Page 24 of Keeping Zita

“You still want a drink?”

She turned to him with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t mean to start a whole…brouhaha,” she said. “All I wanted to know was if it was okay with Laryn if I had a drink.”

Obi-Wan smiled at her. She was adorable. And he loved how considerate she was. “I think it’s safe to say that she’s okay with you having whatever the hell you want. Now, what can I get you?”

“Diet Coke and rum, please.”

“You got it.” He couldn’t resist the urge to lean in closer, until his lips were almost touching her ear, and saying, “Thank you for being so cool with this. I swear it’s not usually so…heavy around us.”

The hand she placed on his knee felt as if it was burning through his jeans. “It’s fine, Sage. Promise. When the medics and I get together while on duty, you’d probably be scandalized at how raw our casual talk is. All about medical procedures and bodily fluids and stuff.”

Obi-Wan pulled back and chuckled. “Not much scandalizes me. I’ll be right back.”

Then he stood and asked if anyone wanted anything from the bar. When everyone said they were good, he headed across the crowded room to get the drink for Zita.

By the time he got back, with both the Diet Coke and rum and a lemon drop for Mandy, talk had settled into more mundane topics. Zita was talking about the film and what she did on set. Everyone was laughing at the story she was telling about the extra she’d had to dose with Zofran, to get her to stop throwing up from nerves after being near Logan Striker.

“Thanks,” Zita said with a small smile as Obi-Wan put the drink down in front of her.

“You didn’t have to get me a lemon drop, but I appreciate it,” Mandy told him.

Obi-Wan nodded at her and leaned back in his chair, one arm resting on the back of Zita’s as he took a sip of the beer Pyro poured for him.

“So, tell the truth. Were you weirded out when Obi-Wan told you that we’d all be here tonight?” Edge asked.

“Why would she be weirded out?” Buck asked.

“Seriously?” Edge asked, with an incredulous look on his face.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe because going on a date with all your buddies isn’t normal?” Edge said.

Buck frowned.

And Mandy giggled.

He looked at his girlfriend, seeming completely befuddled. “I’m missing the joke.”

“Dude, you did the same thing,” Chaos informed him. “Brought Mandy to Anchor Point on your first ever date—with all of us in attendance.”

Buck looked from Mandy, to Chaos, to Zita, then back at Mandy.

“It’s okay,” Mandy said, taking pity on him. “I wanted to meet all the friends you talked about while we were in the jungle.”

“I…It’s… I just wanted to share the most important people in my life with you,” Buck said, looking exasperated. “I totally should’ve taken you out to a fancy restaurant or something. Maybe bowling.” Both Mandy and Laryn giggled at that. “Anything, as long as it was just the two of us.”

But Mandy shook her head. “No, Nash. I was happy to meet everyone. I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.”

Obi-Wan glanced at Zita. Had he fucked up too? He was out of practice wooing a woman, and apparently screwing things up right from the start.

“Don’t,” she said, obviously reading his mind. “Tonight is perfect.”

“But—”

“If you’d asked me out to dinner at some fancy restaurant, I probably would’ve turned you down. I’m not a fancy restaurant kind of girl. And I let you pick me up, sure, but that was about as much leeway as I was going to give you, since you specifically invited me to a casual night out with you and your friends. Besides, neither of us were interested in dating anyone, remember?”

Obi-Wan was well aware his friends were listening intently to this conversation—and that they’d probably give him shit tomorrow. But he didn’t care.