A Beautiful Struggle (13 page)

“And do you think he is?”

I shook my head vigorously before I
answered, “He doesn’t seem to have the bad-boy streak in him that Christopher
did, so no. I don’t think he would.”

“Well, if his mother is anything to go by I
don’t think he’d be like Christopher either.”

“I just don’t like people feeling sorry for
me, you know. He sees me as really strong and capable because that’s what I
always show him, and now he knows some guy beat me up. I don’t want him to
think I am weak and need protecting all of a sudden.”

“I doubt he sees it that way, sweetheart.”

“I hope not.”

Friday had come around again and I was
planning to stop by the conference for a drink that evening, after not
attending for a little over a month.

I had instead, been going out with David
every Friday night to have dinner and go dancing before catching the two
o’clock train home, drunk and exhausted on Saturday morning. It was wreaking
havoc on my training schedule, but I didn’t have any big races planned until
January, meaning that I was happy to have a bit of fun for now.

Most mornings I would catch the train to
work with David so I advised him of my plans that morning, and never being one
to miss out of a good time, he wanted to come along as well.

Elliot was next on my list to inform, I
told him when we were training up in the gym at lunch time, while we were doing
sit ups and throwing a medicine ball at each other.

“Is that wise?” he asked cautiously, as he
threw the ball to me.

I caught it and leaned back with it over my
head, hefting it up to return it before I answered. He caught it quickly,
stopping the exercise to listen.  “Yeah, I think I need to show them I can go,
and that you and I can be normal around each other. You’ve been going every
week haven’t you?”

“Yeah I have, I normally stop in for a
drink, so I can talk to the partners – networking; you know?”

I nodded my understanding and went on,
“Well, I thought that if I go, stay close to Kayley and head out with them
afterwards - without you; that it may just end any 'supposing' about things
going on between us.”

“Without me huh?” he noted with his
eyebrows raised.

I tilted my head slightly, frowning as I
reasoned, “You know we can’t go out with them all together. Bianca and Beth
will most likely be there, and then we’ll get hauled into Priya’s office again
– I doubt she’ll let us off this time.”

“It’s ok – don’t worry about it. I was
planning on meeting up with some old uni friends afterwards anyway. Although,
if you get bored hanging around that lot, I'll be at the Docks Hotel.” He
raised the ball above his head to resume the exercise, lying back before
throwing the ball again for me to catch.

It was my turn to pause after catching the
ball, still having more to say. “Tempting, but I won’t be able to - I have to
catch the train back with David at two. But, I was going to ask you if you were
free Saturday night.”

His eyes widened in happy surprise, “You’re
going to let me take you out?” he asked.

I smiled 'yes' at him, relishing in the
delight I felt at his thrilled response.

He leaned closer to me and lowered his
voice, “Although, what do you think about staying in and having dinner at my
place?” he suggested.

Those pictures of what I'd do to him when
we were alone started flitting through my mind, and it was my turn to feel
excited, “I think, considering our track record with PDA so far, dinner at your
place would be a very good idea.”

***

David was waiting for me at reception this
time, so he didn’t have to James Bond his way through to the conference room.

His eyebrows shot up as he let out a low
whistle when he saw me. “I hope you weren’t wearing that all day,” he commented
taking me by the hand and twirling me around. “You look gorgeous, Trina.” 

I had gone shopping earlier that week and
bought a skirt that transformed into a short black strapless dress. I wore it
with a thick belt in the centre to cinch in my waist and give me the appearance
of curves. I let Kayley help me with my makeup and hair, then put on some
strappy high heels so I was then standing eye level with David.

Taking him by the hand, I led him into the
conference room where everyone was already drinking and chatting amiably. What
they spoke of, I have no clue. I struggled to maintain focus the moment I
caught Elliot watching me from across the room.

The conversation around me was becoming
more of a humming despite the energy I was exerting in an attempt to listen to
it. I could feel his eyes boring into me, the awareness filling my body and
numbing the sounds to silence around me, so I was attuned only to him.

“Katrina!”

I blinked surprised, “What!? Huh?” I
blundered out, as my attention was dragged back by David, standing in front of
me, attempting to hand me a drink.

“Where the hell were you just now? I was
trying to hand that thing to you for a while.” He told me as I relieved him of
the glass he was holding out.

I took a mouthful of the cold liquid and
laughed uneasily, “I don’t know, I just kind of switched off for a while – long
week; you know?”

The great thing about Friday drinks was
that people relaxed and showed a side of themselves they didn’t normally show
around the office, even the partners were laughing and smiling - acting more or
less human. As the night moved on, we all gathered around the conference table
and talked as though we were long-time friends.

One of the partners Ken, a small man with
mousy brown, curly hair - that bounced as he moved his head; came and sat in
the chair next to me to spark up a conversation. He was wearing a tie covered
in Looney Tunes characters, finding it a refreshing change to the usual spots
and stripes; I complimented him on his choice.

Thanking me, he asked if I was at
university, to which I replied yes, I was studying law. Politely, he asked me
about my grades and which area of law I was most interested in. I told him that
at that moment I liked family law. He himself practiced patent and trademark
law and said that he would find family law difficult to handle as there were
too many emotions involved.

“Although, I don’t think it would be as
hard as criminal law like Elliot here is learning to practise,” Ken boomed
bringing Elliot into our conversation. He had been unobtrusively sitting across
from us, nursing his drink and acting as though he was watching the room.

“I don’t know about that Ken. They can both
have their ups and downs I think.”

“That is probably very true. I am lucky; I
spend my days looking at names, slogans and devices. None of that gets too
personal so it’s easy to do well and leave your work at the office.” He sat back
in his chair and looked at his watch, “Ah, it’s getting late – almost ten
already. I think we had better call it a night or my wife will lock me out of
the house,” he joked, slapping his thighs as he hefted himself out of the
chair, leaving Elliot and I, sitting across from each other.

As I looked at him, my breathing quickened.
The attraction between us so strong that I struggled with acting upon the hot
image of me leaping across the table and ripping his shirt open to run my
tongue down his…
stop it!

I briefly closed my eyes to straighten my
thoughts, opening them to give Elliot a quick smile before rising to put some
distance between us, preventing me from doing something foolish in front of so
many prying eyes.

Ken stood at the front of the room, loudly
telling everyone that it was time to head off. I took the opportunity to wander
over to David, who was standing by the bar talking to Bianca, Beth and Carl.

“Hey Trina,” David said happily to me, he
was already a little soused, taking advantage of the free liquor before we
headed out. Bianca and Beth said nothing to me, instead choosing to excuse
themselves so they could visit the ladies' room before we all left.

Carl nudged me with his shoulder and said
out of the side of his mouth “Well, you just chased them away.”

I gave him a little shrug and walked with
him and David to the reception area where everyone was gathering to go to
Pontoon together. Elliot walked past with Andrew and Carmen. They were all
saying their goodbyes to the rest of us.

“Aren’t you coming with us this time?”
asked David.

“No, not this time,” Elliot answered as his
eyes flicked to me and then back to David, “I’m going out to a late dinner with
these two, then I have some friends to meet up with. Have a good night though.”
He nodded politely, and walked to the elevator bay where Carmen and Andrew were
already waiting. 

David put his arm around me and gave my
shoulders a squeeze, “You ready to dance the night away baby girl? Although I
don’t know how I’m going to keep the guys away from you in that dress,” he said
biting on his lower lip and shaking his head, making appreciative noises.

“Do you think it shows too much leg?” I
asked seriously.

“There’s always too much leg with you
Trina, those things go on forever.”

“You make me sound like a spider!” I
grumbled pushing him on the shoulder.

He laughed at me pulling me closer as
Bianca and Beth re-joined us.

“Is everyone ready?” Kayley called out.

There was a chorous of 'yes' and 'let’s go'
as we all moved as a group to catch the next lift down and walk to the bar.

As it was last time, the bar was packed and
people were spilling out onto the surrounding patio area. Kayley started waving
her arm above her head animatedly as she saw her friends and cousin, Connor.
Oh
shit, I didn't even consider him being here,
I thought.

They were sitting at one of the outdoor
bench tables and moved around so we could join them. Baskets of hot chips sat on
the table that weren’t quite finished were offered to us, having not eaten
dinner yet we all dug in voraciously.

I could see Connor watching me and wondered
if I should apologise for running off on him last time. Although, movement
against my side drew my attention as I felt David’s body jostling as he
laughed. I turned to see what was so funny, feeling slightly deflated when I
realised he was chatting into Beth’s ear, sharing some sort of joke that no one
else was in on.

I looked over at Bianca, who looked
woefully unhappy – if she wasn’t such a bitch to me, I might have felt sorry
for her. When she stood up to ask if anyone wanted to dance, I stood up along
with the majority of the table. I didn’t want to watch David’s seduction of
Beth either.

Separating from the group, I went to get a
drink from the bar. As I lined up, I was forced to push my way forward or risk
missing out entirely. It was such an effort that I decided to buy four black
Russians at once. Standing to the side, I held two drinks stacked in each hand,
transferring my straw between each glass as I drained the one before.

“Thirsty?” an Irish accent asked me. I
looked up to see Connor standing in front of me smiling.

Releasing the straw, I let out a nervous
laugh, “Well, I want a buzz while I dance, and I don’t want to keep lining up.”

“I have to say I like the system you have going
on there.”

“Thank you, laziness is the mother of
invention and all that – no; that's not how it goes,” I frowned, the alcohol
already coursing through my veins and joining with the couple of drinks I'd had
at work.

“I think you mean ‘necessity’ – necessity
is the mother of all invention,” he laughed.

I sucked on the last of my drink and winked
at him, “That’s the one.” On my seventh drink for the night, my body was well
and truly buzzing with the effects.

“Are you planning on dancing tonight? I’ll try
not to chase you off this time,” he intimated.

“Oh that wasn’t you Connor, that was one
hundred per cent me,” I assured him. If it wasn’t for Elliot, I think I would
gladly have let this Irish man win me over. He had this mischievous glint to
his eyes that promised a good time. I wanted to go and have a good time with
him, but I wanted Elliot more.

“You go and dance, I’ll finish up here and
have a bit of a look around. But, I’ll see you out there later,” I suggested.

His jovial face dulled a little as disappointment
showed behind his smile. I felt a momentary pang of guilt from leading him on
last time as I watched him return to the dance floor.

Placing my now empty glasses on the nearest
table, I started to push my way outside to find David, spotting him before I
made it out the door. He was on the dance floor with Beth leaning up against
him. He was behind her with his hand around her waist moving to the music with
his head dipped towards her neck. She seemed to be loving it. I didn’t love it;
it bothered me; it bothered me a lot – why did he need to pick up the girls
from my work? Out of all the girls here, why did he have to pick her?

Bianca saw me watching and smirked, she
then blatantly moved over to Connor and started to dance with him, moving him
away from the group and shooting glances my way whenever she could. I supposed
she was showing me she could steal men from me, although, I could never
actually claim to know what went on inside that girls head.