Page 2 of Fight Or Flight

Natalie rolled her eyes as her smile split across her face. “No problem. Arrivederci, Marco.”

Jess and Alira laughed, then went to the kitchen together. They popped open a bottle of champagne and sliced into a sheet cake. Natalie spent the next half hour making her way around the room and hugging her friends before it finally started sinking in. She’d moved all over the world with this goal in mind, and now, it was finally happening.

She wanted to jump in the air, dance, and celebrate. But a teeny voice deep in the recesses of her brain asked, Then what?

She shook off the discomfort as people began saying goodbye and filing out of the office.

The last person to leave, other than Jess, was Alira. “I gotta get going. But I’ll see you in Sydney.”

“Thank you so much for coming,” Natalie said.

Alira smiled and nodded, then left the room.

“Oh my God,” Jess said as soon as the door closed behind Alira. “How cool is she?”

“Impossibly cool.” Natalie walked around the room with Jess, cleaning up the plates and cups sitting on the desks. “I can’t believe this is happening! It’s going to be so amazing.”

“I know,” Jess held out the garbage bin for Natalie.

“Are you really coming on my first tour?”

“Absolutely. As soon as Alira told me the news, I booked it. I’ve always wanted to go. Plus . . .” She paused, looking down at her perfect white sneakers. “I’m going to miss you.”

Natalie smiled and hugged her. She’d met Jess a year and a half ago, and it was impossible to avoid becoming friends with her. Of all the countries and all the people she’d met along herjourney, Jess was the only person she was a little sad to say goodbye to.

“I’m going to miss you, too.”

“You know,” Jess said, pulling back and sliding a hand over her glossy black bob, “when I first met you, I never would have imagined we’d become friends.”

Natalie threw back her head and laughed. “I know. You hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you. I was terrified of you.”

“What?” Natalie asked. “You never told me that.”

“Oh yeah. Remember Todd, the South African?”

Natalie barked out a laugh. Todd had been an arrogant recruit who Natalie lost her patience with after two disgusting minutes of being relentlessly hit on.

“He deserved that. You know how much I hate smarmy douchebags.”

Jess laughed. “But did you have to call him that in front of everyone?”

Natalie shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“All the guys were scared of you after that. I think I saw one or two protectively cover their balls. Maybe that’s why it’s been so long since you dated.”

“I don’t date because I’m always travelling. I’m down for one-night stands, but I can’t stand slimy men. And guess what type of man is always into one-night stands?”

“A slimy slimeball?”

“Exactly.”

“What about Marco?”

“Not slimy at all. He just likes casual sex. And he’s very good at it.”

“He won’t be sad when you tell him you’re moving to Australia?”

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