Declassified

Declassified Part 29 Fight Night

      "I just want to meet her." Kevin protested. "I can't believe Alex has been dating someone this long and I haven't met her yet."
      "I can't believe Alex has been dating someone this long, period." Dan said, shaking his head. "But Thal is nice."

      "She's funny." Berg told his friend. "And she gives Dan a hard time."
      "I already like her." Becca joked, sipping her drink as Dan went to get the door.
      "We made peanut butter balls." Thalia said from the doorway. "They're supposed to be really healthy."

      "Healthy according to the girl who thinks living off of pizza and burgers is healthy." Andy teased, smiling at the little redhead.
      Dan smiled, surprised. Andy making jokes with a girl? That never happens.

      "I don't think living off of junk food is healthy." Thalia protested, laughing. "I'm just not going to deny myself good food because other people don't want to eat those things."

      "And yet you weigh zero pounds." Dan observed, shaking his head. In the interest of keeping his hard earned abs, he generally avoided the foods Thalia lived off of, but the redhead never seemed to gain any weight.

      "Thalie, this is Kevin and Becca, and you already know Berg." Dan said as he came back into the living room with the redhead behind him.
      "Hi, Kevin." Thalia said, shaking their hands. "Hi Becca."
      "It's nice to meet you." Becca smiled at her. "We've heard a lot about you."

      "All bad things, Thalie." Dan promised her with a smirk.
      "Hi Berg." The redhead said, her cheeks turning pink. "I hope I wasn't too embarrassing the other night. I don't usually drink."
      Berg laughed. "No, you were fine. And two drinks is not a lot to drink."

      "Drunk Thalia is hilarious." Dan said, putting a drink in Thalia's hand.
      "I'm not drinking." Thalia protested, trying to hand back the cooler.
      "You'll like this." Dan insisted, popping the top and handing it back to her. "Everybody else is drinking." He pointed out, even though Andy wasn't.

      "I feel like you missed the day in school where they talked about peer pressure." Thalia said sarcastically, but she accepted her drink anyway.
      "No, I was there." Dan told her, smiling. "I took notes on how to pressure people properly."
      Thalia laughed, but she took a sip of her drink.

      "Okay, I'll give you a quick tour." Dan put his arm around her shoulders and guided her through the apartment. "It's not as big as Alex and Andy's house, but I actually have to pay rent, unlike Alex, and my ceilings are way higher than yours."

      Thalia smiled as she looked into Dan's bedroom. "No sex swing?" She teased. "No whips or chains?"
      "I like the way you think, Thal." Dan joked back. "But I don't need those things to keep women interested."

      Thalia laughed, wrinkling her nose at the idea. "Do you play these?" She asked, noticing his spare room had a bunch of musical instruments.

      Dan shrugged. "Yeah. We all played different instruments in high school, but my brothers didn't like any of them, so I got them all. What do you think Andy played?" He asked, figuring he'd stump her.

      Thalia looked around the room, noting the drums, the guitar, the bass, and the saxophone case among the visible instruments. "The drums?" She guessed, picking up a drumstick.
      "Yeah." Dan looked impressed. "Did he tell you?"

      Thalia shook her head, tapping the drumstick lightly on a snare. "No. But drums are usually at the back of the band, so I figure Andy would like to be back there."

      Dan nodded. "Exactly. He wouldn't even try wind instruments. Too close to talking, I guess." He looked at her curiously. "What did you play?" He asked, knowing it was a school requirement to play an instrument.
      "I did choir." Thalia told him, putting the drumstick down.