9-Ball Dreams
Part II

by Mr_Jazz <mrjazz_@hotmail.com>

~Disclaimer~

Read part one for the disclaimer please.  I don't want 
to get sued, but I'm too lazy to copy/paste right now.

~End Disclaimer~


It had been over 5 years since Ami Andersen had been 
defeated by Eddie Phelson at Phelsons Billiards.  It 
had been five years since Ami had heard from Vincent; 
and despite everything she had to be depressed about, 
she realized a dream.

She had finished High School, and then College at the 
top of her class.  She had attained masters in 
medicine, education, and physics.  But she decided to 
put her life goals on hold for a few years, so that 
her new dream could be fulfilled.

Now, today, after over a year of scrounging together 
money, finding a location, and renovating it, Ami 
Andersen was standing outside the location which would 
be HER pool hall, awaiting the arrival of the truck 
which held her precious tables.

Reflecting on the past five years, she still had 
butterflies about the subject.  Phelson Billiards 
hadn't expanded to new locations, but it had 
prospered, and extended it's current building to house 
over twice the tables it had five years ago.  
Billiards had caught on BIG in Japan, and on the 
weekends, despite it's massive size and capacity, 
Phelsons Billiards was packed.

Also, Ami realized that her friends had helped her so 
much.  Ken and Lita had donated all they had to her 
project. Chad and Raye donated as much as they could.  
Serena and Mina had dontated what they could, but had 
been at her location, which was in the basement of a 
large office complex almost everyday, helping with the 
renovation.  A few years back, the place had almost 
burned to the ground, but it was rebuilt.  
Unfortunately, they had decided to store a lot of the 
garbage in the basement.  

But that was all behind her now.  The basement was 
renovated, carpeted, painted and ready to go.  The bar 
was already built, with the kegs hooked up, glasses 
and various bottles of liquor.  Chad, who had 
bartending experience had offered, much to Ami's 
gratitude, to run the bar until a real bartender could 
be found.  

Chad came out of the door (which was literally at the 
top of her newly built staircase, which led down to 
her pool room) with a tape measure in hand.  "Just 
finished marking where you wanted the tables.  I also 
put up the cue racks and cues, and some chalk on each 
one."

Ami nodded and said "I think it was a good idea to 
order the cues from the Dufferin in Canada.  Top 
quality for almost a really great price."

"Yeah, but I still think that we should have gone with 
their tables as well, I'm not a huge fan of Brunswick.  
But then, it could be a whole hell of a lot worse."

"Chad," Ami said, "We've been over this, Brunswick are 
the international tournament table.  This may be a 
small pool room, but I want it to have class."

"Uh huh," Chad repied with a lopsided grin.  Ami 
hugged him.

"I love you guys so much for helping me out with this, 
and believing in me.  I have something for you."

She led him by the hand down into the pool room.  As 
they entered, Ami noticed that the air was cooler, and 
guessed that Chad had finally figured out the air 
conditioner.  Which actually didn't surprise her 
considering the paint scheme on the walls.  Different 
shades of blue with a white trim.  

"Ami, I can't take it anymore, what do you have for 
me."

"Just this," she said as she pulled out a soft cue 
case.  Chad's eyes opened really wide, and he unzipped 
the top of the case to reveal a beautiful Dufferin cue 
with a white linen grip.

"I don't know what to say."

Before Ami had a chance to reply, they heard a knock 
on the door.  They looked into each others eyes, 
hugged, and ran like hell up the stairs.  Her tables 
had arrived.  There were two trucks, and the driver, 
with a grin, said the words that would start her new 
life.  

"Delivery for Ms. Andersen."
 
* * * *

Four hours and many cups of coffee later (and beer) 
later, Ami and Chad were waving good-bye to the 
delivery men.  They had set up her six nine ball 
tables, and two snooker tables with a lot of care and 
percision.  They had also delivered the racks of balls 
(with a plate for each set) and the triangles.

As they looked around at the pool hall, Ami looked so 
happy.  Before she could say anything to Chad, they 
heard the door open, and Mina and Serena walked (more 
like tripped) into the pool hall.  

"Hey Ami," Serena yelled, "looks awesome!"

"Yeah, totally," added Mina.  "By the way, I brought 
the sign, it's in the trunk of my car."

"That's great, thanks guys," Ami said, as she hugged 
and kissed them both.  Ami was straight, but Mina and 
Serena were not.

"Hey, what about me?" Chad said, opening up his arms.

They laughed at him!

* * * *

ONE WEEK LATER

* * * *

One week later, Ami's Place was in full swing.  The 
signs were up, the advertising was out, and it was the 
new area hot spot.  It was always packed each night, 
and was already gaining on her business debt.  She 
felt great.  It was Friday night, and already the 
place was packed.

Ami was on the floor, bringing drinks to players as 
fast as Chad could take the orders.  Chad was one hell 
of a bartender.

Suddenly, the whole pool hall went silent.  Ami looked 
to the door; Eddie Phelson and Vincent stode in like 
they were God almighty.

"Where's Andersen." Eddie said, not yelling, but loud 
enough to be heard over the whole hall.

Everyone in town had heard of "Fast" Eddie Phelson, 
and then Vincent Lauria when he defeated the legendary 
Minnesota Fats.  They were like Gods.  But since Eddie 
had gotten involved with the Japanese mafia, he has 
become a feared man.

"I'm right here Eddie, what the fuck do you want?" Ami 
said as she put down her tray and untied her apron.

"Ami, please, why the hard tongue, I only wanted to 
play a friendly game of pool." He replied 
sarcastically.

Chad had now come out from behind the bar.  Raye, 
Lita, Mina, and Serena (Serena was the other waitress) 
came out from the back.  Ami also noticed that Chad 
had his hand gun in his pocket.

Vincent stepped forward.  "Call of your bartender Ami, 
we don't want no trouble."

"Then get your sorry asses out of my pool room." Ami 
replied, not wavering in the slightest.

The customers, instead of vacating like Ami expected, 
had only sat at the stools near their tables.  This 
was first class entertainment, and they didn't want to 
miss any of it.

"Come on Andersen, I'm here to challenge you," Phelson 
yelled, "players honor and all.  I may have won our 
first match, but I didn't beat you.  You did even 
better than Vincent, and he was a pro when I faced 
him.  You hadn't even been playing a week."

"So I guess she's better than both of you." Said a 
voice from the door.  Ken walked into the pool room.  
He was holding his cue case.  Vincent looked 
embarrassed.  Ken walked over to Vincent and measured 
him up until their faces were mere inches apart.

"Remember me Vinnie, huh, you want to get back at me 
don't you.  I kicked your ass then and so help me I'll 
kick your ass now."

"Sure man," Vincent said, as he put his cue case down 
on the table nearest them and took of his leather 
jacket, "Any time."

Ami looked back to Eddie Phelson.  She wanted this guy 
so bad, after all he had put her through.  It didn't 
end to losing to him 5 years ago.  She was just a kid, 
and she had a school girl crush on Vincent, even after 
she and Vincent had sex on a table.  But it was over 
the years, as Ami became the national women's champion 
over Michelle Yo, who then proceeded to kill herself.  
Ami then went on to win the womens international 
title, and has since then established herself as one 
of the finest players in the world.

"Ami," Chad yelled from the bar.  Ami turned around, 
and Chad tossed her cue case (the one Vincent gave her 
5 years ago) from behind the bar to her.  She caught 
it, then turned to Eddie Phelson.  

"You're on."

She then walked over to the groups at tables four and 
five.  She smiled politely and said "Excuse me folks, 
but I'm going to have to ask you to vacate your tables 
(by now, Vince was racking for 9-ball, and Ken was 
assembling his cue.), but you won't be charged for 
table time, and please feel free to as many free 
drinks as you like."  The people at the tables were 
more than happy to leave, and headed for the bar to 
get a good spot for the show.  

The customers began to murmur among themselves, and 
Ami picked up things like "Bet ya 20 Phelson takes 
her," and "Wow, Andersen-Phelson II!!  I was there for 
the original."  Ami opened her cue case and pulled out 
her two halves, and her chalk.  She then threw the 
case back to Chad at the bar (narrowly missing a 
customer).  

As she screwed her cue together, Eddie Phelson was 
racking for 9-ball.  Ami thought "No, I'm going to 
beat him at his own game."  

"Phelson," she said sharply.  He looked at her, and 
all she said, was "Straight pool."

This sparked more murmers from the audience, and Eddie 
tilted his head, and then said "Well, I knew you were 
a fluky bitch, but I didn't think you were a stupid 
one."

By now, Ken and Vincent were already into their second 
frame, and Ken was losing badly.  Vincent was pulling 
off what looked like easy victories, setting up the 
cue ball perfectly for each shot.  And when he didn't, 
it seemed like he would just pull of trick shots.  Ken 
was looking depressed.  Ami vowed that it wouldn't 
happen to her.

Eddie had already broken the balls, and hadn't left 
her much...  

(NOTE FROM AUTHOR: At this point, many of you may not 
be familiar with the rules of Straight pool, or 14.1 
continuous, so I risk of ruining the atmosphere, I'll 
explain them.

1. Each ball, regardless of "gender" (solid or 
stripe), is worth one point.  The first player to 
reach 50 points wins.

2. All shots are called, but only the ball and the 
pocket.  How it gets there or what it takes down with 
it are extras, as long as it sinks.

3. When is gets down so that there is only one ball 
(excluding the cue ball) on the table, the balls are 
re-racked without the head ball.

4. On the break, a player must make two balls and the 
cue ball touch the rail.  If he wants to sink a ball 
off of the break, he must call it.

* These rules may or may not be 100% correct, but they 
are used in this story and I don't care if you hate me 
cause they're wrong.  Enjoy the rest of the story!*


Now Ami took to the table.  She looked at the rack, 
nodded her head acknowledging a good break, and then 
said "6 ball in the side."  Eddie nearly choked with 
laughter.

Ami took her shot, and took it hard.  The balls flew 
around the table, and sure enough, the 6 ball dropped 
in the side pocket, along with the 8, 12, and 14 in 
various other pockets.  Eddie Phelson was beside 
himself.

"Fluky bitch," he stammered.

"You know Eddie, nine in the corner, (shot, sink), I'm 
getting real fed up with you calling me that.  Two in 
the corner (shot, sink)."

"You think I care Andersen.  You think I care about 
you or your pathetic little pool room.  I'm Fast Eddie 
Phelson, I'm the greatest hustler of all time.  I 
don't give a RAT'S ASS ABOUT YOU!"

"Well Eddie, if you don't, 4 in the side (shot, sink), 
then why are you here."

"Play pool, Ami," Vince said from his stool as Ken 
sunk the nine ball.  

"Shut up Vincent, you pig."

"I never stopped loving you."

"Up yours, 1 in the corner, (shot, miss)."

"He made me into what I am."

"Does it look like I care," Ami replied as she sat 
down on her stool.  Lita brought her a beer.

"He Ami, you beat this guy, ok?" Lita asked.  Ami took 
a long drink before replying.

"I will, don't let me get drunk."

"That's non-alcoholic beer."

Ami lifted an eyebrow.  "When did I order any of that, 
and what is it.  For non-alcoholic beer, it's 
excellent."

Lita smiled.  "I had Ken order it.  It's called Duff 
Zero, and it's brewed in a little town in the states 
called Springfield.  They didn't like it too much, so 
it was cheap.  Something about prohibition."

"Oh," Ami said as she turned back to watch Eddie 
Phelson run the rest of the balls on the table, and 
out to 50 in the first game.  That means it was 
Andersen 7, Phelson 50.  Fucking joy.

This is going to be a long evening, Ami thought as a 
spectator racked for the next frame.

* * * *

It was one in the morning when everyone had left.  Ami 
and Lita were left alone in the hall to clean up.  Ami 
had lost again, but not badly.  It finished 5 to seven 
in a race to seven frames.  Ken had lost badly to 
Vincent, 3 frames to 15 in a race to 15.  Nasty.

The hall was not in bad shape at all.  The Japanese 
were clean people.  There was not a single piece of 
litter on the floor, or shelves, or tables for that 
matter.  All of the cues were in the racks and all of 
the balls were back behind the counter.  Chad had 
finished washing up and vacuuming the tables, so he 
left with Raye.  Serena and Mina had gone off home to 
"sleep".  Ken said to Lita not to come to his place 
that night, as he would be to pissed to be civil.  
Lita agreed, and then was thankful when she heard him 
screech the tires on his Aston Martin when he drove 
off.

Ami screwed the snooker neck onto her cue, turned the 
lights on, on one of the snooker tables, grabbed a 
rack and walked over.  She then just dumped al of the 
balls onto the table.  Lita walked over to her and 
began to massage Ami's shoulders.  

"Don't practice now," Lita said, in a soothing, soft 
voice.  Ami put her cue down on the table and closed 
her eyes.  She was enjoying this massage, but was 
kicking herself for not beating Phelson.

"I should of won."

"It's for another day."

Ami then lightly reached up and touched Lita's hands 
and brought them down.  She then turned to face her.  

"No it wasn't.  He came looking for me.  The first 
time, do you remember, Ken had just won, like, three 
grand of Vincent, and then I took on Phelson.  It was 
right for him to win the first time, but now, it was 
my turn."

She then turned to the table, and picked up her cue, 
and fired the cue ball to sink a red in the side 
pocket.  She then proceeded to line up another shot, 
but dropped her cue to the table.

"You're right, Lita."

"Come on, lets clean up and go home.  You cover the 
tables, and I'll put your cue and the balls away."

Ami, nodded, but felt tears forming in her eyes as she 
set around to cover the tables with their vinyl 
sheets.  When she got to the snooker tables, Lita met 
up with her.

But when they saw each other, and looked into each 
other's eyes, then ran and kissed with a passion.  
Lita then lifted Ami's shirt over her head and lowered 
her to the bed of snooker table.

End of Part II