The Deal

Chapter One

She had left work later than she hoped that evening even though it was a Friday night. She hadn't planned on staying late but Summer always preferred to get as much done as possible rather than taking work home. But sometimes, it wasn't possible because working in the education system felt like a full-time job. Time and time again she sat replying to emails into the early hours of the morning with only a coffee to keep her going. But now, as she pulled her fiat 500 into the parking garage across the street from the bar she took in a deep breath and reapplied her mascara. It had been a long day at work, the kids had been even more needy than usual to the point that Summer had often wished that her name wasn't Miss Stevenson.

Summer planned to meet up with a couple of women from work that evening, they were supposed to meet at five o'clock but now the time was nearing half-past six and she had only left work ten minutes earlier. She knew that the minute she stepped into the bar and took her seat at their table they would say the same thing they always did; 'Summer, you should go home at a reasonable time,' and 'do you think anyone else stays as late as you do?' She would often brush those comments aside because she cared about those kids and she wanted nothing more than to see them blossom and succeed. But that came at the price of her living her own life- she became so focused on ensuring that the children she taught had a bright future that she neglected her own.

As she entered the already busy bar, Summer scanned the room looking for her two friends and her eyes finally settled upon them on the far side of the open space. It only took a second for the woman to catch sight of her and wave her over.

"Hey," Levi said as he stood from his chair and pulled out the chair beside him for her to sit down. He gripped the collar of her coat from behind and helped slide it down her arms before setting it onto the back of her chair. She greeted her two friends and then thanked Levi for his help before sitting down.

"You're late," Alana said with a slightly disapproving tone.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up," she replied.

"You got caught up on a Friday?"

"I didn't want to take any work with me to my parents, you know how they are," Summer explained.

"Only from what you told us," Levi smirked. "How did you put it? It was like living with Satan?"

"I didn't say that, did I?" She said with a shocked expression.

"Yep, last Friday when you were sitting in that exact chair with about six drinks in your system."

"Well, it must be true if I said it when I was drunk," she said with a small laugh. "Speaking of drinks, this round's on me."

"Nope, you've only just got here, your first is on me," Levi said and stood from his chair and was over to the bar quicker than either of the two women had ever seen him move before.

A few minutes later after Levi had finally peeled himself from the bar and back over to the table with drinks he placed three mojitos onto the table.

"May Summer have a pain free weekend with her parents from hell," Levi said and held out his drink in front of him.

"I'll drink to that," she laughed and clinked her glass with his. "So how did your days go? Any drama?"

"It was pretty relaxing, while the kids finished their exams and I sat at my desk making origami animals," Alana said and slid her phone across the table to show off a picture of her folded paper animals.

"Can you teach me how to make that?" Levi said and pointed to the origami dolphin.

"Sure, grab a napkin from the bar and I'll show you."