While the Sun Shines

13.

"You're cheating!" 

Alex narrowed his eyes at Nick when the latter gleefully placed his final three cards on the table. 

"I'm certainly not cheating," Nick replied with a grin. "I just learned from the actual best, which isn't people at the casino, but grandparents in nursing homes who do literally nothing else but play all day." 

"You got Rummy lessons from grandparents in nursing homes?" Alex repeated incredulously. 

Nick cringed at how lame that sounded out loud. "Not actual lessons," he hastily defended himself. "And not from random grannies. I just played with my own grandparents whenever I visited them on the weekend." 

"Wait, so how many hours did you actually spend practicing this game with them?" 

Nick cringed harder. If he told the truth, which was nearly every Sunday before he went abroad, Alex would definitely think he was lame. "Too many. Trust me: too many," Nick dodged around giving an actual answer. 

A smile lit up Alex' face. Nick was sure he was going to mock him, but all Alex said was: "That's sweet of you. That you visit them that often. And it clearly has other benefits too." 

"Yeah," Nick muttered, looking down at his beer as he suddenly felt a little shy. 

The guys from his old football team had never understood why he wanted to hang out with old people that often, and had made fun of Rummy, asking if he meant 'rum' instead. Nick had laughed along and complained that his parents forced him to go, but secretly he'd always enjoyed listening to his grandparents' stories.  

"Since I'm obviously not going to beat you at card games, how about a round of pool?" Alex  pointed at the empty pool table. "Unless you're going to tell me Efren Reyes happens to be an old family friend and you learned from him." 

Nick laughed. "I have no hidden skills at the pool table—my only experience is playing on drunken nights out like this. Promise." 

"Good, same. Let's go then." Alex got up and carried his, and one of Nick's two beers, to the pool table. Nick followed after him. 

"We have to drink the same amount to keep this a fair contest," Nick pointed out. "I'm going to get one more beer for you." 

In all honesty, Nick only wanted to buy Alex a drink as a silent thank you for not making fun of him, but he didn't need to know that. When Nick returned from the bar with one extra beer, Alex already had a cue in his hands. He was staring at the entrance, and Nick followed his gaze. 

A young man with dark curls and dimples when he smiled was taking his coat off near the door. He wore a black shirt with an ace on it, so Nick presumed he was one of the waiters coming in for his shift.

"I can entertain myself for a while if you want to go talk to him," Nick offered Alex. 

Alex tore his eyes off the curly-haired waiter and pulled a face at Nick. "No thanks. I can get rejected by a straight guy any other day of the week. But I don't often meet someone who can match me in games. So let's play some pool." 

Nick cast one last glance at the waiter Alex liked, briefly checking if he and that guy had anything in common physically-wise out of curiosity (they didn't at all), before focusing on Alex getting the balls ready on the pool table. 

There was an incredibly open door 'at least you get to touch balls' joke to make here, but Nick pressed his lips together. He'd learned from before—he wasn't going to create more awkward situations for himself. He just took a swig of one of his beers and waited until Alex was done with the preparations.