She's Not a Fan

Chapter 18

The following Friday night was a girl’s night in.  Sarah, wearing a warm hoodie, comfy sweats and thick woollen socks, sat on Danni’s sofa between Claire and Kelly.  Danni had a rare Friday off, with the ‘Quakes at an away game, and invited them over for pizza and a movie. 

Danni lived in a newly renovated loft in the north side of Clarington.  What used to be a rundown, industrial part of town, had been revitalized.  Empty buildings were transformed into edgy lofts, and green space had been developed into parks.  Trees were planted along the streets, interspersed with planters overflowing with colourful blossoms.  Trendy, new shops and a bistro drew people into the neighbourhood. 

Danni’s loft was ultramodern with steel grey walls.  The walls should have been bland, but surprisingly created a rich neutral backdrop to the open space.  Leaded glass panels wound up the stairs to the bedroom above.  During the day, light from the wall of windows bounced off the glass, and sprayed it all over the living room walls.  At night, the dark skies changed the grey metal walls to a shimmering navy blue. 

A flat screen television filled the wall across from a sectional sofa.  The sofa was the only piece that wasn’t ultramodern.  It was deep and feather soft and sprawled the length of the room separating the living room from the kitchen.  Danni added splashes of bold colour in the cushions and in the artwork on the walls.  The colours, soft lights and flickering candles made it cozy on a cold night.

Sarah snuggled into the sofa and relaxed.  Girlfriends were so much easier.  She could hate hockey and they really didn’t care.

Danni handed out napkins and they dug into the pizza, loaded with the works and steaming hot.  “So, what are we watching, girls?” Danni asked as she grabbed a piece of pizza and wiggled down between them.

“Claire’s choice, so it’s a romantic comedy” laughed Kelly.

They took turns picking out the movies when they got together.  Claire always picked romantic comedies.  They suffered through horror films with Danni, Kelly liked action flicks and Sarah loved the old classics.  Picking a movie was relatively easy, since none of them went to the movie theatre very often.  Not that it mattered.  They usually ended up talking through most of it anyway.

They polished off the pizza and sat back with a glass of wine.

Danni turned and grinned. “So Sarah, can I ask you for a favour?”

Sarah stared, wide eyed.  You have got to be kidding.  She had sworn off doing favours for Danni.  She hadn’t recovered from the last one. “No,” she replied stonily.

Danni laughed. “It doesn’t involve a hockey game, although it does involve the team.  The team is having a big fundraising dinner to raise money for the new Paediatric Cancer wing.  All the players agreed to go and each will host a table that seats ten.  They’re going to sell tickets and they’ll target all ages, even families with kids, so fans will have a chance to sit with their favourite player.  And raise money for a good cause.”

“How would that involve me?” Sarah asked skeptically.

“Well, you are an artist when it comes to table setting,” Danni began profusely. “And the idea is to make it an elegant, dress up affair.  So they wanted to decorate the room to make the tables look special.  And right away I thought of you.”

“Because basically I’ll do it for free.”

Danni laughed.  “Well, yeah.  But it will be beautiful and free.”

Sarah snorted. “When is it?”

“The first Friday in December.  They wanted to do it before Christmas.”