Chapter Eight - Fair And Square


"I did so! I beat you fair and square! No ifs, ands or buts about it!" Cora 

cried, her light chocolate eyes flashing. She tossed a french fry at Nick.

"Yeah, whatever, you just keep telling yourself that!" Nick laughed.

Alison smiled and shook her head. "Men! So Egotistical! Just can't stand 

to lose!" 

A.J. gave her a look. "Please don't judge all men by this little boy over 

here . . ." 

"Ah! I'm losing all my defense here! Guys back me up!" Nick cried.

"I'll bet Cora did beat you!" Brian laughed. "I always do!"

"Ha! In your face Nintendo Boy!" Cora joked. 

The guys had been able to have a chat before the date, and had decided 

there would be less pressure if they all went together. After all, there 

weren't suppose to be relationships between coworkers in the first place.  
They had all met up in the lobby and decided it would be quicker to

have dinner in the hotel, so here they were, at the hotel's small 

restaurant: The Power Bar.

Nick sighed. "Sure, Fine - whatever!" He chomped on a fry.


Grace finally had to laugh at him. "Oh go back to the valley Nick!" 

Nick put on this deeply insulted look. "I'm from Florida!" 

"Hey Nick, take comfort in this: She probably can't beat you at 

basketball!" Kevin shrugged.

"Excuse me?" Cora began.

"Oh no!" Alison winced.

Victoria leaned closer to Kevin and whispered quietly in his ear: "Oh 

bad idea, baaaad idea . . ."

"I - yes - I - can whoop your hairy yellow butt at basketball any day of 

the week!" Cora informed Nick. With that, she bit off the end of a fry 

and dared him, with her eyes, to question her.

"Owe! Oh Girlfriend you rock!" Lara gave Cora a high five.

"You're on, girl!" Nick challenged, starting to get up from his seat. 

"We've got time for a game!"

"Whoa Nick," Howie interrupted him. "You and your girlfriend don't 

have time for a game. We've got an interview in like twenty minutes."

‘Girlfriend?' Cora thought it over in her head. ‘I'm his girlfriend? When 

did that happen?'

‘Girlfriend?' Nick though to himself. ‘Howie how could you be such a 

dolt? She's not my girlfriend yet! I practically just met her!'

"Buzzring!" Kevin's cell phone called. He answered it immediately.

"Hello? Oh hey! Canceled? What the- I mean - why?" He asked. "Ouch! 

Wow, I guess this is our lucky night then. Okay, sure thing - mind if we 

have a game of - yeah, yeah. Sure Donna. Okay, great. Bye!"

"Wow!" Kevin exclaimed turning to his friends. "Our interview was 

actually canceled!"

"How come?" Howie inquired.

Kevin shrugged. "Donna said they just called and canceled. She has no 

idea why, but she said it was cool if we went and played some b-ball . . . 

so everyone still up for that game?"

"I thought it was just me versus Cora?" Nick whined.

"C'mon Nick," Lara quipped. "When we kick your collective male asses, 

you can blame your team mates."

"Whoa! Big words, girl!" Brian laughed, getting up from the table.

"Yeah, we'll just see about that!" Lara replied. She glanced over at 

Grace. "You in?"

Grace smiled. "Oh I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"Yeah - but can you play?" Alison asked her.

"My best friend is the basketball," Grace informed Alsion, lowering her 

voice.

"Well, we'll need to change," Victoria said practically. "There's no way 

I'm playing in these shoes."

"Yeah, let's meet back down here in ten - agreed?" Kevin asked.

"Cool."

They charged the meal to they're expenses account and left to get 

changed.