Chapter 19 - Ryan

I stared at Nadia with surprise, then appreciation. I would’ve continued drinking alone—I was in the right mood to feel sorry for myself—but I was glad I didn’t have to.
And having her to hang out with and share another drink…
Nadia was wearing dark slacks which hugged her thighs and ass, leaving little to the imagination. She was one of those girls who had a nice thigh gap from years of stage dancing and exercise. Her honey-colored hair was up in a hasty swirl at the back of her head, with wisps of hair shooting out this way and that. She was one of the hottest dancers in the show. The kind of girl it was tough to only be friends with.
“So what’s the bartender serving up next?” I asked.
Nadia held up a bottle of sour mix. There was only an inch left in the bottom. “There’s nothing worse than leaving a little bit left in the bottle. Might as well finish it off with some whiskey sours.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “If that meets your approval.”
“I’d drink rubbing alcohol right now if it was all we had. I’m not picky.”
She returned to the drinks. “I’m sorry you had a shitty day.”
“Yeah,” I said, drawing the word out into a long curse. “It is what it is. Can’t be helped now.”
She returned with two tall drinks. I accepted mine and took a long sip. It tasted fucking great. But that might have been because I was already a little tipsy.
“How about we play never have I ever,” Nadia said.
“It’s not as fun with just two people. You end up drinking faster.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” she asked. There was a sparkle in her eye. “Besides, it’s a good way for me to learn more about my fuck buddy.”
Hearing her say it bluntly made my cock stand up and pay attention. She was clearly just joking… but there was a kernel of truth to every joke.
“Potential fuck buddy,” I corrected. “This is still just a trial run.”
“Right, right.” She held up three fingers. “Come on. Put ‘em up.”
The way the game was played was everyone held up three fingers. Players took turns naming an activity they had never done. Everyone else who had done the activity lowered a finger. Whoever lost all three fingers first had to drink.
“Alright,” I said, planting my elbow on the table like I was going to arm wrestle and making my hand into the “OK” symbol, which held up my pinky, ring, and middle fingers. “Never have I ever gone to an American public school.”
When the game was played with only two people, the questions got a lot more targeted. Nadia lowered a finger, confirming what I believed.
“You’ve never been to a public school?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Let me guess. Home schooled.”
“Guess again.”
“Private, then?” She took a long look at me. “Or were your parents doomsday preppers who thought education was the devil?”
“Wrong and wrong,” I said with a big heaping of satisfaction. “I’m Canadian.”
She groaned. “I knew there was a reason you said American public school. Ugh, okay.” She gathered herself. “Never have I ever worn a wife beater while playing never have I ever.”
I looked down at my tank top. “Oh, come on.”
“Just leveling the score.”
There was that sparkle in her eye. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was looking to have some fun tonight. The kind of fun that drinks usually led to.
Time to test that theory.
I reached back and pulled my wife beater over my head in one smooth motion, revealing my bare chest. I was a muscular guy. I lifted weights at least three times a week, the big three movements with barbells. None of that dumbbell bullshit. I knew how I looked with my shirt off.
And now Nadia did too.
She kept her face cool and took a long, slow look. Like she was perusing the menu at a restaurant. Not bad, her expression said at the end.
“I asked the question before you removed it,” she eventually said. “So it still counts.”
I put my fingers back up, then lowered one. “Fine.” I took a deep breath and thought of a more targeted question. “Never have I ever danced for money.”
She made a choking noise as she lowered a finger. “You make it sound so dirty!”
“I don’t know what you mean. You’re a dancer. You get paid to do it. It’s not my fault your mind goes straight to stripper.” I lowered my eyes at her. “You’ve never been a stripper, have you?”
She grinned at me with those brown eyes. “You’ll have to waste another question to find out. But first, it’s my turn again. Never have I ever…” She studied my face intently, as if the magical answer would come to her. “Never have I ever…”
“Tick tock,” I said. “I think there’s a time limit.”
“Never have I ever…” A grin suddenly came to her. “Kissed a girl.”
“Boo,” I said, lowering another finger.
“Hey, don’t be mad at me for choosing cheap points.”
“I was booing the fact that you’d never kissed a girl,” I said, taking a sip of my drink to cover my smile.
“Not my thing,” she said, taking a drink too. “I know what I like, and it’s not in a woman’s pants.”
“Never have I ever given a blowjob,” I said with a sweet smile. Nadia rolled her eyes and lowered a finger. “Hey. You used some cheap questions on me, so I’m giving it right back.”
She arched an eyebrow on her beautiful face. “Oh, so you’re big into reciprocating?”
I smiled right back at her. “Always.”
We both had one finger left. It was her turn. Basically, I was screwed if she wanted to finish me off with a dumb question like never have I ever had red hair. But she thought long and hard about it.
“Never have I ever been in a relationship longer than two months.”
I held her gaze for three long heartbeats. “Nope.”
She blinked with surprise. “Really?”
“Longest girlfriend I ever had was Christmas to Valentine’s Day,” I said.
I saw her pause to do the math on that. “You broke up with a girl on Valentine’s Day?”
“She broke up with me. Don’t ask me why; I’m pretty fucking amazing, if I do say so myself.”
She laughed, and I spread my arms in a what can you do? gesture. I caught her glancing down at my muscles for a second. Nice. It was working.
“Alright, finish me off,” she said with that same sly smile. She was definitely flirting with me.
“Never have I ever…” I said. “Never have I ever… lived in a townhouse with Braden.”
I lowered my own finger. She blinked and then lowered hers. “You’re getting yourself out!”
I shrugged and picked up my drink. “I told you I want to get drunk. Cheers.”
We both clinked glasses and then downed the rest of our drinks. Nadia returned to the kitchen to make new drinks with old fashioned mix. “Hey, I really am sorry about what happened at the theater today.”
“Yeah…” I let out a long sigh. “It sucks, but I guess it’s the culmination of everything that’s been happening over the past few weeks.”
“Oh?”
“We’ve had lots of little issues like that.” I held up a hand. “Okay, sure, a light crashing to the stage and almost killing an actress isn’t a little issue. But we’ve had other weird problems leading up to it. Screws mysteriously becoming loose. Wires coming free. Stuff like that. Andy and I have been double- and triple-checking our work, but things still happen. Do you ever feel like you’re just spinning your wheels and it doesn’t matter in the end?”
She returned with two new drinks and barked a laugh. “You’re talking to the understudy to the actress who can’t lose her job because her grandfather is the producer.”
I smiled, but only for a moment. “It’s probably for the best that I get fired tomorrow. It’s better than these issues driving me mad. I feel sorry for the poor bastard they hire to replace me.”
Nadia’s face suddenly went slack, and she stared off at a point over my shoulder. “I heard a noise!”
I looked around. “This building is old. The heat pipes sometimes—”
“No,” Nadia said, reaching across the table to touch my hand. “I heard a noise yesterday. Dorian and I were at the theater early. We heard a noise in the catwalks, like metal slamming against metal.”
I perked up. “Did you see anyone?”
She shook her head. “I climbed up the ladder to take a peek, but there wasn’t anyone there. So the obvious conclusion is that it was a ghost.”
I pursed my lips when I realized she was teasing me. “Don’t even kid about that!”
“I think it’s cute that you’re superstitious. But no, we didn’t see anyone.”
“I couldn’t find my socket wrench before rehearsal,” I said. Pieces were coalescing in my mind. “I assumed someone had stolen it, since the theater has almost no security, but maybe it was someone fucking with the lights.” I nodded. “If someone loosened it enough, it would come out of the housing as soon as Andy activated the servos for the lighting routine.”
“The noise we heard could have been a wrench being dropped!” Nadia said excitedly. “But who would want to sabotage our little show?”
“It’s not like we’re competing with anyone,” I mumbled. “Hey. Do you think it was targeted? To hit someone specific?”
“It almost hit Tatiana. I wonder if she has any enemies.”
I narrowed my eyes at Nadia. “Like a jealous understudy who wants a shot at the lead role?”
Her face got deathly serious. “Okay, now that’s not funny. Don’t even say that out loud!”
It was my turn to reach across the table and take her hand. “Totally a joke. I know you wouldn’t do that.”
“Confident words for someone who just met me.”
I tried not to smile. “Yeah, well, someone with an American public school education wouldn’t be smart enough to plan such elaborate sabotage.”
I laughed as she began play-hitting me in the arm.
When she stopped barraging me with angry punches, she stretched and yawned. “So we have a saboteur at the theater. I wonder if his name is Erik.”
“Erik?”
She gave me a polite smile, which made me wince. I’d missed something.
“It’s a theater joke,” she explained.
I shrugged. “I just run the equipment. My knowledge of musicals is pretty fucking shallow.”
“I’ll remember that the next time we’re playing never have I ever.” She nodded. “In any case, don’t go taking the blame to Atkins. Dorian and I can tell him what we heard. That, plus your missing wrench, might convince him.”
“We’ll see,” I muttered. I was already resigned to my fate. Atkins would need to make an example out of somebody, and I was the easy choice.
I tried to think of something witty to disarm the mood, but before I could, Nadia stood and stretched again. “I’m heading to bed. Goodnight, Canadian scum.”
“’Night, uncultured American.”
I watched her hourglass frame saunter through the kitchen and toward the stairs, wondering if I should have done more.