Page 24 of Fight

Jake leaned back and chuckled at Duke’s obvious statement. “Duke, there are about fifty ‘hers’ in here.” His eyes jumped over the different faces and figures in the crowd, until he finally realized which “her” Duke was referencing and his smile dropped. It was Lena and she was…dressed up.

It was as if the sea of gray, dull people parted to clear the way for her as she stepped through the bar, her eyes searching. She shined and sparkled like a gliding star as she made her way through the crowd—Jake couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

Her long hair wafted around her in honey waves and soft curls and her lips glistened with red. She wore a soft looking black dress that hit at the top of her thighs. The dress’s skinny straps didn’t seem adequate to keep the dress on her body—which was confirmed when one of the straps slipped down her smooth shoulder and she absently pulled it back up. She walked in the highest heels he had ever seen; they seemed to add about four inches to her slight height, and made her legs look endless.

Her dress, her shoes, and her skin were all glowing. She was glowing. Glittering. Glistening. He was running out of cheesy adjectives to mentally describe how she looked to him at this moment. She was just beautiful in an unnameable way.

Jake started to feel reminiscent of when he’d first laid eyes on her on the beach last summer. Once again, he was dumb-struck looking upon her. He hadn’t known how to react to her then, and he didn’t know how to do it now.

She stopped to talk to someone in the crowd and that’s when Jake noticed Morgan and Annie were with her; Morgan was introducing her to someone. She stood casually chatting, once throwing her head back and baring her throat in a laugh.

“Um, is that a prostitute?” Sadie interrupted Jake’s daze with her question.

“What?” He looked over at her abruptly to see her face twisted in revulsion.

“No,” Ian said crisply as he gave her a disapproving frown. “That's our friend, Lena. She just moved in with Annie and Morgan.” Having grown up a big fish in a small pond, Ian was very tribal and protective of the people he trusted and cared about.

Sadie continued to look her up and down like, instead of shining and sparkling, Lena stood there snacking on fried kittens.

“Maybe since she's your friend, Ian, you could tell her this isn’t LA. She wants to come into a place like this looking likethat?It’s not going to go well for her.” She shifted her eyes to Jake questioningly as if looking for his support.

Jake looked at Sadie in surprise. Now, this was a bit unexpected. Sadie had always been laid back and accepting as far as Jake could tell. Just ten minutes before she’d laughed at Duke's story of a raccoon who had broken into his house while he was hooking up with a girl causing both of them to run from Duke's apartment naked to finish what they’d started in a wooded area off the parking lot.

“Things will definitely go well for her if I have anything to do with it,” Duke barked, rubbing his hands together.

“I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with someone who dresses likethat, Duke.” Sadie let out a relieved laugh as if she was happy someone at the table was on a similar page as her.

Jake narrowed his eyes and shifted in his seat to move down the bench a bit. He'd thought Sadie was a cool chick, and wouldn't have suspected that she would be so catty and rude about how someone dressed. This was a major turn off.

It hit him then.Is this how I’ve sounded every time I’ve commented on her clothes? Damn, dawning self-awareness was a hell of a feeling. Jake cringed as memories of his and Lena’s past interactions assaulted him. He took a deep breath and looked around the table.

“Shut the fuck up, Duke,” he ordered. He gave Sadie a hard look before rising off the bench.

“I’ll be right back,” he stated shortly. “I’m going to go show the girls where we’re sitting, Ian.” Ian nodded firmly as he took a sip of his beer.

“What’s his problem?” He heard Duke ask the question but didn’t hear Ian or Sadie respond—his focus was only on Lena.

Hozier’s “Work Song” played through the bar as Jake made his way through the crowd and passed the smattering sounds of conversations being yelled over the music. He was distantly aware of Cole Sutton setting up his band equipment in the corner, but his focus remained on Lena. His heart started pounding like it would jump out of his chest. Again, he was reminded of approaching her the previous summer.Don’t fuck this up.

"Hey Jake!” Annie was the first one to see him approaching through the crowd, and she yelled her greeting over the music and the noise.

Jake smiled at Annie slightly as she bounced over and gave him a hug. Lena finally turned toward him and gave him a wide smile, her eyes brightening at the sight of him, her cheeks pinkening. It was the same look she had given him every time they had run into each other at work during the week. He was dumb-struck. Again.

“Hey, guys—girls—ladies,” he sputtered inanely as he kept correcting himself. “‘C’mon.” He quickly recovered and motioned toward the back of the bar. “We’re over here.”

They followed him back to their table, which was in a bit quieter of an area than the rest of the bar, and he was grateful he didn’t have to shout to introduce Lena to Duke and Sadie. Duke was friendly, with no sign of the lewdness from earlier—for which Jake was grateful. He'd hate to get into it with Duke, of all people.

Sadie was stand-offish, offering a slight finger wave before engaging in animated greetings with Annie and Morgan, ignoring Lena’s presence completely. Lena didn’t seem to mind though. She looked around the bar with wide eyes, smiling at Ian as he described how much he and Jake loved visiting this bar, particularly during ski season.

Ian volunteered to go up to the bar and get some drinks to the table, promising Lena that he’d seen someone drinking wine at the Blue Sky before.

After the group was settled, Jake slid in next to Lena on the bench against the wall. They were pushed in tight with Jake, Lena, and Annie on one side of the table, and Duke, Sadie, and Morgan facing them.

Sitting this close to Lena, Jake realized her dress was velvet, and when she looked over at him with a smile, he saw that she wore a delicate gold necklace with a small purple stone laying on the base of her throat.

He imagined himself putting his mouth to her throat where the stone rested to find out how she tasted. She would probably giggle and touch him on the chest, and he would move up her neck until he hit—

She looked over to smile at him and he realized she had asked him a question.

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