"I'm bored." Lydia comes from the kitchen and sits beside you on the sofa. "It's eight ten on a Friday night. I shouldn't be bored. I'm young, free and single."
She's been here a week, helping out in Truncheon, trying to find a teaching gig.
Math. She teaches Math, and you still find her fascinating.
"Well, go out then." You hear Mathew from behind you, editing at the table.
"By myself? Do you guys have dates tonight?"
"I do." Chris answers her, not looking away from the history documentary on the TV. He's dressed already just waiting on the guy picking him up in twenty minutes.
"Great." You hear her mutter, and then she pokes you in the thigh with her bare foot. You glance down from your book, 'Moby Dick', again, and see her toenails are painted a pale orange. You look up at her and raise your eyebrows in question.
"You have a date?"
"Nope."
"And you're dateless too?" She calls over her shoulder to Mathew.
"Yeah."
"What? Did you two run out of girls in the city? Waiting on a new shipment coming in?"
"I had a date." You hear Mathew closes the laptop he was working on. "But she cancelled at the last minute. Something about her roommate. We're going out tomorrow."
"Oh." She sighs, rubbing her neck. She focuses her attention on you again. "You get cancelled on too?"
"No." You smirk, not looking up from the book. "Don't really do dates."
"So you just pick up random blondes at bars?"
You look up and lock eyes with her. You notice her eyes narrow and her lips purse slightly. She's not one to crumble under scrutiny. "They don't have to be blonde." You tell her in an undertone, your eyes never leaving hers.
Her face cracks and she rolls her eyes. "Jeez, over-confident much?"
You try not to smirk. You shrug and fight for your lips to stay still.
"We could go to a bar?" She smiles, her eyes twinkling.
You focus on your book once more. But find that you can only read the same sentence over and over again. 'Now, the grand distinction drawn between officer and man at sea, is this—the first lives aft, the last forward.' You can't look up. You know you will have to say yes if you do.
"We could go to Carr's?" Mathew suggests.
"No." You veto the idea immediately. You hate the place, and get the feeling that she would love it.
"What's Carr's?"
"A dive." You mutter, as Mathew, helpfully, supplies, "It's a karaoke bar."
"I love karaoke!" She says in delight. Not quite a squeal, but not far off. You feel her eyes on you and you groan under the weight of them.
You still can't look at her. "Then you two go. I'm perfectly happy staying in with Ishmael."
She sighs and looks back to Math. "We're going out. Shower and I'll pick an outfit and then shower after. Chop chop." She claps her hands twice and stands. "Don't you think you're getting out of this either, mister." She points her index finger at you, and then uses it to lower your book. "You will have fun tonight, even if I have to force it out of you."
She turns on her heel and enters Mathew's room and closes the door behind her.
"Come on. It'll be fun Jess!"
