Page 23 of Fight

Annie had a huge, pleased smile on her face as she arranged her legs under her and settled back into the deep chair. She picked up her wine and took a sip before answering. “There was a stack of them in the teacher’s lounge. Are you going to do it?”

“Yeah, I mean I want to say I’ll think about it. But, what's there to think about? This is exactly the kind of thing I want to do. I'll have to get to work though. There are only a couple weeks until the submission deadline and that’s not much time.”

The glow at the prospect of creating some public art—and getting paid for it—invigorated Lena from her peaceful sunset-and-wine sulk. Maybe if she scored this project, working at the front desk, and working for Cynthia, would be a bit more bearable. Something like this to keep her busy and distract her almost seemed too good to be true.

“Yay!” Annie hooted as she reached forward to clink glasses before falling into the chair again. “Oh my god,” she squawked as they both dissolved into laughter.

‘Let’s air-cheers our glasses,” suggested Lena, holding her glass in the air.

“Probably a good idea,” agreed Annie as she hoisted her glass in the air in front of her.

“Cheers!” they both simultaneously cried before taking a sip of their wine.

“You’ve got this,” Annie assured her. “Now, what are you going to wear tonight?”

“I’m going to stick with the black,” Lena admitted. “But I’ve got a whole theme planned. You won't be disappointed,” she promised to Annie’s exaggerated frown.

“Fine, fine.” Annie finally let it go as she waved her hand in the air.

They both laughed as Lena’s phone began to buzz from where she’d placed it on her chair’s arm.

She looked down to see it was a text from Daniel. Daniel had been texting her here and there all week, mostly to ask how she was settling in and telling her stories about his uncle, whom he seemed to hold on some sort of success pedestal. He also relentlessly made fun of him and didn’t seem to really like him, which gave Lena hope that Daniel may be worth having as a friend. His uncle seemed to bring out the worst in him based on the discussion they’d had in Lake Conrad Square.

She hadn’t seen him since that day with Jake and the coffee. She knew after that day that she wasn’t interested in him in a romantic sense, however, she felt sorry for him being new to town like her, but without the built in friends that she had.

Daniel:

Hey, what are you up to? Anything happening in this place on a Friday night?

Lena sighed and weighed her options before she looked up at Annie, “Do you mind if I invite Daniel to meet up with us tonight?”

Annie looked up from her own phone, and shot her a blank look. “Who?”

“The guy from the airport. You know...the winking guy?”

“Oh, that guy. I guess. Are you…?”

“No,” Lena clarified firmly. “I just feel sorry for him. He’s new to town, too. And I don’t think he knows anyone here other than his uncle.” Lena had told Annie about the day in Lake Conrad Square—she'd left out her fantasy about Jake pummeling Daniel in a ripped white dress shirt, though.

“Aw, you mean winking at strange women hasn’t earned him any friends? Shocker!” Annie issued an exaggerated sneer in the direction of Lena’s phone.

Lena tilted her head at Annie patiently.

“Okay, okay. Don’t listen to me. Of course I don’t mind. The more the merrier.” Annie threw her hands up in faux celebration, and started to get up from her chair. She attempted to stand up from her chair three times before finally pulling her body up with an “oof.”

After she grabbed Lena’s hand and pulled her up with many exaggerated grunts, groans, and giggles, she led her into the house. “Come on Leeny. Let’s go get dressed!”

Chapter 8

“Holyfuck,whoisthat?” Jake looked over at Duke's face in response to his guttural question.

Jake nursed a beer at a long, shiny wooden table flanked by two long benches against the back wall of the Blue Sky with Ian, Duke, and Sadie—the latter of whom was not working tonight. When she'd rushed over after seeing the three guys sit down, Jake was happy to welcome her, but wasn’t in the mood to engage in their flirting, teasing banter like usual. This was proving to be a bit awkward as she kept making provocative statements and trying to maintain long eye contact with him.

“Who?” Happy with the distraction Duke's question provided, Jake turned his head and looked searchingly around the large, crowded bar.

“Her,” Duke pointed toward the front of the bar in a not-at-all-inconspicuous way. “In the black. She's fucking hot.”

Duke was a good ski hill buddy of Jake and Ian’s. For all that he could be obtuse and crude, Jake enjoyed spending time with him. He always proved a great distraction and comic relief; especially presently, as Jake dodged this new awkwardness with Sadie. Jake and Ian always joked that Duke had taken one or two too many crashes when back country skiing with a beer or eight in his system. They always found him hilarious though; even Ian, who was usually a model of polite decorum, loved him.

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