Fan Fiction ❯ Josephine the Stegosaurus ❯ Bait and Switch ( Chapter 2 )

“Wow. You're kidding me, right?” A girl in her mid-twenties with a creamy chocolate complexion and wide ebony ringlets leaned back against a bar, staring dumbstruck at Josie, whose elbows were spread as far as possible on the edge. Her chin was lowered to within a few inches of her left hand, while her right was cradling a glass of beer in front of her nose. “Josie Taylor, the ultimate short-tempered, dino-loving superbitch let a guy completely insult her lifelong dream, and then hit on her, and let him leave without kicking his ass?”

Josie lifted one side of her mouth into a sarcastic smile. “Well, I kicked his ass verbally…” she looked up at her friend for confirmation, “I think.”

“Are you going soft?” she was shocked when Josie hesitated and refocused her eyes with a frown, furrowing her brow.

“No…” said Josie. She hadn't thought along those lines before. “I'm sure I would still totally kick his ass if I saw him again. I just didn't want to do it in front of the security cameras.”

“Frankly, my dear, I'm not convinced.” Josie narrowed her eyes briefly as her friend continued. “I think you went easy on him because he was attractive.”

“No, Miranda. He was gorgeous.” she picked up her glass and held it to her cheek for a moment before downing the remaining alcohol in one shot. “But I stand by what I said. If, and this is a big if, I ever see him again, I will kick his ass. I promise. But I won't see him again, and you know why? Because I work at a souvenir shop. The only people who buy things there are tourists, and they only visit each museum once, and that's all. Then, they go back to whatever foreign state or country they came from, and throw their little stuffed dinosaur into a pile with all the other crap they got on vacation. That's how it goes. Gorgeous or not, I'd still kick his ass, but it's all hypothetical because I'm never going to see him again.”

“Ah…excuse me, miss?” a new voice came from behind her. She stiffened. Oh God. How terribly cliché. Josie spun around on her bar stool and looked up at the source of the new voice. In the subtle darkness of the bar, she could make out a man in a business suit with a shock of brown hair and bright green eyes staring back at her. Oh. Not him. He had brown eyes. Wait, what the hell? Why should I remember that? Maybe there is something wrong with me.

“Can I help you?” She winced as soon as the words left her mouth. Spending too much time in that damn shop. The man was pretty cute, but he couldn't really compete with the looks of Mr. Jackass from the store. Inexplicably, she found herself wishing it had been him. Only so she could follow up on the ass-kicking, of course. The man smiled at her, showcasing two rows of impeccable white teeth. It was obvious he was trying to flirt, and normally, Josie would have obliged, but her mind was elsewhere.

“I just noticed that you'd finished your drink, and I was wondering if you'd like another, on me. Your friend too, if she'd like.” he said. His grin widened when he finished speaking, looking at Miranda, clearly trying to seem as charming and sweet as possible. Josie fought the instinct to cock an eyebrow in confusion, and instead wondered what exactly she did to her hair today to turn her into such a hunk magnet. It was weird. Sure, she got propositioned occasionally by guys after talking for a while, but these had been total strangers. Unbelievably hot ones. I guess Christmas fell in February this year.

“O-kay,” she replied. She shared a quizzical glance with Miranda, who appeared to be overwhelmingly more interested in this guy than she, while the stranger ordered, and in two seconds they had communicated the fact through expressions alone that neither of them had any idea who he was.

“By the way, is this seat taken?” He gestured to the open seat on Josie's right.

“Nope.”

“Okay. Good.” he said, but didn't sit down. Instead, he turned back to face the direction he came from, and made a small hand gesture while nodding. Confused, Josie tried to squint into the distance to see what he was signaling at, but it was too dark. The bartender handed the girls their drinks as the mystery guy turned to Miranda.

“So, you maybe want to go talk somewhere…?” he paused, a cue for her name.

“Miranda…and sure.” Josie gaped at her friend, who started gathering her purse and beer to follow the guy out to a table.

“What's going on? Miranda?” she said.

“Um,” Miranda glanced behind Josie for a second, “see you later, Josie.”

“What? Where are you—” she was cut off when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She didn't turn around.

“Huh. I didn't know paleontologists drank.” A familiar silky deep male voice came from behind her, and she swore under her breath. Miranda is so dead. She heard him slide into the stool next to her, and set her face into her best death glare. With a deliberate slowness, she turned her stool around, keeping her stone cold expression motionless.

“What the hell was that all about?” she said. If Bryan had been any less cocky, he would have withered under her stare.

“Can't you see, Josie? I wanted you to turn around so I was sure it was you, get you alone and in a good mood, and get more alcohol into your system. The perfect plan.” He grinned cheekily.

“Did you take into account the fact that I hate your guts?”

“Ouch. You don't even know me. How can you already hate me?”

“Believe me. I was surprised I hated you so quickly too.” He laughed, and she paused, realizing just how weird the situation was. “What are you doing here anyway? How do you know my name? Are you stalking me?”

“Why? Do you wish I was?” He winked, and she rolled her eyes and made a sound of disgust. “No, I'm not stalking you. Your name was stitched on your apron at the store.” Her cheeks turned faintly pink. “I'm Bryan, by the way.” he held out his hand, but she didn't take it. “I work for a member of Congress. Derek—my friend I sent over here—and I usually go over to Polly Esther's after work, but today, we decided we'd try Hatcher's instead. Did you know this bar was named after that rhinoceros skeleton at the museum that some guy found in Wisconsin?”

“Wyoming. And it was a triceratops. A dinosaur. Like the toy you bought for your niece.” The look on Josie's face hadn't changed at all since he started talking. Tilting her head back with an accusatory glance, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I bet you work for a Republican, huh?”

“How did you know?”

“I can just tell. There seems to be a streak of arrogance and stupidity among you guys.”

He grinned. “A liberal, huh?”

“Most of the time.”

“Well, I don't really care much about politics anyway. I'd say I'm an independent.”

“Why are you working for a Republican Congressman if you don't care about politics?”

“Good money, travel, power. I might look into a career just for that.” Josie scowled at him.

“Oh you're a Republican all right.” she said. They both laughed, partially because of the alcohol, and partially because Josie had somehow forgotten the promise she had made earlier regarding his ass. “So what were you doing up at the museum today? I'd think that working on The Hill would be enough DC landscape for one person.”

“Well, my sister's in town for the weekend, and she wanted me to take Rebecca out to see the dinosaurs. It seems she finds them as fascinating as you seem to.” he said.

“You know, being interested in paleontology isn't such a bad thing. There are careers out there for us.”

“Like retail clerk?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I'm between job opportunities at the moment. But I'm more or less guaranteed to get an internship with the Smithsonian Institute this fall. That's why I'm working at the museum.”

“Ah.” he nodded.

“Anyway, you shouldn't dissuade your niece from exploring her interest.”

“I'm not dissuading her.” He looked offended. “I did take her to the museum, right? And I even bought her a damned overpriced piece of blue fluff that the dog will chew up in minutes. How on earth do you sell those things?”

Josie nodded sagely. “Tourists will buy anything. And I'm a very persuasive salesperson.”

“You mean you spew a bunch of crazy dinosaur shit until a kid begs his parents to splurge on a useless pile of fuzzy fabric and stuffing?” he said. Josie was unapologetic.

“Yep.” He laughed again, and she felt her mood being lifted, despite the warning bells the soothing sound tolled. Maybe I was wrong…he seems like a nice enough guy…hey wait a minute!

“Why were you being such a pigheaded asshole earlier?” Bryan's laughing stopped and he looked straight into her cool blue glare.

“Would you believe me if I said I just wanted to impress you?”

“You have some pretty fucked up social skills if you think that would be impressive to a girl.”

“Well, I thought women were drawn to guys with confidence, not dinosaurs.”

“No, women are drawn to guys who are genuine, not the facade of an arrogant prick.”

Bryan grinned at her. “So are you saying you don't think I'm really an arrogant prick?”

“No. I'm just saying you have a lot to learn about women.” Josie turned to face the bar straight-on, and raised the untouched glass of beer to her lips with an air of finality as Bryan stood up.

“You're right. I do.” The softness of his voice forced her to pause and turn her head his way. She felt her face grow hot as he shot her the same look he had when he left the shop. Closer up, its effect was tenfold. Time stopped for an instant as she swallowed hard. Her breath caught in her throat as they stared at each other like a challenge both wanted to lose. She broke the connection first.

“Bye, Bryan.” she said. Her voice was barely enough to cover the space between them, but he heard her, and turned to leave.

“See you later, Dr. Josie.”

She frowned. Later? She turned when she heard Miranda sauntering back to the bar, a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

“Whatever happened to your promise earlier? That you would `kick his ass' if you ever saw him again? From what I saw, it looked more like you wanted to grab it.”

“Shut up.”