Here is the next chapter. I really hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. All comments are wonderful and makes writing these chapters even more enjoyable.
Title: Serving Up Trouble
Author: Jailynn
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not Mine
Warning: Completely unedited. This means there will be a lot of mistakes. I'm very sorry about that. Please forgive me.
Word Count: 2529
Author's Note: The timeline has jumped to mid-July. (Just in time for Harry Potter. *grin*) I will not be following the storyline on the show. There is a lot about that storyline that irks me. I've already talked about my hate for Lily, well I'm not fond of Billy either. *laughing* Actually there are quite a few characters I dislike, but Billy really irks me. (He reminds me of a ogre)
Feedback: Please and thank you
Type: Romance, humor, AU, crossover, drama, angst, friendship
Fandom: Y&R/GL
-[]-
Tests, tests and more tests, that's all he seems to be doing lately. Everywhere he turns there is another stone that has to be overturned, another lie that has to be figured out. It was exhausting and it felt like they were getting no where. Phillip walks into the gym and sets his things down so he can check in. Shivering he turns his head to the right then left. The eerie feeling of someone watching him washes over him. He shakes his head. Being paranoid...is that one of the symptoms or is it all the weirdness surrounding his family that has him on edge? He can't be sure and honestly he isn't sure he really wants to examine any of that real close.
After signing in and smiling briefly at the woman behind the counter, he walks into the locker room to deposit his stuff in one of the provided lockers. The rows are filled with men in varying stages of undress. Phillip looks for one without too many other people. Part of the reason he's at the gym is he needs to let loose some of the pent up energy and anger that has been simmering under the surface. About five rows in he finally finds a set of lockers that were essentially abandoned. Moving all the way to the back, Phillip pulls out his lock and stuffs his bag in the wood and metal storage place. He snaps the lock in place and takes his towel and boxing gloves out into the main part of the gym.
The smell of sweat and the sounds of exertion fills the air. Moving bodies, slick with perspiration, were everywhere, but no one was paying attention to him. His tense back muscles loosen a touch. The feeling of someone spying on him lessens once he walks over to the lone punching bag in the back of the workout establishment. Phillip slides his gloves on, tightening them around his wrists, then raises them up into a fighting stance. The first jab is a straight forward punch. The second is an uppercut then a right cross followed closely by a left jab. His feet move around the bag and his body rolls as if he is actually fighting someone.
His black and white workout shirt starts to stick to him, his arms burn a little from the strength of his punches, anger boils and breaks in his body. He needs this release. Phillip's right eye begins to twitch, but he continues to pound his feelings into the bag made of leather and sand. The muscle in his left cheek tightens painfully, like a Charlie horse. He can feel the nerve pulling in, coiling and sending agonizing signals to his brain. He knows he should stop. It will only get worse, but he doesn't want to. This feels good. It feels right. He doesn't feel like he is running up a mountain, only to get nowhere. He has a destination here. Right, left, duck, jab, left, right, dance to the side, jab. Sweat mingles with tears of frustration because the twitching in his eye is getting worse, the pain in his cheek is growing tiresome. Phillip stops boxing and leans his head on the bag. Breathing in gulps of air, he doesn't move. He just rides out the latest brush with whatever is wrong with him.
As his heart rate slows, so does the burning and pain. He stands up straight and looks around him, cautious that people might be staring at the weirdo hugging the punching bag. Phillip relaxes fully when he realizes no one is paying an attention to him at all. The skin-crawling feeling of being stalked is only in his mind. He can't decide if that is a good thing or not. He knows if he does have Huntington's disease, his motor and cognitive skills will take a dramatic turn for the worse, he just hopes that it hasn't already started. Pulling the gloves from his hands, he bends down and takes his towel off the wooden bench next to the bag. Wiping his face clean of perspiration, he makes his way back to the locker room.
He smiles at the people he passes on the way, grunts of greetings were expressed between the men with a nod of a chin, the women flirt and Phillip did as well. His spirits were up when he enters the locker room to grab his stuff and leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a flash, a figure, a vaguely familiar person. The person looked like his father, a man that has been dead for years, since he was a baby. A cold feeling, ice water through his veins, spreads throughout his body. By the time he pivots toward the flash, whoever was there, if anyone was there, is gone. Phillip shakes his head, trying to dislodge the coldness from his body, and continues toward the locker he is using with more determination.
Quickly, he turns the dial on the lock and pulls it off once it releases. Grabbing his bag from the back, he stuffs his used towel into it and slams the door shut. Making his way to the bar, Phillip waits patiently for the bartender to return from helping another patron. Looking around the Athletic Club, he taps his fingers against the edge of the bar. The short, stout man with thinning brown hair and keen green eyes manning the refreshment area, nodded in his direction and holds up one finger to indicate that he would be the next person served. “Hey,” a female voice calls from behind him.
Phillip turns toward the person and grins, “Hey yourself.” Mac walks up to the bar and takes a seat next to him. “What are you doing here?”
His brunette cousin, maybe, family, in spirit definitely, looks anxious, brushing some of her hair behind her ears and takes a deep breath. “I'm meeting someone.” At his look, she sighs and rubs her eyes. “Billy, I'm meeting Billy.” Her brown eyes shift in shame. “I shouldn't. Your uncle is married with a child. What the hell am I doing?” He licks his lips letting her work it out for herself. He has the feeling she isn't talking to him right now anyway. Seemingly to realize who she was talking with she blushes. “Sorry. I don't know why I just spaced out.”
“Listen,” he digs his hand into the complementary bowl of mixed nuts and pops some into his mouth, suddenly ravenous. “I'm not going to judge you. I have heard about your past with Billy and it sounded pretty intense. I'm not in any place to tell anyone how to live their lives,” he pauses as the bartender finally makes his way over to them.
“What can I get you,” the man asks while wiping his hands on a towel.
“I'll just have a glass of sprite with a slice of lemon and she'll have,” he turns to her and raises his eyebrows.
“The same,” Mac smiles tightly. “Thank you.”
The man nods and walks away to get their drinks. Phillip eats a few more nuts before going back to their previous conversation. “Beside I thought Billy and Chloe were done. At least that's the gossip going around the house.”
Both accept the drinks put on the bar in front of them and move to an empty table in the corner of the causal restaurant. Mac sets her purse down on the floor and he does the same with his gym bag. The cool liquid of the his drink soothes his throat. She looks around the building then back at him. “Honestly I don't know what is going on with Chloe and Billy. He says they are done for good, but he has a baby with her... I just don't want to be the reason that little girl loses out of having a family.” She locks eyes with him and smiles a little bitterly. “We both had to grow up that way...true for different reasons, but the result was the same.”
Phillip nods, “Yeah it was.” He rubs his eyebrow and thinks for a second, flashing back to the figure that reminded him of his father. He shakes the memory off. “Look I'm not saying that a man leaving his wife is necessarily a good thing, but if he is miserable and wants to be with you then it's going to be bad either way for her.” He shakes his head and laughs. “But then again I really haven't had a relationship to pull from in a long time so...”
“You also haven't been around the house much,” she arches her eyebrow. “Not since July 4th. If I didn't know better I would think you were avoiding someone.”
“That's ridiculous,” he scoffs. “Who would I be avoiding?”
“Jill,” that earns a hearty laugh from him. “Or maybe the new chef Ashlee,” she smirks a little. “I heard about your dip in the pool together... Jill seemed pretty annoyed with the young cook.” She shrugs, “not that annoyed isn't the constant mood of choice for her, but she was definitely and is definitely watching Ashlee very closely.”
He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and looks towards the door. Billy walks in looking around for Mac. Phillip breathes a sigh of relief and starts to stand when his uncle notices them at the table. “Your date is here and I'm going to go home,” he emphasizes the word to her great amusement. He picks up his bag, shakes Billy's hand and walks out of the Athletic Club.
-[]-
“How much do you love me?” Marcus asks as he walks into the kitchen where Ashlee is decorating a cake.
“I won't love you at all if you make my souffle that's in the oven fall,” she replies without looking up. “Shut the door quietly please.” He carefully closes the door and she looks up with a grin. “Okay now I love you a whole bunch. But what may I ask brought on this need to know how I feel about you?”
Her friend sits on a stool and rests his head on his hand on the counter she's working at. His classic looks are highlighted by dark hair, eyes and deep olive skin. She licks her lips and sighs inside. All the cute ones are always gay...or completely unavailable, like Phillip or lost in cyberspace, like ArmyBound. She bites the inside of her cheek. ArmyBound said if Phillip wanted to know her he would make a move or at least hang around...well he hasn't done either. It's been ten days since the “pool incident” which is how she refers to it in her head and the only person hanging around is Jill. Ashlee gives an involuntary shudder at the thought of that woman. Twisting the icing bag top, she starts starring the edges of her raspberry cream filled vanilla cake again.
“Well you know how you were talking the other day about needing to meet new people but never having enough time,” he leans in, watching her work.
“Uh huh,” Ashlee blows at a piece of hair that keeps falling in her face and hitting her nose.
“I have a solution to that problem,” he grins at her and she backs away from her almost completed cake.
“Why does that frighten me so,” she places the piping bag on the counter and bushes the hair violently from her face.
“Because I might have met someone through a mutual friend that I think you will really like,” she tilts her head and narrows her eyes at him. He shrugs, drawing designs with his fingertip on the marble surface then takes a deep breath and rushes into his pitch, “His name is Sam and he is very cute. Hazel eyes, nice body, almost as tall as me, so probably six two. He has light brown hair... interested?”
“Yes, but I have a feeling that even if I said no I wouldn't be able to get out of this meeting. When is it supposed to happen?” She goes back to finishing her cake and grins once the final design is completed. She moves the cake over to the other counter and turns back to her friend.
“You are going to meet him tonight at the Athletic Club for a very causal meal.”
“No I'm not,” she shakes her head. “I'm going home to relax and then I'm heading to the movies. Tonight is the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie and I refuse to miss it, especially since it's my first day off in a month tomorrow. We will have to reschedule the date.”
“No, you are going on a date with an actual man,” Marcus informs her with a shake of his head. “Harry Potter will be there later. This is the first opportunity you've had in almost two weeks and you are going out and well he can't meet you tomorrow, he has to go on a business trip to New York.” She opens her mouth to refute him when he holds up his hand. She frowns at him. “Oh don't look at me like that, you need to meet people that don't work for the Chancellor family or that are in the Chancellor family.” Ashlee looks down. “He's a nice guy, Ashlee. Even Tommy approves and you know how hard he is to impress. Hell you are the first person I've ever seen win him over in just one night.”
“That's because I creamed him repeatedly in poker,” She laughs. “I warned him I was a card shark. He should have listened.” Sighing she nods, knowing it's useless to continue arguing with him. She could just go to the Harry Potter movie opening day...God that depresses her. “Okay I'll meet him tonight.”
“Good,” Marcus smiles then sniffs the air. “What's in the souffle?”
“Broccoli, cheese and bacon crumbles,” she shrugs. “It's basic but that's what Mrs. C wanted tonight. Something simple and yet elegant.” Ashlee wipes her hands on the towel she always keeps by her. “So what time am I supposed to meet this guy?”
“Eight and wear something flirty,” he winks at her and then goes back outside to continue working. Ashlee leans against the counter and gnaws on her bottom lip. It wasn't like she didn't know Phillip was out of her league and ArmyBound is only a screen name... she might as well try. Going on a date couldn't hurt...
-[]-
Phillip leans against the wall outside of the kitchen and sighs. Ashlee's going out with someone else. Guess that means he won't have to stay away from the house anymore. He can't be tempted to try and get to know someone when they are going out with someone else.
TBC>>>
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