Page 20 of Fight
“They’re justcalledtennis shoes. Why are you freaking out?”
“I just don’t know if you know what you’re getting yourself into here. What do you have in there?” He pointed at the Jansport backpack on Lena’s back. Long wooden sticks poked out of the top.
“An easel,” she answered simply.
Before Jake could react to that bit of information, Annie rushed forward and looked at the Jansport backpack on Lena’s back. “I think she’ll be fine. Between all of us, we have everything we need. And I can’t wait to see how Leeny paints Fallen Leaf Lake.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but Annie had yanked Lena toward Ian’s jeep and pushed her inside. “C’mon, man,” Ian called as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
Jake groaned as he walked toward the jeep. This was going to be shit show.
Lena sat at a table in the Lake Conrad Resort break room and, as if in trance, stared down at a blank piece of white paper in front of her. She was a week into her new job at Lake Conrad Resort. The week had snowballed from standing in front of a mirror, mildly questioning her life choices, to staring at a blank piece of paper and having a full-fledged existential breakdown in the break room at work.
She slowly twirled a pencil between two fingers and focused on the paper in front of her, willing an image to appear in her head that she could pencil onto it. Maybe if she drew something, she would be reminded why she was here and why she was happy she wasn’t at home. Her creativity was blooming, right?
Her phone vibrated on the table in front of her. She quickly dropped the pencil and picked up her phone, relieved at the interruption.
Cori:
Hey, haven’t talked to you in a few days. How’s west coast life?
Lena:
Hey! Everything is great!!
She looked down at the white paper in front of her again and around at the break room as she started breathing heavily. It felt like a pit had dropped from her heart and into her stomach.
Cori:
Great, huh?
Lena:
I may be questioning a couple of life choices, but it’s great. It’s all great. Just on break at work. I’m drawing!
The pit in her stomach felt on the verge of exploding as she waited for Cori to respond.
Lena’s first week of work had been fine. It had been exactly what sheshouldhave expected it to be. She’d arrived for her first day of work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, despite a terrible night’s sleep.
She’d tossed and turned in bed on Sunday night contemplating how mortified she was about how she’d behaved with Jake.Had she seriously asked him for his phone number?Like she was trying to pick him up in a bar or something? Did he think she was interested in him?Oh god.
Even if she was starting to find him just a little bit attractive and maybe a smidge charming since he wasn’t barking orders at her in the woods like an autocratic Paul Bunyan, there was no way that he was in that same place. He was just being nice to her to keep the peace with their friends. She’d groaned into her pillow dramatically before finally falling asleep and dreaming about running frantically and pointlessly through the woods while wearing her work uniform.
But when Lena woke up the next morning for her first day at work, she’d felt a bit renewed. The sun was shining through the window and there were new beginnings to look forward to.
There was nothing to be done about the uniform or how she'd made a fool out of herself in front of Jake. But she’d decided to focus on what she could control. For her first day of work she intricately braided her hair around her head like a crown and paid special attention to her eye make up.
She’d arrived at her first day on the job with a smile, beautiful hair, a full face of makeup, and wearing the most hideous uniform known to mankind. She felt ready to conquer the world, and it had been…not necessarily bad, but maybe not the shining new beginning she’d hoped it would be.
She very much enjoyed her co-workers, particularly Maggie, who was a Lake Conrad native. Maggie smiled a lot and always gave the impression that she may be high, but she was very friendly and the resort guests loved her.
Her supervisor, Ellie, on the other hand didn’t know what to make of her. When she’d given Lena a tour of the building on her first day, she’d told Lena she had an “east coast vibe,” which Lena had apparentlymistakenlytaken as a compliment if Ellie's frowning reaction to Lena’s cheerful “Aw, thank you!” was any indication.
Lena looked down at her phone with a frown as she realized Cori wasn’t texting her back. Noticing the time, she slipped her phone into her giant pocket, and headed back out to the front desk to work.
Walking the narrow hallway to the front, she adjusted her bulky jacket and entered the area behind the front desk to find Maggie typing something into the computer from a clipboard. In front of Maggie, the wide, shiny black granite front desk of the resort sparkled under the low and cozy lights of the lobby.
The Lake Conrad Resort was decorated with dim lights, large furniture, and earth tones, creating a fancy, wood cabin atmosphere. The front desk lined the wall to the right of gleaming sliding glass doors at the entrance of the main building of the resort. To the right of the front desk was the entrance to the Black Bear Dining Room.
