“No.”
“What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I mean no, I will not let you set me up with another one of your coworkers, who you swear will be perfect, and who then ends up being really boring, or sweaty. Or both. Do I really need to remind you about Raymond?”
Kira leaned back in her desk chair, arms crossed. Leanne, her best friend, managed to look suitably chagrined.
“No, you don’t need to remind me about Raymond. I’ll admit that wasn’t my best move.” She didn’t stay down for long. “Seriously, this time I know I’m right. This guy is great. And,” she continued before Kira could voice her disbelief, “I managed to pair Aria and Gwen up well, right? And Jay and Meredith?”
Kira couldn’t fault her there. The other members of their tight friend group, Aria and Jay, were happily paired off, thanks to Leanne’s meddling.
“Yeah, well, Aria is charming as hell, and Jay is one of the best-looking people we know. Of course it was easy to pair them off.”
Leanne frowned. “For the life of me, Kira, I don’t know why you think so little of yourself. You are gorgeous, gorgeous,” she emphasized as Kira was about to interrupt again, “and you are smart, and dedicated, and insanely accomplished.” She waved her hands around Kira’s office. “How many other writers have their own digs and bestsellers before the age of 30?”
“You do realize,” Kira shot back, “that all those things are the reason I can’t find anyone. First of all, I am too busy to date, and second of all, I think it makes me intimidating.”
Leanne rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, you aren’t that scary.”
Kira gave her a Look.
“Okay,” she amended. “Maybe you are sometimes a little scary. But that doesn’t mean you should be alone forever! It just means you need to meet the right guy. And I totally have the right guy.”
Kira sighed. She knew Leanne wouldn’t drop the subject until she capitulated, which she always did. “Fine. What’s this one like?”
Leanne squealed, doing a little dance in her armchair. “I knew you would see reason! His name is Michael, and he just started at my firm, working on the pro bono cases.”
“Stats?”
Leanne stuck out her tongue, but kept going. “Dark hair, brown eyes, I’d guess 6’1”? Your type.”
“I don’t have a type!” Kira cried.
“Of course you do,” Leanne said. “Remember, I watch movies with you. I go out in public with you. I know what kind of guy draws your eye.”
Kira blushed slightly. “Okay, whatever. What else do I need to know about this guy?”
“He’s very smart, like scary smart. But he’s also not a total dweeb. I think I heard him talking about knowing how to play piano? He went to the company trivia night and cleaned up.”
Kira hated to admit it, but he didn’t sound half bad. “Picture?”
Leanne shuffled in her seat very slightly. “Don’t have one.”
Kira was immediately suspicious. “You usually have some kind of picture. Even if you have to awkwardly snap it in the office and hope no one sees. What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing!” she said, maybe a tad too forcefully. “I just haven’t had the chance to get a picture yet. He’s only been in the office for like, two weeks. So, should I arrange a meeting?”
“Can I stop you?” Kira asked.
“Of course,” came the pert reply. “But I reserve the right to pout for a while if you do.” Leanne’s pouting was a force to be reckoned with.
“Set it up.” Kira slapped her hands to her ears as Leanne squealed again, laughing.
–
“I can’t believe I agreed to this,” Kira grumbled, craning her neck to watch the front door. She should have insisted on taking the seat facing the door, instead of letting Leanne snatch it first.
“Of course you did,” Leanne grinned. “You know I only want the best for you, and I think this is going to be it.”
Sighing, Kira turned back to the table, rubbing her neck. She had managed to negotiate Leanne down from a full-on dinner-and-a-show date to drinks. If she wasn’t interested, she could always down her cocktail and get out of there faster.
“Why are you here again?” Kira asked. “You don’t usually show up as a third wheel.”
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t ditch,” Leanne said, smugly. How had she known I was considering that? Kira wondered absently. Then she saw Leanne straighten up, and wave wildly at someone behind her.
“This is it, Kira. Just remember to thank me in your wedding vows.”
Kira swore softly. She didn’t trust the sly look in Leanne’s eyes.
Her soon-to-be-ex-friend stood, blocking Kira’s first look at the mystery man. “Michael, I am so glad you made it! Here, go ahead and take my seat. I have somewhere else to be right now, anyway.” She stepped aside, with a dramatic flair, and Kira froze completely.
“Micah?”
The man before her looked just as shocked. “Kira?”
“Oh,” Leanne said, all too innocently. “Do you two know each other?”
“Yeah,” Micah started.
“We were good friends in high school,” Kira finished, addressing Leanne. Yeah, a good friend you wanted to jump, a snotty voice in the back of her head whispered. So what if she had been maybe-in-love with him in high school? That was years ago. Clearly she had moved on. Yeah, your long string of committed relationships can attest to that. Oh wait… the snide voice continued.
“What a small world,” Leanne cooed, and Kira glared at her. Leanne knew. Somehow, some way, she knew. Kira had never believed in witchcraft, but she was starting to now.
“Well,” Leanne continued, grabbing her purse. “I better head out! Have a nice night, you two!” And she was gone.
Kira watched as Micah sat across from her, and immediately grabbed the cocktail menu. At least he was just as freaked out as she was. What do you say when your former friend/crush is thrown at you on a blind date? She took another long sip of her cocktail. The gin burned a little more than it had before, and she tried not to cough.
It felt like it had been ages since Leanne had left, but it was only a minute or so before Micah looked back up from the menu and smiled at her. It was the same goofy smile as when they were kids, but in a much more grown-up face. It was a good look, she decided.
“So,” he started, at the same time she said, “Well…”
They laughed.
“You go first,” Kira said, “we could go back and forth about it, but you know I am more stubborn than you are.”
“I don’t know,” he said, his grin widening. “Law school gave me some new tricks when it comes to negotiating with stubborn people.”
“Oh, every girl wants to hear that their date ended up as a negotiation,” Kira quipped.
“Wouldn’t you be disappointed if it wasn’t?” he countered. “I seem to remember you being quite the debater back in the day. Honestly,” he hesitated, but before he could continue, the server came by to check on them. She watched him as he ordered his drink (gin and tonic, refined, but not trying to prove his masculinity), and how he spoke to the server (polite, complete with “please” and “thank you.”) He really had aged well. Then she realized that he was watching her watch him, and blushed.
“What were you about to say?” she asked, to cover her embarrassment.
Now it was his turn to flush. “It was nothing.”
“It was not nothing,” she smirked. “Any sentence that starts with ‘Honestly…’ isn’t nothing.”
“Still keeping me on my toes, Kepler,” he said, using her last name like he had in high school. It sent a little thrill across her skin to hear it. “I was going to say, honestly, that debating with you is what interested me in law in the first place.”
She looked at him, shocked. “I never knew that. I didn’t even know you wanted to be a lawyer, really…” She was saddened, suddenly, that they had lost contact after high school.
“I didn’t, back then. I figured it out in college when my favorite classes were in philosophy, and I had so much fun picking apart people’s arguments,” he said wryly.
She laughed. “Now that sounds right.”
“What about you? What have you been up to?” Micah asked, leaning forward slightly.
She took another sip of her drink, buying time. She didn’t tell too many people about her pen name, wanting to keep her anonymity. She quickly decided that, if he asked, she’d tell him. “I’m a writer. A novelist, actually.”
He seemed impressed. “I remember some of the stories you wrote in high school, so that makes sense. Have you written anything I might have heard of?”
“It depends on what you read,” she shot back, used to that question. She tried to keep some of the bite out of it, though.
He laughed again. “Fair, fair.”
She didn’t let him stew for long. For some reason, she wanted him to know.
“I write mystery novels, under a pen name. Have you heard of K.P. Lakier?”
“K.P…” he started, then just stared at her. “You are K.P. Lakier?!”
“Yup,” she said, suddenly embarrassed.
“I love your books! The Widow’s Weeds, Death at Twilight? Some of my favorites. Wait a second,” he said, awe spreading across his face. “K.P. Lakier. Kira Kepler. It’s an anagram!”
Kira’s grin was so large it was starting to hurt.
“You figured that one out quickly. We used to have so much fun messing around with anagrams back in the day.” Smart, funny, charming. And, he likes my favorite books, not just the bestsellers, she thought. It was then that she realized just how easy this had been, after the initial shock. Talking with Micah, laughing, teasing. She hadn’t felt this comfortable with someone in a really long time. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to extend this date past drinks…
–
“So, how did it go?” Leanne wheedled when they met for dinner a few nights later.
“It went well, after we got over the initial surprise. How on Earth did you know we were friends in high school?” Kira asked, actually curious about her friend’s information gathering methods.
“I’ll never reveal my sources,” Leanne said, loftily, snagging a french fry from Kira’s plate.
“Come on,” Kira groaned, both to the lack of answer and the fry theft. “You’d be doing me a favor. I could work your methods into my next book.”
“As tempting as that is, my lips will remain sealed,” Leanne sighed dramatically. “But come on, you know I want more than just ‘It went well.’ I want all the dirty details.”
“To paraphrase a good friend,” Kira deadpanned, lifting a fry and pointing it at Leanne, “I’ll never kiss and tell.”
Leanne pounced. “So you did kiss!”
“I neither confirm nor deny any intimate contact,” Kira said, fighting her grin.
“You are even starting to talk like him, all lawyer-y,” Leanne smirked. “If he starts plotting our co-workers murders, he better include me in his plans. I know everyone’s schedules, and their food allergies.”
They both laughed, and Kira assured Leanne that, if murder plots were in the works, Micah would be sure to ask for her input.
They chatted a bit, bouncing from topic to topic at a speed that would give most people whiplash, until Leanne said abruptly:
“Do you actually like him?” She said it so seriously that it startled Kira into a direct answer.
“I really do. I didn’t realize how much I missed him. Someone who can keep up, you know, and not think I’m crazy.”
“Or who is just a complimentary kind of crazy,” Leanne grinned. “Like we are!” she yelped, dodging the surreptitiously flicked french fry. She seemed torn between throwing the fry back, and continuing their more-serious conversation. She opted for a compromise, popping the fry in her mouth before continuing. “You seem different already, Kira. Lighter than I’ve seen you in a long time. I just want you to be happy.”
Kira paused, a quippy response on her lips. Her friend looked more earnest than Kira had ever seen her. “I am happy,” she said. “You might be able to add me to your list of successful meddlings.”
“Good,” Leanne sighed.
“But wait a second, Leanne,” Kira smirked. “What about your love life?”
Leanne waved her off. “I am more than happy pairing up my dear friends.” But there was something in her eyes that made Kira think Leanne was more lonely than she let on.
“Well, as a thank you,” she said, an idea dawning on her, “maybe Jay, Aria, and I should team up and find you a date.”
“You can try,” Leanne said in a sing-song voice, “but remember, I am even more picky than any of you. And did I mention,” she continued, changing the subject, “that Michael was asking about you today? And what you might want to do for your next date? I told him skydiving.”
Kira let the matter of Leanne’s love life go for the time being, arguing stridently against skydiving being a good date idea, but her mind whirred in the background. It was only fair for her to meddle in her friend’s life in return, right? For her own good? Kira smiled to herself. She’d find Leanne a great partner, even if she had to go through a few (sweaty) frogs first.
© The Lightning Tower, 2020