Hope in Line

Hope threw her head back to drink the shot and banged her skull on the trellis behind her. A couple guests spared her a quick side eye. She blushed and wondered how long to wait before getting a refill. Tim would have had a refill waiting because he thought she was more fun when she was drunk, but Tim had broken her heart last Monday. “I’m fun,” she thought. “I had my groceries delivered on Wednesday so I could keep playing Fruit Ninja and not put on pants. I’m an avalanche of fun.” She decided it was time for a refill.

She made her way slowly to the bar. The beautiful garden was packed with potential donors for the university’s observatory, and the stunning floral landscape had been decorated with telescopes and model planets. She was only at the party because her boss, the observatory’s director, had told her she had to be. Hope was supposed to schmooze but had instead spent the night admiring the flowers and the telescopes and wishing she was at home.

She squeezed her way bar-ward between flowers and people. As she turned down a narrow garden path, she saw three people standing in her way. Another guest had come up behind her, so there was no turning around. She turned to do a sideways shuffle past the group, pressing up against the hedge behind her. She was so focused that she didn’t realize she’d reached the end of the hedge. With one final inattentive step, there was no more hedge and she was flying backwards. Her stumble took her on a collision course with a telescope. They both fell loudly to the stones in a tangled heap. The telescope swung around and clocked her right in the eye.

Several guests came over to help untangle the mess. Hope’s eye hurt terribly, and she was fairly certain everyone in the vicinity had seen her underpants. She wanted to crawl into the hedge and die. She let a kind woman lead her over to the line at the bar. “At least,” Hope thought, “Things can only get better the rest of the night.”

As if he’d been summoned by Satan himself, Tim appeared. He was making his way through the crowd, toward the bar. Hope panicked. She tried to break free of the bar line, but the crowd was too tightly packed. She turned forward and tried to disappear while hot tears threatened. “Sweet tap dancing Jesus what did I do to deserve this?” she said. 

The man ahead of her turned around. “I was not aware that Jesus was into tap dancing. Tell me, what other recreational activities are deities into these days?” His eyes were laughing emeralds, set above a knockout smile. She had an overwhelming desire to run her fingers through his thick chestnut hair. He was so good looking that he did not seem real, exactly the sort of man who usually intimidated the hell out of Hope. But her panic, despair, and pain were distracting her from her insecurities at the moment. 

“The newsletter comes out on Mondays. There’s always an update in the Holy Happenings column.”

The god in front of her threw his head back and laughed like thunder. “Are you always this funny?”

“Only after I’ve lost a street fight to a telescope.”

“I saw that. Are you ok?”

“I only broke my dignity.”

He reached out to shake her hand. “I’m James,” he said. 

“Hope,” she said. Her brain, confused by a whirlwind of emotions, was not fully paying attention to social protocol. She extended her left hand to take his right, and instead of shaking, her hand just hung there and held his hand. 

James smiled again and looked down at their entwined fingers, and back at her, his eyes smiling. “Well…”

“Didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you hated parties. And gardens,” a voice cut in from behind her. Tim’s snarky expression sauntered into view. “How are you? I hope you’ve been dealing with things ok. I’m sure you understand why I had to break things off.”

Hope felt James start to release her limp hand, and her brain, still floundering, suddenly surged forth with a ridiculous plan. As James released her, Hope slid her hand up his arm and clutched his bicep possessively. 

“Actually I’m so relieved that you dumped me before I had to dump you. I was ready for someone more… interesting.” She flashed a smile at James that would have been at home on the face of a pageant contestant. 

Tim looked from her hand to her face, and his smile fell away a little. “Oh, I didn’t know you’d moved on so quickly.” 

“Oh yes so sorry you had to find out like this. It was lovely seeing you. Looks like it’s our turn at the bar, darling. Goodbye Tim.” Hope twirled James around and walked him to the bar. 

“I’m sorry about using you like that. He just dumped me after two years for a series of badly flawed reasons, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to get him to shut up by making him think I was here with a gorgeous guy.”

James laughed another one of his booming laughs. “I’m honored to have been able to help a damsel in distress.”

“Ugh, you’re such a gentleman. Now I feel worse.”

“Tell you what. You can make it up to me.”

“Have a telescope you need me to take down?”

“Actually I was thinking we could have dinner.”

“Like, a date?”

James got serious. “Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Hope burst into the first real smile she’d had in days. “I’d love to.”

James smiled back. “Great. Now, let’s grab our drinks and head back the way you came. I have to tell that telescope to keep his hands off my girl.”