“Thank you, Tampa!” I shout into the microphone before putting it on the stand.
Lincoln is up front and grabs my hips to pick me up off the stage and put me back on my feet.
He’s so close as he smiles down at me.
“You fucking killed it.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“I felt like I was at her concert.”
I throw back my head and laugh as Gladys brings us more drinks that we don’t need.
We sit at our table, intermittent karaoke taking place as we laugh and joke and enjoy each other’s company.
“You know you’re actually fun when you’re not hating the universe,” I tell him, sipping the Margarita I swear is the last.
“I don’t hate everything.”
“You have for the last couple of years,” I say and he tilts his head.
“You’re no stranger to a bad breakup,” he says and I sip and nod.
“Vanessa?”
He tosses back the rest of his drink and rests an elbow on the table, his chin resting on the palm of his hand.
“I thought she was my person. I mean, I know looking back I wasn’t the best boyfriend, but still I didn’t expect what I found out.”
His blue-green eyes are glassy as he looks at me.
“You’ve probably been nothing but a good girlfriend to all those assholes you’ve dated.”
I shrug, wanting to push more about Vanessa, but clearly picking up on the topic change.
“I don’t know,” I say, grabbing my straw and biting on it.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I always changed who I was with every boyfriend. I just wanted them to want me, you know?”
“They’d be stupid not to. Let’s go home,” he says.
Gladys grins at us and holds up her own shot as Lincoln grabs a wad of cash and shoves it in her tip jar.
“We bid you farewell. Please visit us peasants the next time you need ale. So long fair maiden,” she says to me and I wave and smile.
We start the walk to our building, which feels way fucking longer than it did the drive here.
I drunkenly bump into him with my shoulder.
“You’re not so bad, you know?”
He smiles and says nothing. I wonder if I’ll see this side of Lincoln again, or if this is just a rare glimpse of the man he keeps hidden under his rough exterior.
11
THE OFFICE
