She’d grown up in Philadelphia, just like I had, and neither one of us really liked Philly cheesesteaks much. And our schools had actually been field hockey rivals, though neither of us had played on our respective teams.
And we were both happily single. After that first climbing session together, we agreed to go out dancing that weekend. And, I agreed to get a membership to the gym so that we could keep climbing together. She was so sweetly thrilled about both.
For someone so hot, Lina was surprisingly bookish. She worked in a chemistry lab all day, so she dressed for function, not for fun, and her wardrobe consisted almost exclusively of workout clothes, jeans, and t-shirts. Asher’s band was playing at a swanky venue in Bowery and could get us in for free, but she needed to meet the dress code. We agreed to meet at my place on Friday so that she could borrow one of my dresses.
I heard her knock on the door while I was in the bathroom, where I was finishing up with my makeup. “Asher, can you get it? It’s my friend Lina.”
“Yeah,” I heard him call back.
I couldn’t hear what they said to each other, but a moment later, Lina was knocking on the door to the bathroom. I pulled it open.
“Hey!” We hugged. “Ready to look sexier than ever before?”
Lina grimaced. “No?”
I laughed and tried not to mess up my eyeliner. “The dress is on my bed. Shoes, too. Go try them on!”
She entered my room and closed the door. I finished applying my makeup, then went and knocked on the door. “Lina, you ready?”
“I guess so,” she quietly replied.
I swung open the door and stared.
Wowza. The dress, a halter-top backless bodycon dress, was meant to be form-fitting and kinda short, but she was taller and had broader shoulders and bigger boobs than me. And a bigger ass. Her legs looked miles long with the heels on, which she probably didn’t need, given her 5’10” height. She was a natural beauty, and even without much makeup on, she looked like a supermodel, especially with her perfect little beauty mark on the left above her lip. The only flaw was her hair, which was tied back in her typical messy bun.
I walked over to her and pulled her hair tie out, then fluffed the resulting curls out.
“Asher,” I called. “Come here, we need your professional opinion.”
“What? No!” Lina tried to cover herself with her jacket, but I pulled it away, laughing.
Asher showed up at the door. “What’s up—”
He froze. And he stared. A moment later, he whistled. “Damn.” Lina bit her lip and tugged the hem of the dress down, so bashful and sexy.
Asher continued, “No offense, Anna, but that dress looks way better on her than it ever did on you.”
I gave him the finger and said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s true. It’s Lina’s dress now.”
“What? I’m just borrow—”
“Hush! You’re going to seduce the shit out of people with that dress. It’s yours now—use it wisely.”
Lina looked at me, so sweet and so cluelessly hot...then looked at Asher.
And kept looking at Asher.
Asher licked his lips.
“Oh my god, get a room guys, stop eye-fucking each other.”
Lina laughed nervously and took her jacket from me. “Let’s go before I decide to change.”
It turned out to be a really fun night. Asher’s band was on fire, and the crowd was really feeling it. Lina was putting on quite the show herself, and I was impressed with how well she could dance, despite wobbling on my borrowed heels. I caught Asher staring at her during his set significantly more than once. I smiled at the sight, and wondered if that was how it had looked when Asher and I’d first met.
◆◆◆
“Hey. I found a place. I’m moving out.” Cassie had helped me find the place on Saturday evening, so I’d gone over to the open house on Sunday with my checkbook and rental application filled out. I’d gotten approved then and there—my tech job had done wonders for my credit.
Asher looked up from his keyboard. “Oh. Where? When?”
“It’s in Jackson Heights. A little bit farther of a commute, and super tiny, but it’s totally affordable. I move next week.”
“Nice, that’s great.” He frowned, distracted, and after a moment, added, “Hey...I hope you aren’t mad about what happened on Friday.” He met my eyes. “You know, flirting with Lina.”
That’s all? I shook my head and smiled, relieved. “If you guys got together, I’d be really happy for you both. For real.”
He got up and hugged me. “Thanks, Anna.” He patted my back and let me go. “Speaking of, could you give her my number, or give me hers?”
I laughed. “I’ll see if she’s interested, first.”
And later that night, at the gym, I found out that Lina was interested.
“Did you used to have a thing for Ian?” I blurted out, after giving Asher’s number to her.
She snorted. “Are you asking me because I was kinda cold to you that first time?”
I nodded.
She shook her head. “Sorry about that. Some climbers are pretty ‘polyamorous’ with their climbing partners. I’m not. Once I find a partner I like, I don’t like it when they start climbing with new people.” She met my eyes and smiled. “I thought you were taking my climbing partner away, but he was just introducing me to a new one.”
I was relieved to hear it, even if I was no longer with him. “I’m not as good as he is, though.”
She smiled wolfishly. “Not yet.”
◆◆◆
Under Lina’s patient coaching, I got better at climbing. Way better, if I do say so myself.
It was still scary sometimes, falling from the last move of a boulder problem, or throwing myself into a dyno, even really short ones. Or committing to a move at the top of a 40ft wall when top roping, even knowing that it was pretty darn safe (assuming you follow all the safety checks and don’t horse around). But with each successful send, and more importantly, each
