I scowled at him over my laptop. “You’re such a negative Nelly.”
He scowled back. “Do not ever refer to me as a…Nelly.”
“Negative Nancy?”
“What is the name of the club?”
“Angel’s,” I told him.
“You know how to behave in a place like that, right?” he asked me.
“Well, according to you, it’s all about jumping and thrusting at song appropriate moments.”
“I’m serious, Flowers. You have to be careful in an environment like that. You’ve got to watch your drink at all times. Never put it down and walk away. Always make sure abartender or waitress is the one to hand it to you. And you and this…what’s her name again?”
“Claire,” I supplied.
“Yes. Claire. You watch each other’s back. You don’t get stupid drunk and you leave together.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “E.G.! I can’t agree to that! What if she meets a guy? What if I meet a guy?”
“Then he gets your number and calls you sometime for a date at a future time. At a public place where you can arrange to meet. Welcome to 21stcentury dating.”
“Like you would know,” I grumbled, and immediately regretted it.
Looking up over my laptop’s monitor, I winced a little when I saw he was staring at me with his thoughtful expression. Not his grumpy face, or angry face. Or even his don’t-waste-my-time face.
This expression meant he was serious.
“I mean it, Flowers. You have to be careful.”
“This is supposed to be fun,” I said, and could hear a trace of whining in my tone. I had to stop that. I didn’t do whining.
“Cautious fun.”
“Yes, Dad,” I teased.
He was not amused. “I’m not your fucking father,” he snapped.
I straightened in the chair I was sitting in.
“I know that.”
“Good.”
“I emailed you your schedule,” I said, trying to put some distance between us. I shut down my laptop and stood. “Not that you’ll look at it before Monday. You know, it’s not like you really have to worry about anything. Apparently, this place is crazy hard to get into. We’ll most likely spend the night waiting on a line outside.”
“Hmm,” he mumbled. “Get your stuff, Flowers. We’re done for the day.”
I closed up my office and we met in the lobby to make our nightly walk to the elevators.
E.G. locked the outside office door, and once we got to the elevators, he hit the down button.
“I want you to have fun,” he said abruptly, as we waited side by side. “I get it. You’re young. You’ve had a difficult childhood. You should have some fun. There’s just so much out there you have to be diligent against.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, E.G. I’m pretty sure it’s not in your job description.”
“No, it isn’t,” he said. “But I do.”
