Carter's POV
It's a Friday night. I'm supposed to be distracted, but due to recent phone calls, I can't bring myself to. About twenty minutes ago, I got the most horrifying news an adult could fathom. I lost my job. In case any one is wondering, a bar isn't the best place to receive that news. On the other hand, you get sympathy alcohol. Though I could take much more, I left after a few dirty Shirleys. My friends were still inside so I was walking in the pouring rain. I make it into the park and see someone running to their car.
Even from far away we lock eyes. I look away and continue walking down the sidewalk. As i pass the sporty car, I hear a "Hey!" I whip my head around to see the tall figure looking at me. "Hello," I asked. "Do you need a ride somewhere?" My self defensive mode turned on. He seemed like a nice person from one glance, but then again, so did Bundy. "No, I'm okay. Thank you though," I replied. " I can't just leave you out in the rain." "How do I know you're not Ted Bundy reincarnated?" He laughed, "You have a good point. Listen, I wouldn't be a decent person if I left you out here, so if you'll let me take you somewhere to eat close by, once the rain clears up if you don't trust me, tell me to fuck off and walk home." I share my location with everyone close to me, I have pepper spray and a taser close, its crowded, ill take a chance. This is the stupidest thing I've ever done, aside from trying to chug a Long Island iced tea on my 21st. This is so dangerous, what the hell am I thinking. My mother raised me better than this. There was just something telling me to do it, probably the sympathy drinks.
The car ride is silent except The Weeknd and rain falling.We stop at a little bakery, and its packed so we have time to make conversation. We get in line and introduce ourselves. "So what's your name?" I respond, "Carter, and you?" "I'm Joe," He says with confidence. "So what's your story, Joe?" "Well I'm from Athens, I went to Ohio State and then LSU, and now I play for the Bengals" "Holy shit, talk about the American dream," I say in shock. "I guess you could say that, so what about you? Who's the person that walks in the pouring rain, I'm assuming for fun," He smirks. "Okay this was a one time thing sir, but I went to school in Maryland, and moved here for wedding photography, and I don't know what comes after that because I got fired an hour ago." "Jeez, well did you like your job?" "I mean it payed the bills, and it felt nice being apart of someone's big day."
It was out turn and we ordered, they gave us our food, and we found a place to sit outside. "So, what do you think you'll end up doing for a job now?" "I don't really know, I'll probably try and do real estate photography and worst case scenario, I could move back home." " Yeah but is that really what you want to do? You don't seem too thrilled about either of those options." I let out a small laugh, "No, I really want to do travel photography but the pay isn't exactly providing." "Gotcha" he says while yawning lightly. "So I've been talking too much, and you still have to convince me you're not a serial killer." He laughs again, "Well, what do you want to know?" " Anything, what's it like being on an NFL team?" "Well I got hurt last year so I'm not doing much at the moment with that. I have physical therapy, practice, and then I go home and watch Breaking Bad. It's pretty boring." " Oh I'm sorry, that sucks. Normally, I'd expect an nfl player to be super cocky." He grins, " Well you have your fair share of those guys, but most of us are chill. Like my guy Ja'marr is so funny. We're always joking around in practice and on the field." "He sounds cool."
About an hour passes by and the rain stops. Joe and I mostly talked about our jobs and hobbies. Then we decided to leave. I know I still probably shouldn't have trusted him to drive me home, but yolo I guess. He let me use the aux and blast Arctic Monkeys. I give the directions and once we get to my apartment he stops me before I get out. "Can I at least get your number in case you're in this particular situation again?" "Yeah sure, as long as you aren't using it to track me, Bundy." He smiles after I put my number in his contacts and we say our good nights.
I walk inside and plop down on the couch thinking, shit, I could've died from a hot nfl player.
