds good right about now," I said.
I sat back in my chair and debated putting the spoon down in favor of a trip to Annie's Diner. I gave it all of four seconds thought before I took the bowl of cereal to the sink.

Ethan and I went to Annie
's on a regular basis, but never at eleven in the morning on a weekday. That was a time of day that both of us were usually at work, but this week we both ended up at home. I was there because I'd just quit my job in San Diego and had a few weeks off before my new one started in L.A. He was at home because he had a huge tournament this weekend, and he had a day and a half off to rest beforehand.

"I'm so glad it worked out for you to come this weekend," Ethan said as we
found two empty seats at the bar. 

"Hey boys!"
Annie said, rushing behind us with menus in hand to greet a customer who was coming in the door. We both yelled out a hello as we settled onto our stools.

"
I'm glad it worked out for me to come," I said. "My boss took me off the mall project once I told him I was taking another job. He said there was no reason I should stay on if I'd have to leave before it was completed anyway."

"Was he mad?" Ethan asked.

"He wasn't
happy
, but he understood. No hard feelings or anything."

At Annie's Diner, the owner and waitresses have been known to randomly and without notice, break out into a group dance.
One minute it's just a regular diner with a murmuring crowd and clanging of silverware—and the next, music starts pumping from the speakers and a spontaneous line dance starts up. Most of the time, the guests just sit and watch the entertainment, but sometimes, unsuspecting diners are drug into the act. Annie and the girls always left Ethan and I alone since we were regulars. One of those musical interludes was going on around us at that very moment, but Ethan and I just raised our voices to continue our conversation.

"I assume Emily's coming up for the tournament," I said.

Ethan shook his head. "No. She couldn't get off. The last home games of the season are this weekend. There's no way she could skip out on the last two games. It's cool," he said shrugging. "She'll be at the trials."

"You
'll have a ton of support this weekend anyway," I said. "You're parents are coming, aren't they?"

Ethan nodded.

"So are Collin and Rachel's parents," I continued. "Gretchen and Joel too."

"I know. Plus,
Zack's bringing six or eight people," Ethan said. "And that artist you love so much from Seattle."

"What about her?" I asked.

"She's coming," he said.

"Who invited her?"

"I'm sure Rachel did," he said. I could tell he was amused that I was annoyed. "You can just ignore her if she bothers you. It's not like she's going to seek you out and try to bug you. And you're going to have to get used to seeing her anyway since she's thinking about moving to Los Angeles."

I laughed, thinking
he must be joking, but Ethan didn't look like he was trying to be funny.

"Please tell me she's not moving to Los Angeles," I said.

"Why? Would it have influenced your decision to take the job up there?" he asked. I gave a little shrug. "Oh come on, that's ridiculous," he said. "She's harmless. She's just a tiny little hippie artist. What are you afraid of? That she'll
hug
you to death?"

"I'm not afraid of anything, and to answer your question, no, it would
not
have influenced my decision to take the job. It's definitely not a selling point, though."

"They don't even know if she's coming. I just heard Gretchen talking to Emily about it. Gretchen offer
ed her a job at The Center, but Brit wasn't sure she wanted it."

Our
regular waitress, Candy, interrupted our conversation. She was a little older than us but she flirted with younger guys, and we responded because she was still cute enough to pull it off. "You guys having your regular stuff?" she asked, coming to stand along side us. She was holding a pad and pen in one hand, but she didn't make a move to write anything down.

"I'll have a cup of coffee today," Ethan said.

"
Partying
," Candy said. 

"You know it." Ethan held up his p
ointer and pinky fingers like he was rocking out.

"I mi
ght have to tell Annie you guys feel like dancing," Candy teased. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights because Candy quickly added, "I'm just joking with you. I wouldn't think of interrupting your breakfast. I'll be right back with that coffee."

"I didn't mean to send her packing
if you want to get in on that Broadway musical stuff," I said. "I'm not about to stand up and dance in front of everybody and act like I like it, though."

Ethan laughed. "I'm definitely okay with a quiet breakfast," he said. "
Plus, I don't want them to know I can dance, or they'll start buggin."

"Yeah, that's all you, dude," I said.

Candy set two coffee mugs in front of us before swiping a container of half and half from a neighboring table. "You're food will be out in just a few minutes," she said smiling.

"
Hey Candy, if I end up moving, I'll dance with you one time before I go," Ethan said.

Candy gave him a sad expression. "What
do you mean
moving
? Where? We're already losing Josh here." She pushed out her lower lip just a little. "Why are you moving?"

"Nothing's set in stone, but my girl lives up
in L.A., and now more than one of my best friends do too," Ethan said. "It's just something I'm thinking about for later this year."

"So nothing before the games?" s
he asked. The staff always asked how Ethan was doing with his training. They wanted regular updates on Collin too, since he used to come in all the time with Ethan and me.

"Definitely nothing before the games," he said.

That seemed to mollify her. "Okay good," Candy said. She looked at me. "I'm still mad at this one for leaving," she said, poking her finger into my shoulder. "If any more of my favorite customers move to L.A., I might have to pack up and go there myself." Then just like that, she was off to talk to another customer.

Ethan
had plans to stay in the apartment we shared after I moved to L.A., but we were almost at the end of our lease, and I knew he wasn't planning on renewing it. "Did you ever decide about moving back to your mom's?" I asked.

"It makes the most sense
," he said. "That way I won't be locked into anything if I decide to come up to Los Angeles after the Olympics."

"I can't believe you're thinking about leaving San Diego," I said. Ethan's family was a part of the elite social scene in San Diego, and his parents always assumed they'd pass the
benefits of the family's status to Ethan and his little brother. Ethan had a good life in San Diego, and no one would have ever expected him to leave.

We
smiled at Candy as she set the plates in front of us. She returned the smile, but rushed off without saying a word, and Ethan and I both dug into our food. "It's cool that you and Collin are both going to be up there," he said around a mouth full of food, "but I'd still be thinking about moving if neither of you were there."

"Damn, dude, you are so whipped," I said.

Ethan didn't bother denying it. He shrugged. "I don't know. I want to hang out with her all the time. I guess this means I'm in love or whatever." He said that last part in an accent like Jack Black as Nacho Libre, so it was more funny than heart-warming, but I hadn't missed the fact that Ethan just told me he was in love.

"Ethan Erickson in love?" I said.

He just shrugged again.

I liked Emily and was glad to see him happy, so I decided to quit ribbing him about it.

"I have a lead on an apartment," I said. "It's about ten minutes from Joel's place. It's a new development he knew about—pretty nice."

"What's your mom
gonna say? She wanted you to live in Orange County."

I laughed. "
What she wanted was for me to just go ahead and move in with her and dad in Lake Elsinore and commute."

"It won't be that much further for them to come visit you," he said.

"It's the same distance," I said. "My mom just hates driving into L.A. with Dad. It makes her nervous."

"Aw, she'll get over it," Ethan said.
"I think it's a good move for you. Not just for the job, but, well with Facebook and all."

He was talking about my wife of one year, Kayla, who left me for an old flame she reunited with on Facebook. He and Collin both just called her Facebook instead of
Kayla.

"I know," I said. "I can't say for sure, but I think I'll
enjoy not feeling like I might run into her around the next corner."

"You deserve it, bro," Ethan said.
"I think you'll like L.A. I'm happy for you."

"You're
talkin' like a man who's moving there himself," I said.

Ethan smiled. "
Never know."

I suddenly remembered an appointment I'd made yesterday. I glanced down at my watch
. "Oh no. You're gonna have to come to the barbershop with me dude. I don't think I have enough time to run you home," I said, taking another bite of home fries.

"You just went to the barbershop like three days ago," Ethan said, giving me a confused look. "I think you have a problem, Josh."

"It was a week ago, and I don't have a problem, I just try to never go more than ten days."

Ethan laughed again. "Whatever
, J. I guess it won't take long since there's no hair up there in the first place."

"You don't know what you're talking about," I said, rubbing
at the area right above my ears… the patch of hair that drove me crazy when it had more than ten days of growth. "My hair looks crazy when I let it get long. I tried it one time my freshman year of high school then again in college. Something's
wrong
with it. It doesn't lay right."

Ethan gave me a skeptical look. "I remember when you let it grow in college, and that hardly counts. I think you only skipped a few haircuts."

"Well, I'm not trying it again, if that's what you're getting at. It's all curly and stuff."

"Chicks dig curly hair."

"It's not curly. It's more wavy, unruly. Whatever. I don't know why we're even having this conversation since I'm going to get my fade either way."

Ethan reached up and ran a hand through his longish messy hair. "I could use a haircut too," he said.

"Damn straight," I said. "That's the biggest understatement I've ever heard. Ronnie will fit you in after me. I see him squeeze in walk-ins all the time.

Ethan
looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "I love you dude, but I'm
not
getting my head shaved by Ronnie. I let a girl cut my hair with a pair of scissors while my hands get dipped in hot wax and then massaged by some hair assistant named Heidi."

"That is seriously the gayest thing you've ever said," I said, laughing. "Ronnie does it right for
fifteen dollars. Then I just call Zoey for the massage."

"Are you still seeing her?" Ethan asked.

"Not really," I said. We text a little everyday, but it's no big deal."

"You text with her every day?" Ethan was slightly shocked, I could tell. "Girls don't think like we do, Josh. I'll bet she thinks she's your girlfriend."

"What are we, in middle school? She doesn't think she's my girlfriend. We just mess around a little bit. Besides, she knows I'm moving."

"
Okay
, but don't say I didn't tell you so when tears are shed," he said.

I assured him there would be no tears and we paid the check and took off for Ronnie's Barber Shop.
Candy was in the middle of doing the Dougy when we walked out so she just waved and winked at Ethan and me.