What's Fair in Love and War?

New Year and Hopeful Beginnings

CHAPTER 4

“New Year and Hopeful Beginnings"

After a long day at work Blake met up with Greg and Carlos at their favorite bar for a couple of drinks and he still owed them an explanation for what’s been going on. Greg had text him thirty minutes ago saying that they were already there. He had to stay behind after work to have a talk with one of his guys and after an hour of trying to get through to the kid about his lack of respect for authority, he desperately needed a drink. He had five main guys that worked directly under his supervision and between them they shared the responsibility of handling the fourteen maintainers that made up the rest of his shop. However, none of his five guys could get through to this kid. Renco had a problem with authority and so he had stepped in to resolve the issue.

He opened the door to the bar and the sound of music and warmth hit him. The place was packed; which very well should be considering it was a Friday night. He managed to squeeze through a couple people towards the back where his friends were sitting at their usual table.

“Hey Blake! Finally; you made it!” Carlos yelled happily at him.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late but the little talk I was having with Renco took a lot longer then I thought.” He said taking a seat between his two friends.

“He still giving you trouble?” Greg asked.

“No; he’s doing a lot better but he has a problem listening to his supervisors.”

“No offense but I wouldn’t listen to Merk either if he was my supervisor.” “He can be a real jerk.” Carlos said.

“Well regardless; he’s still his supervisor.” Blake pointed out.

“Well no matter; its Friday night. Time to relax.” Carlos grinned. He waved the waitress over and order three rounds of beer for them.

“So are you going to tell us about Elizabeth or do you need more time?” Greg asked.

“Ahh man; where do I even start.” Blake said rubbing his temples. He really needed to relax; what with dealing with work, trying to figure things out with Elizabeth and then finding ways to deal with Cindy without causing too much suspicion; he had his plate full.

“Well you can start by telling us who Elizabeth Xavier is.” Carlos put in.

Blake took a long swig of his beer, “Alright; but when I first met her, she was Elizabeth Carson. This was six years ago during New Years Eve. I had taken two weeks of leave and went to California to visit my childhood friend. He had thrown a party and invited a ton of people…

New Years Eve, six years earlier…

“Hey Blake! You want to lend a hand with this keg?” his friend Matt called from across the living room.

Blake barely heard his friend over the music blasting from the speakers and the mass amount of people crowded in his friend’s living room and everywhere else in the house and out back.

“Yeah sure man!” He yelled over the noise. He picked his way through the crowd until he got to Matt.

“Isn’t this party awesome?!” Matt grinned looking around

“Yeah man! Great party!” He replied. He helped him pick up the keg and put it on the nearby table.

“Loosen up Blake; have some fun and find yourself some hottie to celebrate the New Years with.” Matt winked at him as he got pulled away by some red head.

He looked around; there were a lot of pretty girls here tonight. Some had even flirted with him but he just wasn’t feeling any of them. Grabbing a cup of the spiked punch; he made his way towards the back porch to get some fresh air. He was two steps from the back doors when a door to his right opened and a hand shot out grabbing his shirt and snatched him in.