Page 4 of Fight

Lena sighed, focusing on what was in front of her while Annie rattled on about what she wanted to eat at Crunchies for dinner. This was what she had been waiting for—this feeling of all encompassing right-ness. Even with an unpredictable roommate, and Jake’s annoying presence,thisis where she was meant to be.

Chapter 2

“Morgansaidthey’dbesomewhere close to the Douglas road entrance.” Jake followed Ian from the parking lot where they’d locked up their bikes and onto McClintock Beach. The beach wasn’t very populated as it was still pretty early in the morning. He wondered how Annie had talked Morgan into getting up this early.

It was a beautiful blue bird day, and Jake didn’t mind being out of bed early to experience it. The sun crested over the mountains reflecting sharp bursts of light in the water, the sand glittering like it held billions of minuscule diamonds. He drew in a deep breath, appreciating the sight.

“Oh, there they are." Ian picked up his pace, almost jogging to where Morgan sat with her new roommate, Annie, on a giant patterned blanket. There was a woman between them wearing a large straw hat. Morgan had sent a text inviting them to hang out at the beach and mentioned that Annie had a friend visiting who would be with them.

As Ian took off down the beach, Jake sighed and shook his head. Ever since Annie had moved in with Morgan, Ian had developed a hopeless crush on her. Jake found it bizarre—he’d never had a crush in his life. Ian could get any girl he wanted seeing as he was a famed Conrad from Lake Conrad, but he insisted on pining away for a short, messy first grade teacher.

As he got closer to them, Jake saw that all the girls were sitting with their legs spread out in front of them, leaning back on their hands. Ian was standing over them chatting jovially. Well, jovially for Ian at least.

As Jake got a closer look at the figure sitting between Annie and Morgan, his heart skipped a beat. The ridiculous hat she wore hid her face and kept bumping into Annie and Morgan, but the long legs in front of her were smooth and tan. She was wearing a purple bikini—it was different and old fashioned, kind of modest as it hit low on the thigh. It stuck out compared to Annie and Morgan’s suits, which were just regular swimsuits as far as he could tell.

Her waist nipped in drastically and flared out at the hips and bust. His eyes skipped over her body’s curves, which were so different from the tall, slender, athletic girls he usually went for.

When he finally reached them, purple-bikini girl tilted her face to look up at him and he felt like he’d been struck by lightning.

Under the ridiculous hat, her wavy light brown hair flowed down her back, dancing in the wind. Her blue eyes tilted slightly upward, and she had the pertest, cutest damned nose he had ever seen in his life. She was delicate and adorable. He had never seen a face like hers before. What was it he just thinking about how dumb crushes were?

Jake was not a man who usually lacked for words, but when he looked into her mesmerizing face, he uttered out a guttural “hey” and stood in front of her dumb struck, not sure how to proceed.

“Hey.” She looked up at him with her mouth slightly open, that ridiculous, wide-brimmed hat wobbling on her head like a parasail wing.

Suddenly, Annie squealed and jumped up to hug him, knocking off the hat and sending it flying down the beach in a strong gust of wind.

All of the girls squealed this time, but Annie and Morgan were the first to run down the beach after the hat; and Ian jogged behind them ready to save the day. The purple-bikini girl was about to take off with them when Jake finally found his voice.

“Not a very sensible choice in hats, was it?”

“Huh?” she asked, an incredulous look marked her face as her freakishly cute nose scrunched up.

“That’s just the least practical hat I have ever seen. Not sure what the point of a hat like that is.” He laughed and reached up to rub the back of his neck, which was on fire.

“The point?” She gasped. “That is a vintage Parisian boutique boating hat. I got it atla Rose Secheein Paris last summer.” She said the French words in a stupid, exaggerated accent.

Her long hair whirled around her face in the wind as she sputtered at him, opening and closing her mouth in exasperation.

“All I am saying is maybe you should get a hat with a smaller circumference that will actually stay on top of your head. Maybe you should get a baseball cap or something.”

“Wha—a baseball cap?” She was fuming now. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jake,” he stated dumbly.

“Well, you’re an asshole, Jake,” she proclaimed and then turned on her heels after the others to chase her hat, her glorious hair blowing around her head as she stalked away from him.

Jake pushed his road bike up the steep hill like he was forcing his body one hundred and eighty degrees from where he’d left his lungs. As he leaned over the handlebars, sweat poured down his face and the muscles in his legs burned.

His hard work paid off as he approached the final steep feet to the pinnacle. The strides of his legs were long and measured and his breath came out in timed, full bursts. The feel of drawing oxygen into his lungs and pushing his body forward invigorated him, and he blew out a breath with a smile as he finally hit the top of the hill.

He paused for a millisecond when he reached the top, and stood completely still. Letting out an amused breath, he nudged his bike forward and soared down the steep grade. The cool, crisp air bathed his face. Leaning back in his seat, he fixed his legs on the pedals as momentum did its thing.

His nerve endings celebrated and his heart jumped joyfully as he slid down the bike path on the side of the grade, rushing past cars and pedestrians.This feeling. This was the feeling Jake searched for everyday of his life. The rush of adrenaline that consumed him when he let his body go and allowed the universe to take over. Whether it was on skis or a bike, pushing his body to a precipice and relinquishing all control never failed to invigorate him.

Letting out a guttural sound of joy, he leaned forward again and began to ease his breaks toward his handlebars to slow the bike down as the incline began to even out. Swooping to the left of the path and onto an exit that led to the street, he eased his bike onto the main road, and peddled several yards toward the parking lot of the Blue Sky Bar and Grill—his favorite place to stop for a beer after biking or skiing down some hills.

The Blue Sky was packed with Conrad residents—not unusual for a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon—and Jake had a smile on his face as he locked up his bike on a bike rack, which was already packed with the other patrons’ bikes. He shouted greetings to friends who were entering and exiting the squat wooden building as he removed his wallet from the zip-up bag attached to his bike and stuffed it in the front pocket of his cycling jersey.

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