Page 16 of Fight

Lena had held many unglamorous jobs in her day, but they’d usually involved a polo shirt or t-shirt of some sort that she could dress up as she liked. She worked at Target in high school and had found the red and khaki mostly easy to manipulate into something she could be proud of and, luckily, the hostel in Austria had allowed her to wear her own clothes. This was her first experience with such a head-to-toe oppressive uniform.

When Lena had arrived for her interview, the first thing she noticed was Maggie's uniform. Maggie had met her at the front desk and walked her up to Cynthia’s office. As they made their way down the various hallways, her uniform’s pants dragged under her heels, and all of her collars were sticking out in multiple, offending angels. Lena had contemplated calling the whole thing off at that point. She’d convinced herself that there would be room for negotiation with the uniform, but when she broached the idea with her new supervisor, Ellie, at her orientation earlier today, she had given her a side-eyed look and said the uniform was a requirement.

Lena continued to study her reflection.This was a tough pill to swallow.There had to be a way to make this better. Maybe her hair? She wrapped her ponytail around in a mock up-do.Or her shoes? She stood on her tiptoes to simulate high heels.Ugh, this is hopeless.

Calming down a bit, Annie gave Lena an up-and-down look as she let out a breath, and fixed her face with a speculative frown.“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in pants, which is crazy. We traveled around freaking Europe together. Did you wear a skirt that whole time?”

“I have pants and shorts, Annie—I’ve worn them many, many times,” Lena stated matter-of-factly. “I just prefer dresses, skirts, and pants that aren’t…this,” she added in a disgusted voice as she motioned up and down her legs with her hands.

“Seriously, this is just work, Lena,” Morgan assured her. “You can keep on keeping on in all your beautiful clothes during all other aspects of your life.” She gestured widely around the room they all sat in. “And you’ve got this room, which is very spot-on Lena.”

Lena gave Morgan an indulgent look. Sure, easy for her to say. While Morgan did work, it was at her uncle's real estate office and she was given, as Lena could best describe it, a certain amount of freedom.

Lena had to agree that she'd done wonders with this small space since she’d moved in a week ago, though. While the furniture still needed a good makeover, she’d managed to spread out all her tchotchkes and colorful decorations in a way that made her heart sing in comfort and joy as soon as she walked through her bedroom door every day. She had hung quite a few of her paintings and drawings around the room and placed a picture of her and Cori on the nightstand.

As she continued to stare at her reflection and question all her life choices, she heard voices from the open window that was above her bed. Through the reflection of the window in the mirror, she watched as Jake and Ian cruised up the driveway of the house next door on their bicycles.

They both wore tight cycling clothes and Lena could see their silhouettes against the streetlights and the bright pink and orange sky of the early evening dusk. Her heart melted and settled in her core as she watched as Jake took a drag out of his bottle of water and dumped the rest over his head, shaking his head wildly.

It had been a week since she and Jake had had coffee together in Conrad Square, and she’d thought about him way more than was comfortable for her. Just as he had predicted, Lena received a phone call from Ellie the same afternoon of her interview with a job offer that she’d gleefully accepted.

As she continued to gaze at him through the mirror like a sap, Annie and Morgan also realized the guys were outside and they perked up. Morgan hoisted herself up on her knees and leaned against the wall with her upper body and head sticking out the window as she let out a loud whistle.

“That was for Jake, not you, Ian,” she shouted when Ian started and scowled at her.

“What are you guys up to?” Annie called, pulling herself up next to Morgan.

“Hey! We just got back from a ride. We’re gonna to build a fire in the pit and chill. You wanna come over?” Ian inquired.

“Sure!” Morgan responded. “Just let us get Lena into something decent first,” she added in a voice thick with innuendo as she raised a brow. This caused Annie to burst out into laughter again and collapse onto Lena’s bed in overwhelming giggles. With that, Lena stormed over to the window. “We’ll be out in a bit!” she shouted before she pulled down the blinds.

“Okay, so we’ll see you out there in about an hour, Lena?” Morgan asked in faux seriousness, innocently looping one of her golden waves around her finger. “You need to put together all your accouterments and regalia and bobbits and shit?” She made eye contact with Annie who barked out a laugh.

“Geez Louise, you two are ruthless tonight.” Lena's hands came up to her waist as she shook her head at the two of them giggling hopelessly.

“No, no, sorry Leeny. You’re just an easy target and I was stuck in a room with twenty three first graders today who are a week out from summer vaca and chomping at the bit.” Annie pulled Lena into a hug and pulled back to give her a sincere look. “Now, you put together a campfire ensemble and we will see you when we see you, okay?” she said with an exaggerated and condescending smile.

“Get out of here. I will see you infifteen minutes!” Lena shooed the still-giggling Annie and Morgan out of her room and listened to them trail down the house’s creaky stairs. Closing the door firmly, she stood with her back against the door, breathing deeply. She heard them as they continued to laugh and stomp through the house and eventually slam the back door as they headed out to where the two houses’ backyards joined.

Pulling off her uniform jacket, Lena rushed over to her closet and moved aside the tapestry she had pinned up in front of the open space, pushing aside dresses, skirts, and blouses.

As she reached on the shelves behind her hangers of clothes she found what she was looking for.Ah-ha! She pulled on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and threw her uniform pants on the floor in her closet. After a second thought, she picked them up and hung all three pieces of her uniform on a hanger and put them at the end of her closet.I am taking you very seriously, she mentally assured the uniform.

Pulling a lavender camisole over head and covering her nude bralette, she yanked out her ponytail so her hair fell down her shoulders in waves. Pinching her cheeks and resisting the urge to freshen her makeup, she nodded at her reflection. She was mildly unsatisfied with her appearance but forced herself to be okay with it.

Yanking open her door, she put on a pair of flip flops and slipped out the back door of the house, quickly walking over the spotty patches of grass and pine needles.

It was darker now than when she’d been watching the guys through the window, but she could see the four of them huddled around the fire pit in Jake and Ian’s back yard. Jake was poking at the fire as he added kindling while the other three relaxed in wooden Adirondack chairs, various drinks in hand.

“Leeny,” Annie greeted her as she tapped her phone and checked the time. “Thirteen minutes! And look at you in shorts. We were just telling the guys about how sad you looked in that uniform.” She and Morgan exchanged a look and sniggered slightly.

“Yes, I told you I owned shorts.” Lena forced out a casual laugh. “And also yes, the uniform is unfortunate, but I’ll deal.” She waved her hand in the air as if to flick away the uniform as inconsequential. Lena felt Jake's presence very heavily, and she wouldnothave a hissy fit about her uniform in front of him.

He finally stopped fiddling with the fire, and settled into one of the chairs across from her, on the other side of the pit, leaning back deeply. He looked effortlessly cool and completely confident in his cycling clothes as he lifted his beer to his mouth and took a long pull from the bottle. She watched him with wide eyes, reluctantly mesmerized by his lips on the bottle.

“Wanna beer?” he finally asked as he tilted his bottle up a couple inches from the arm of his chair. Lena looked around, unsure if he was talking to her or not. Annie and Morgan both already had beers. Morgan looked like she had already had two, as evidenced by the empty bottle next to her chair.

“Oh, no thanks,” Lena finally answered. “Tomorrow’s my first day on the job so I think I’ll lay off the booze tonight.”

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