“Math is everywhere, you know? It’s in this drink,” she said, placing the glass on the bar for Sharon. “Everything is portioned exactly how it should be to make the perfect Old-Fashioned. That’s math. There’s math in flowers, in sports, in stoplights and their patterns, in crossword puzzles. I have always loved that about numbers.”
“How is math in crossword puzzles?”
“There are only twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. Then, there are only certain letters that could fit in a column or row. You have–” Debra stopped and shook her head. “This is boring.”
“No, it’s not. I was listening.”
“We don’t have to talk about math.”
“We can talk about whatever we want. I liked listening to you,” Sharon told her.
“Do you like sports?”
“Some, yeah.”
“Pick one,” Debra said and leaned over the bar next to her.
“Um… Baseball,” she replied. “My dad used to take me to games every summer.”
“Great example. You can drink that now.”
Debra nodded to the drink.
“But you don’t have a drink,” Sharon noted.
“I’ll share that one with you.”
Debra winked at her.
“You’re really hot right now,” Sharon said with a smile and felt her cheeks flush.
“What? Why?” Debra asked with a cute little laugh.
“You’re all confident and commanding right now, and it’s justreallyhot.”
Sharon lifted the drink to her lips and took a sip, expecting it to be too strong and not her thing, but her eyes went wide when it hit her tongue.
“Damn. That’s good,” she said and held the glass out as if the explanation for its good taste was visible.
“You like it?”
“I do. And I likeyou, too,” she added, passing Debra the glass.
“I don’t know why, but I’ll take it.”
Debra ran a hand through her short hair, took the glass, and sipped its contents.
“You’re just different than I thought you’d be,” Sharon said.
“Different good or different bad?”
“Very much good,” she replied and accepted the glass back from Debra, taking another sip. “You should make one for you because I like this and plan to drink it all myself.”
“Do you…” Debra faded out as she started on the second drink.
“Do I what?”
“Nothing,” Debra said, shaking her head.
