“Hey, hey, hey.” Beth gives me the hug of a lifetime when she sees me. I know she doesn’t want me to go back home next week, we definitely don’t get to see each other enough. “How was your frolic in the botanical gardens disguised as work today?”
I stifle a laugh as we find a seat and take a quick look at the menu. I tuck my yoga bag and my mat under the table and sit back in my chair for a breather. “It’s all work and no play,” I sigh.
She smiles. “You have the best job ever, do you know that?”
“I totally agree. I guess the little stay at that ashram in India has really paid off.” It’s true. I went traveling during one spring break from my last year in college and spent the summer in India. While it may have been a quick retreat, I definitely found my calling during that time. I’d been interested in becoming a yoga teacher for a while, and an avid Pilates and yoga participant for years. It was just something I didn’t know I wanted to do until that moment. I did my Pilates training first, then my yoga certification straight afterwards. Both were really intense, especially studying while I was also working.
Out the window went my school teaching ambitions, and in came my lifelong fascination with this ancient practice.
“You can say that again.” She peeks at me over the menu. “Has Jay Jefferson paid off on you yet, by any chance?”
I balk at her. “What?”
“Oh, don’t play coy with me.”
“I didn’t realize I was.”
“You know as well as I do there was something cooking with you two that night at the bar, and has been ever since.”
I laugh, not my usual reaction to hearing something so outrageous, but there it is. “Something cooking?” I cajole. “Like what? Meatloaf?”
“Hot, spicy sausage more like!”
I almost choke on air. “Beth! What the hell has gotten into you?”
She wraps a long chestnut strand of hair around her finger and gives me a ‘whatever’ roll of her eyes. “Don’t try to deny you haven’t always had aJade JonesforJay Jefferson. Hey, I don’t judge.” She lets go of her hair and holds up her palms in a bid of surrender. “Nothing to feel weird about.”
“I don’t feel weird about anything,” I whisper over the table, no longer able to use the menu for a distraction. “Because there is noit.”
“Really?” She tilts her head to the side, golden eyes firmly fixed on me like she’s tapering my reaction.
“Uh-huh.”
“Then why are you whispering like he’s gonna hear?”
I huff and try to swat her with the menu. “Maybe the intensity of the humidity is getting to you, B.”
She shakes her head with a simultaneous wag of her finger. “You’re not gonna get out of it deflecting. I haven’t seen you since that night, and might I remind you that you literally wrenched me away from Jake Hudson. I mean… JAKE HUDSON!” she balls her hands up to her eyes. “You know I may never get a chance like that again, not with an NHL star, anyway.”
“Well, I’m sorry. Things were getting intense out there and we both agreed to be each other’s wing person.”
“But Jake Hudson!” she sighs, her shoulders sagging.
“If it means that much to you, I can ask Jay about him for you.”
She waves it off. “It was all in the heat of the moment. Look at me, I’m not his type. He probably downed half of the alcohol in the bar that night. Any girl would’ve fallen under his spell.”
Beth is very pretty, but will never admit to it. She’s half a foot taller than me and has curves to live for. Her pretty face is usually framed behind large, dark green glasses which suit her honey to hazel eyes and expertly styled brows.
“He seemed pretty into you on the dance floor.”
“Do you need me to remind you what Jay was doing? He was sandwiched between us at one point.”
I tap my fingers on the corner of the table anxiously. Of course I remember, how could I not? At least it took my mind off the whole Aaron situation.
“That was kinda hot now I think about it,” she contemplates.
We’re interrupted by the server who takes our orders of avocado toast and two cappuccinos, then heads off to make our drinks.
