One Lucky Girl

by Natasha L. Black

  Another glance at her, and I swallowed. Could I blame him? Coming here, I realized, was a poor choice.

  But it was too late; Jeremy was making his introductions, and Blair's smile was lighting up her face even more.

  “So,” Jeremy said when finished, looking my way pointedly. “Bad day?”

  “You know it,” I said, more sullenly than necessary. “Bob’s as much of an incompetent ass as ever.”

  “Bob is Peter’s partner,” Jeremy explained to Blair. “He also happens to be the Chief’s boss’s son, so she can't even fire him, as much as she wants to.”

  “No,” I said, “instead, she sticks him with me. So I’m the one who gets to enjoy his bad jokes, nonexistent work ethic, and propensity to take us to McDonald’s when we’re supposed to be following a suspect.”

  I suddenly realized I was coming off like a complete asshole. “Guess it could be worse.”

  Noah shrugged. “My partner’s good at his job, just perpetually grumpy.”

  “Like Peter,” Jeremy said sweetly.

  “Forgive me for expecting to find you where you said you’d be,” I said. “Anyway, I thought you wanted to talk about a dog.”

  “I do,” Jeremy said. “I just forgot.”

  I left it at that. Anyway, now I’d found a nice mutt at the Humane Society without Jeremy’s help. It was now waiting at the house, and I could tell him that later.

  “You’re getting a dog?” Blair asked.

  “Yeah,” Jeremy said. “I wanted a boxer and Noah wanted a collie, but Peter insisted on saving one of the sad saps in the Humane Society, so we’re getting one from there.”

  “They're perfectly good dogs most of the time,” I argued. “The whole purebred thing is just because people want to use their dogs as another excuse to show off, and they want to know exactly what to expect since each breed has certain temperaments.”

  “Is that so bad, though?” Blair said. “Knowing what to expect?”

  “No,” I admitted. “Only, I think you get a good sense of a dog, for the most part, if you meet it once or twice. If it doesn’t like people, or is violent, typically it'll show it right away. Anyway, even with purebreds you never know exactly what kind of dog you’re going to get.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Jeremy said, patting my shoulder. “Don’t try playing it down. Real reason is you like fighting for the little guy.”

  I shrugged. “I’m certainly not a cop so I can be close to my brothers 24/7.”

  They all laughed at that one.

  I nibbled on the wing plate Jeremy shoved at me, still hungry as soon as I put the last wing bone down.

  When the waitress approached, I ordered three more plates of wings and Noah ordered some fried zucchini. Thanks to the almost abandoned restaurant around us, the waitress was back within minutes with my wings ready as well as a bowl brimming full of zucchini.

  Just before she reached our table, however, she slipped.

  On what, it was impossible to say, except that the wing plate somehow managed to land on the ground right side up, while the zucchini bowl flew through the air, flinging its contents into Blair’s lap.

  For a second, we all froze. Then, Blair lifted a soggy piece of zucchini, wiggled it and laughed.

  The rest of us joined in as the waitress scrambled to pick everything up. “I’m sorry. I’m so so so sorry, I don’t even know what happened.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Blair told her. “Are you ok?”

  After the waitress had left, brimming with apologies and soggy zucchinis, Blair explained to us. “I was a waitress, and one time I spilled a beer on some guy’s head.”

  As she went on to chatting with Noah, I watched her. It was strange, but for some reason I hadn’t expected her to be so nice about those dumped zucchinis. I know I wouldn’t have been. Truth be told, with her understanding eyes, Blair didn’t look tough enough to be a cop, but what did I know?

  When she went off to the bathroom and the waitress returned, Jeremy was already buying her a beer.

  “To make up for the whole zucchini debacle,” he explained to us.

  “I think we need some more time to decide,” I cut in, sending the waitress away.

  “What the hell was that?” Jeremy asked me, scowling.

  I indicated the drink Blair already had. “Sure another drink’s a good idea?”

  “Yeah,” Jeremy said shortly.

  I stared at him. “Then you haven’t thought it through.”

  Noah was shifting uneasily in his seat, probably sensing the fight to come.

  “Chill,” Jeremy was saying. “We're keeping things professional.”

  “Right now you are,” I said pointedly.

  Just then, a mechanical noise cut in.

  “Guys, look,” Noah said, then, “Whoa.”

  “Whoa” was right, although even “whoa” fell way, way short of the mark.

  Blair was riding the bucking mechanical bull I hadn’t even noticed was there. The way her thighs were pressed down, head thrown back in triumphant laughter, she was a vision.

  A look at my brothers confirmed that I wasn’t the only one who thought so either.

  I ran my hand along the back of my hair. Keeping things professional, eh? I took another look at her… Good fucking luck with that.

  5

  Blair

  I was still on the bull, riding wild, fast, resolute. Gripping with all my might, laughing. Hardly seeing their looks, but feeling them like a visceral stroke.

  My eyes snapped open.

  I was in my room hours later, in bed, staring at the ceiling. I thought back to the evening at the bar. I don’t know what had possessed me to ride that bull, but I had come out of the bathroom and had just had to climb on. After I’d down two more beers and goaded Jeremy and his brothers into riding it as well, they’d driven me home.

  There was a warm feeling between my legs that I ignored. No way was I going down that road. Not with Jeremy and not with any of his brothers.

  And with that resolution, I fell fast asleep.

  --

  The next day at work, it was back to more speeding tickets with Jeremy. By now, talking to him was a lot easier. He was outgoing and fairly chatty, so we never lacked for conversation. That day he wanted my take on everything from the cop car to what I thought about the Academy.

  A text momentarily distracted Jeremy’s attention, then he was smiling again.

  “Yeah,” he said casually. “So you were a hit last night.”

  “I was?” I said, being careful to keep the excitement off my voice.

  Jeremy jabbed his thumb at his phone screen, although it was dark by then. “It was Noah. He’s down for it again tonight if we are.”

  “I’d love to,” I told him. “But I can’t. Tonight is my sister’s recital.”

  I explained to him about how Ella, at age seventeen was basically the type of piano virtuoso that people paid big money to see.

  He nodded, then asked, “What about tomorrow night?”

  I didn’t let the fear and uncertainty start to take root. I only nodded. “Tomorrow night.”

  As excitement tremored through me, I tried hard to ignore it. If I changed my mind, I could always refuse the next day.

  --

  The rest of the afternoon went well enough. By the time I got home, I barely had enough time to change before I was speeding over to Ella’s recital. It was on the other side of town, which meant that I had to battle traffic, as well as blossoming fears about being late, in order to get there. As it turned out, I arrived with five minutes to spare.

  “You came,” Ella said.

  She looked like an ethereal angel with the wispy floral dress she had on, and her smile beaming off her face.

  I enclosed her in a hug. Dipping my head to hers, I said, “Of course I came. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

  Ella grinned at me again, then admitted, “I’m crazy nervous.”

  “Stop. You'll be great,” I told he
r. “You’ve been playing piano since before you could talk.” It was true. My parents had found the unlikely way to distract their colicky baby was to put a keyboard in front of her. She’d fiddled around, then took to it almost immediately, and had been playing Mozart since she was four.

  “We're so glad you came,” my mom said, tucking honey strands of hair behind her ear. “And that work is going great too.”

  I grinned at Ella. I’d given her the scoop, but I hadn't found the time to talk to my parents yet. “You told them?”

  “They practically bit my head off to find out,” Ella admitted with a smile. “You know mom and dad, worrywarts to the last.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I do.”

  I didn’t add that this time they may have had a point. I was starting to worry too. About the way Jeremy’s and my eyes met when there was no reason for them to. About the pauses in our conversation that seemed to say much more than mere words. I knew I couldn’t give into our attraction. Although it was just getting increasingly harder to, and I’d only known him for a few days. What would months with him be like? Years?

  I forced the question from my mind as I took my seat by my parents. A few minutes later Ella was curtsying in front of the crowd, walking up to the grand piano.

  The room was so quiet you could hear every clack of her heels on the marble floor. Although, once my sister’s hands laid upon the piano, beautiful, breathtaking music filled the room.

  Chords and melodies so sublime, it almost seemed impossible to just be coming from an instrument, echoed up into the vaulted roof. I let my head lay back and my eyes close, as the melody overtook me, vibrating in my chest.

  I knew this song was called “After Time”, and it was heartbreakingly beautiful. I didn’t need to look around to know that the crowd was dead silent, tearful, just as moved as I was. The melancholy tone of the song tugged at me, bringing up feelings and thoughts I’d wanted to stifle , at least for the length of this recital.

  Thoughts about Jeremy and his brothers. How talking to Peter with his grudging nobility, and Noah with his wry shyness, had made me realize that I was definitely attracted to them too. And the more time that I was spending with Jeremy…

  I had plans to go out with them the next night. My lips twisted. There was no way of reflecting on that without realizing that it was a bad idea. I was finding being around Jeremy tempting enough, why make it even harder on myself?

  I’d worked too hard to get this position. I couldn’t afford to lose it by doing something stupid.

  I swallowed and opened my eyes. The melody was coming to a sweet end, another one swinging and warbling in its place. This one was happier, more certain. Like I should’ve been, now that this decision was made.

  Although, right now all I could do was stare blankly at my sister as beautiful note after beautiful note trembled out from her, and wonder why just then I felt worse than ever.

  6

  Noah

  “So, where are you?” Jeremy asked me over the phone.

  “Winners,” I said. “Picking up some socks.”

  Jeremy laughed. “So you finally went through the last ones, now?”

  It had been a running joke amongst us brothers that whenever there was a holey sock in the laundry it was mine, considering I was prolifically lazy about buying new ones.

  “Actually,” I admitted, “I went through the last one a few weeks ago, just figured I should get some new ones because…”

  I didn’t finish that sentence. Why hanging out with Blair again had made me feel like I needed new decent socks for the occasion, I wasn’t sure, except that the certainty had crystallized in myself as soon as I’d heard that she’d agreed to meet up that night.

  Really, it shouldn’t have mattered. It wasn’t like anything was going to happen with her.

  And yet, there I was, rifling through the socks at Winners.

  “Okay,” Jeremy was saying knowingly.

  “Are you guys sure that tonight is a good idea?” Peter chimed in.

  “For the millionth time,” Jeremy said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “And for the billionth time,” Peter retorted, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  A pause. Then Jeremy, sounding irritated. “Did you say something to her, Peter?”

  Peter’s voice came over the line, patient and condescending like a parent speaking to a child, “No, Jeremy. When would I have had time to do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeremy grumbled. “Maybe on those long ass lunch breaks you take.”

  “I take long ass lunch breaks to help out at the Mission downtown.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Mother Teresa,” Jeremy quipped. “In any case, you’ll be glad to know that Blair cancelled.”

  “She did?” I said.

  I stared closer at the socks I was now looking at and wondered if I really needed them after all.

  “Yep,” Jeremy said. “I guess we can spend tonight at home, unless you still want to go out?”

  “I’m game,” I said. Going home would remind me that I still hadn’t finished that canvas I was working on.

  “Okay,” Jeremy said. “See you.”

  Once he hung up, it occurred to me that I hadn’t really asked why Blair had flaked, not that it really would’ve made that much of a difference.

  Grabbing the first socks I saw, I headed over the cash register. May as well use the time now that I was there. Standing in line, something about the hair of the woman ahead of me looked familiar.

  Half believing it as I did, I said, “Blair?”

  She turned, her face going from surprise, to happiness, to disappointment, back to surprise. “Noah.”

  My gaze dipped down, getting snagged on the lacy bra she had in her hands. She wrapped a protective arm around it and I looked away.

  “Winners has the best deals, doesn’t it?” I said, settling on the first lame words that came to mind.

  Generously, Blair laughed. “It does. Those are some interesting socks you have there.”

  I looked down to find that, in my moment of complete sock apathy, I’d picked up pink ones with rainbows that had somehow apparently wandered into Adult Male Socks section.

  I force a smile on my face. “These are for…a friend.”

  “Friend?” Blair said.

  I realized she was asking if I had a girlfriend, and I just shook my head. “I just picked them up without looking at them. Now that I have them, I think I'll give them to Jeremy.”

  Blair giggled, and I explained, “We like to give one another shit every now and then. Keeps things fun.”

  She smiled again, although it wilted fast.

  “So,” I said, not sure how to broach the subject. “It’s too bad about tonight.”

  “Yeah,” Blair said halfheartedly. “Just after my sister’s recital last night, I thought it would probably be too much staying out late again.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure as to how late piano recitals actually went, but it wasn’t my place to poke holes in Blair’s excuse. If she didn't want to come, that was that. But, still, there was something about the way she was looking at me.

  “You wouldn’t have to say long, if you did come,” I said. “Of course, no pressure at all. Just so you know.”

  She looked like she was trying not to smile, like she was seriously thinking about it.

  And then she shifted the bra she was holding to her other hand and grinned. “You know what? You’re right. I’ll come. Just for a bit.”

  7

  Blair

  Just for a bit? What was I, a seventy-five-year-old grandma? It was only eight PM, after all.

  And yet, all the things that could happen in only a few short hours played over again in my brain like a bad porno.

  Luckily, I was next in line, so I could stop the reel looping over and over again in my mind. Afterward, I waited for Noah, and then we set off for the club.

  “You don’t mind, do you,” Noah asked, “that Jeremy changed the venue whe
n he found out you were coming?”

  “That’s fine,” I said. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I’m really in a bucking-bull-riding mood.”

  Noah laughed. “We all thought it was really cool that you were at all. We’ve been to the Wild Wings a ton of times, seen that bull too. Pretty much have never seen anyone actually riding.”

  “Guess there’s a first time for everything,” I said.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure why I had even chosen to ride the bull without saying anything to anyone in the first place. Guess I’d just wanted to clear the thoughts swarming in my mind, warning me to be careful. I was tired of being careful.

  I’d spent over half my life being careful. Being careful to get good grades, getting in to the right schools. Being careful with who I dated and how. While I wasn’t exactly about to throw caution to the wind, I could trust myself to be careful enough to make logically sound decisions. Like having a platonic night out with my admittedly good-looking partner and his brothers.

  Instead of going to the club straightaway, we met Jeremy at a pizza place. I surveyed his half-eaten pepperoni pizza with a grin. “No ketchup?”

  “Hilarious,” Jeremy said, deadpan.

  Noah surveyed me with his own knowing smirk. “You know about his habit, don’t you?”

  I nodded, still grinning, and he continued, “That’s nothing. Wait till you see what he’s got under his bed.”

  “Okay, that’s enough, children,” Jeremy said with slight irritation.

  “Aren't you the one who still bothers me to play air hockey with you every chance we get?” Noah reminded him.

  Jeremy took a savage bite of his pizza. “I’d offer to share,” he told his brother, “but under the circumstances.”

  “Where’s Peter?” I asked.

  Although he was the most abrupt and least friendly of the brothers, I’d gotten the impression that the other night, I’d won him over, too. Despite his less than genial manner, he’d won me over as well.