The prompt this week was Train.

I’m heading back to Lake Point again.  I’m going to return to Eve’s New Year.  Last week you all felt such sympathy for Jake, this week I’m going from Eve’s POV. This event is before last week’s prompt…I like Eve a lot…she’s just struggling to deal with this life-long crush she thinks is un-returned…(what would you think if all your crush did was call you his BFF and give you chaste kisses and hugs).

As always this is un-edited mostly, so forgive any errors. :

“Who the hell does he think he is?”

“I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s Thomas Strayer, an antiquities dealer—and he’d be right.” Eve inched past Jake’s red-faced bluster to step into her office.

“That isn’t what I mean.” Jake snarled. “I mean he was checking out your ass.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of that statement, or his clear displeasure about it. Rather than stammer or fret as she would have done years ago, she snorted. “I sincerely doubt that.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I know when a guy is checking out my ass. On the rare occasions it does happen, I can always hear them mumbling that they like big butts and they can’t lie.” She sat at her desk. The miniature train she’d been holding got set to the side while Jake continued to somehow manage to stare with a combination of anger and shock. “What?”

“I don’t like that.”

“What? Aren’t you the one that always told me not to let them get to me? I’ve learned that the best defense is a good offense. You should know that after all your years of hockey.”

He shook his head. “I don’t like anyone talking about you like that, not even you.”

With a sigh, she leaned her head back against her chair. “The point is, what difference does it make either way? He’s not interested, and if he was, what does it matter to you?”

“He is interested. The guy wasn’t listening to you talk about that stupid train. He asked you to get it down so he could ogle you.”

Eve had to forcibly hold back her snort at the suggestion. No man had gone to lengths like that just to do anything akin to ogling. Most of them managed well enough just with her chest. It was the best thing about her big-boned body, the girls got her lots of attention when she wore her favorite low-cut tops.

“Eve?”

“Hm? Oh, right. Well, I think you’re imagining things.”

“What were you two whispering about?”

She sighed in exasperation. This interrogation was pointless. He was acting like a guard dog, but she was a grown woman. After a lifetime of him giving her the big-brother act, she was just about at the end of her rope. Not once had he bothered to ogle her, what did he care if anyone else did? “We weren’t whispering. We were making plans for dinner, actually.”

“What?”

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist. It’s a business dinner.”

“Business.” Jake scoffed. “Right.”

“In case you’ve forgotten. I am trying to establish a relationship with the auction house so we can sell your excess inventory. That is what dinner is about.”

“I don’t want him taking advantage of you.”

Eve groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “Did you ever think that maybe I need a little bit of advantage taken?”

“No.”

She sighed and rose. “I’m not getting any younger, Jake. Unlike you, I haven’t had much of a chance to dive into the dating pool all my life. For the first time ever I’m starting to like myself and I’m damn well going to enjoy myself if I want to.”

“But…”

“I’m a big girl.” She leaned forward. “I can handle myself.”

“You’re my—”

“Best friend. I know.” She knew all too well. It’s all she’d ever been to him, and it was all she’d ever be.  Her friend Ivy was right, it was time to piss or get off the pot. Eve’s fantasy life where she and Jake had a happy ever after was never going to happen. “As my best friend, you should want me to be happy. You’re the one that’s always telling me I need to stop playing it safe.”

“I do want you happy.” He sighed and leaned against the doorframe. A smile curved his adorable lips. Damn it, maybe she wasn’t quite done with the fantasy. “I just get a bad vibe from this guy.”

“You’re being silly.” After all, Thomas was gay, but she wasn’t about to tell Jake that. In Eve’s fantasy’s later Jake’s freak-out would be because he was jealous, not because he was once again riding in on his white horse to protect her from some big bad.

“Call it an old habit.”

“Old habits are hard to break.” Eve sat back down and eyed the train engine she’d set in front of her computer. Thomas did want a business dinner, but not over the auction. It involved a job—in Albany. Far enough away from Lake Point, her life-long crush, and her boring life. She’d never been outside of Lake Point for anything, her whole life was nothing but habit and pipe dreams. “But sometimes it’s what you have to do.”

“What if you don’t want to?”

“You never want to, that’s why it’s a habit.”

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