Page 48 of Statler

Statler hadn’t yet told his crew that he was basically going on a date with Eliza tonight.

He knew they’d question whether or not it was a strategic move, or if it was something a bit more personal.

Still, he had to say something.

As they finally broke for the day, sweat and dirt on every face, he called them all together.

“Excellent job guys,” he praised, looking over the newly-graded site. “We should be able to start our steelwork tomorrow.”

“Thank cripes.” Hazard mopped his face. “Not that I don’t like playing in the dirt, but this sucked. Besides, I feel like the quicker we move this job along, the faster we can get to work on our true objective.”

Statler cleared his throat. Here was his opening.

“I, um, already might have started that ball rolling,” he admitted a little sheepishly.

Normally, the team discussed details of their strategies before putting them into practice. Stat would definitely be getting some shit for not sharing.

“Oh?” Blue’s brow went up questioningly, but her top lip twitched. “Shall I take a guess as to what that means?”

Statler gave a long-suffering sigh. Blue was just too damned perceptive. Somehow, she already knew.

“Go for it,” he surrendered.

Her grin, grew. “This doesn’t happen to have anything to do with a certain cute, brown-haired woman whose name begins with E, would it?”

Statler huffed. “Why do you always figure out what’s going on before I even open my mouth?”

“Because I’m smart like that,” Blue boasted, fake-polishing a nonexistent badge on her chest. “And you’ve been mooning about with a stupid look on your face all day, screwing up some shit you never would normally, so how could I not notice?”

“I haven’t been mooning,” Stat denied robustly. “I’ll have you know⁠—”

“Gotcha,” Blue laughed, jabbing a finger into his ribcage. “You are way too easy, boss.”

Stat sighed. “Fine. I’ll bite. How did you know I’ve been thinking about Eliza?” he questioned, perplexed.

“Because you weren’t exactly hiding your phone convo last night, standing outside between our houses. My windows were open, and I got an earful.”

“Do tell,” Dizzy prompted, also smirking to beat the band.

Blue giddily complied. “He and Miss Eliza are going ‘night fishing” tonight,” she apprised, using air quotes.

“Damn, boss. That’s slick,” Dizzy whistled. “Get her alone by a lake, moonlight shining down, stars in her eyes because you are just so gosh-darned adorable…”

“Alright. Enough,” Statler grumbled. “I’m not trying to start anything with her. I’m just attempting to extract intel.”

There were some eyerolls, but judiciously, no one called him out on his protests.

Indeed, what he’d said was mostly true. He did need information.

He simply wasn’t ready yet to say whether he was crushing on Eliza or not.

He’d have to see how tonight went.

Tonka, who’d taken everything in quietly, finally got down to business, and outlined a wish-list.

“First, you need to find out which employees are closest to Flazer, and determine where they hang out.”

Check.