Page 42 of Yo Ho Ho
He watched as she walked ahead of him with confidence, moving swiftly through the lobby of the building out into the night, holding the door open for him before she pulled the collar of her jacket up to cover her face.
"Little cold tonight," she said as she wrapped her coat higher.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Just a little."
"I was planning on taking you to a bar nearby," she said. "Nothing fancy. I just didn't want to go to one of the cocktail bars."
"That's fine."
What was this?This conversation was boring and stupid. Why did he feel like he was some awkward teenage kid out on his first date with a girl? He had slept with Max. More than once. He knew how her skin felt under his fingers. And yet he was acting like such an idiot right now. The only solace he was getting out of this was that Max seemed to be acting the same way. It was like they knew how to act in an arena or a hotel on a road trip. They didn't know how to interact with each other in real life.
"This feels kind of weird, right?" she asked him.
He laughed, thankful that she was the one to bring it up. "Yeah, it does."
"But we're just two friends going to get a drink, right?"
"Totally just two friends going to get a drink."
"Good," she said. "Right. So uh, did you have trouble finding the place?"
Logan groaned. "So far, we've talked about the weather and if I was able to find your apartment, which clearly I was because I'm here."
"We're horrible."
"The worst," he said. "Maybe if you wore your bunny slippers instead of those boots, it would've been fine."
Max's laugh immediately warmed him up. "My bunny slippers?" she said. "I don't know if they would've matched my red coat tonight."
"At least I would be able to talk to you about something normal. This whole thing you have going on right now is weirding me out."
"What whole thing?" She looked down at her red coat and black boots. "I think I wore this same exact outfit last month to cover a game."
Logan shrugged. "Yeah, but that was at the arena."
"So I look different at the arena?"
"Yeah, you do."
She gave him a skeptical look and then rolled her eyes before turning at the intersection and taking a few steps up to a door for the bar on the corner. He didn't even see if there was a name on the outside and wasn't even sure there would be one if he checked. It definitely wasn't one of those cocktail places, that was for sure. It looked like it had been there well before the area started to regentrify and it definitely hadn't gone through any updates during that time. The bar itself was a well-worn wood. The stools, tables and chairs looked like they were bought 30 years ago. A few of them had red electrical tape holding rips in the fake leather together.
Max started to unbutton her coat and walked to the bar. "I thought we could just get a drink and go sit at a table."
"Yeah, that sounds good," he said with a smile.
He was just about to lean over to get the bartender's attention when the man's face lit up.
"Max!"
Two guys Logan assumed were regulars at the other end of the bar replied "Max!" and raised their glasses to her.
"Hey, boys."
"We haven't seen you in a while," the bartender said. "That hockey team is keeping you too busy."
She gave him a tight smile. "Not for much longer."
He nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I heard about what's going on at theHerald. Such a shame," he said. "Time moves on though, right?"
