“Mina-risms,” she says and turns in her seat to snatch the bottle from my hand. “Don’t you mean Moana-risms.”
My smile shrinks to a stunned pout in half a second. “You know about that name?”
“I know everything,” she levels at me, and her voice is so earnest, her face so serious it cracks something inside of me. I laugh, loudly.
“I don’t doubt it.” I chuckle as I take the liberty of resting my backside on the side of her desk. It’s not a large backside. In fact, some women have called it cute and pert, although I highly doubt Moana, I mean, Mina would be one of them, but I’m not going anywhere until I at least try and have a conversation about what happened earlier. I have a strong feeling I know exactly why I behaved the way I did and it’s highly likely she doesn’t give a flying fuck, but it would make me feel better if I could just try and explain it to her. So, I begin, “But listen, I really do want to apologise.”
“And why is that?” she says and it could sound accusatory, but it could also sound just plain curious. Mina is frustratingly hard to read, what with her empty expressions and intense stares. Stares that just got a bit more intimidating now I know about the warm wild honey colour in her eyes.
“Because I was a bit of a dick to you earlier,” I say and my shoulders lower a little with the confession.
“A bit?”
“Okay, fine, I was a massive throbbing erection of a dick!” I hold my hands up and pull my eyebrows up high on my forehead. When I see one corner of her mouth twitch, it makes me smile.
“You weren’tthatbad,” she concedes.
“Not a fan of erections?” I ask, probably being far too nosey but the thing is, we have this bet going in our team…
Mina’s bronze-brown eyes assess me once more and it slows my thoughts, which is a silly thing for her eyes to do. “Will you split the money with me if I tell you?” she asks abruptly.
“Pardon?”
“Your bet. About my sexuality.” Mina shrugs like I should keep up.
Wow. She really does know everything.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My hands are now on my chest and I know that I doth protest way too much.
“Half the winnings is still half,” she points out, and she’s not wrong.
“Fine, I’ll split it with you.”
“I’m bi, but typically only date women or femme presenting enbies,” Mina informs me like she’s reading out the weather forecast.
“Oh,” I say, because I don’t believe anyone betted that specific orientation. It was really about whether she was gay or not. And yes, Idefinitelyshould have known better than to be so reductive and binary-minded about it.
“You thought I was a man-hating lesbian, am I right?” She cocks an eyebrow as a coy smile tilts her black lips. It’s possibly the first time I’ve ever seen Mina’s face arrange itself in something that isn’t a disapproving scowl, and it makes me realise how pretty she actually is. In fact, I’m fairly sure her face is a perfect heart shape as I take in her pointed chin, small button nose, and wide-set eyes that are round and big despite their thick frames of eyeliner. Mina has been blessed with a skin tone millions of women – and possibly almost as many men – would spend thousands of pounds on sun beds or fake tanning products to achieve and while most of the ochre-brown skin of her arms, chest and neck are covered with tattoos, her face is free of these interruptions and it’s now I’m looking at her that I see how despite the dark make-up and the frown she normally gives everyone, the skin on her cheeks glows. Mina has a beautiful complexion and the texture of her skin is the kind that begs to be appreciated, admired, touched…
If she let you, of course.
“The bet was on whether you were gay or not, yes,” I admit. There’s no point in lying, not when she’s giving me such a knowing look and I think I’m starting to like the copper tinge in her cheeks as she becomes a little bit more animated.
“How boring of you all.” She curls her upper lip before taking a swig at the new beer she took from me. “Hardly outside of the box thinking, and not really the kind of creativity I would want leading the Status campaign.”
“Which we haven’t got yet,” I add.
“But we will,” she says, very matter of fact.
“Because I’ll make it happen,” I finish for her and puff my chest out a little for effect.
“Jesus,” Mina mutters as she takes another drink. “So, how much money do I get for settling that bet.”
“Twenty-five quid.”
“That’s all I was worth?”
“No, you were worth fifty quid but we’re splitting it, aren’t we?”
