L-Gym

Chapter 5 - Date Night, Making Out, and a Missed Connection

Knocking on the edge of Jess' cube with a frozen drink in hand, Lena smiled when her friend looked up at her. "Hey."

"Hey," Jess replied, "Is that a mochaccino?"

Lena nodded.

"Is this a bribe?"

"Maybe?"

Standing, Jess looked over the walls of her cube before sitting and gesturing Lena closer. She took the drink, taking a deep sip. "Mmmm. Okay, what do you need?"

"It's about Winn."

"Meganerd 2000? Huh. What does he need?"

"You like him, right?"

With a shrug, Jess replied, "Sure, what's not to like. Does he think I don't like him?"

"No, I mean you like him."

"Oh." Her smile growing, Jess repeated, "Do I like him? Why, does he like me?"

"I asked you first, and I brought you a mochaccino."

Chuckling, Jess wrote something on a piece of steno paper, tore it out of the notebook, folded it in half, and handed it to Lena. "Here, give this to Winn from me."

Brows creased together, Lena opened it to find the words, 'Do you like me? check:' Below were the words 'yes' and 'no' with little boxes next to them.

"I don't understand," Lena said.

"Oh, come on," Jess replied, leaning back in her chair while she sucked icy beverage through her straw. "Didn't you go to middle school?"

"Well, not on this pl...place. I wasn't adopted until high school. I was in another country then, and we didn't have these," she added, holding up the note.

"Oh, right. You know, if I didn't love you so much, I'd hate you. I was born in this country, and I get treated like an outsider because I'm Asian. You weren't born here, but people treat you just fine because you're white."

"I'm...sorry?"

"Nah, people are racist idiots, and it isn't your fault. Anyway, sexists treat us both like trash. Fuck 'em all." Taking the note back, she crumpled it up and threw it into the trash. "Come on. Let's go see the Jedi Master."

As Jess rose and walked away, Lena followed and said, "You know, he'd love it if you called him that."

"Jedi Master?"

Lena nodded.

"Hmmm...sounds a bit kinky if you think about it too hard. I'll try not to think about it."

"Kinky?" Lena let that stew but when they reached the elevator finally said, "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't," Jess said smiling up at Lena and stepping in as the door opened. "You're adorable. Hit the lab rat floor?"

"Hmmm. We're not lab rats," Lena said hitting the button.

"Yet you knew what I meant."

"You're...number crunchers."

"Number crunchers?" Grinning, Jess asked, "How long did it take you to think that one up?"

"I saw it in a video game."

"Which one?"

Lena mumbled something.

"What?"

"Toon Town."

"I've never heard of it."

Shrugging, Lena said, "It was fun, a Disney game, but they shut it down like five years ago. You played a toon, and you threw pies and squirted seltzer bottles at the cogs who tried to take over Toon Town. Number Crunchers were bad Guys. There were also—"