Page 52 of Tell Me What you Think

"Marina…"

"I mean, you're not a couple, and maybe that's not what you're looking for. Maybe you just want to have fun, or maybe you want more — so go for it, ask her out." She was going red from lack of oxygen, glancing toward the bar to flag down the server. "She's a good person and—"

"Marina." Andrea reached across the table and put her hand over Marina's, and the vice president fell silent all at once, exhaling hard before she looked at her friend with a dazed expression. "Breathe, will you. Relax."

Marina frowned, not understanding.

"I am relaxed."

Andrea gave a short, wry smile.

"You're not. You're a wreck. The second I asked if she was seeing someone, your whole face changed. What's going on?"

Marina scrambled for an excuse that sounded convincing and left her looking halfway decent, but after the clumsy rambling she'd just unleashed — like a flustered teenager — anything she said now would only make it worse.

"Nothing, I'm fine. It just caught me off guard. Olga's my assistant and you're my friend, and I don't know…"

Andrea smiled again, but this time with a flash of amusement that put Marina on the defensive.

"What?"

"You know one of the best things about being a lawyer?"

Marina looked at her, confused.

"I guess not."

Andrea nodded, satisfied.

"You learn to spot the clients who are lying to you. A lot of them do it at first, out of embarrassment or sheer stupidity — I'm still not sure which — but after enough years and enough practice, you catch them fast. You see the signs, and you know they're trying to pull one over on you."

"I don't see why you're telling me this."

"Because once you learn to spot lies in your clients, you can spot them in anyone. And you just lied through your teeth. This didn't catch you off guard. What's actually going on is that you like Olga, isn't it?"

The vice president felt the whole world stop around her. She looked at her friend — someone she'd known far too many years, someone who'd never given her a reason to doubt her — and suddenly felt stupid for trying to hide. This wasn't who she was. She'd always faced her problems head-on, and it was obvious Olga was a problem, even if she still didn't quite know what kind.

"I don't know, maybe," she admitted, bringing her freshly refilled glass to her lips once the server stepped away. "I have no idea what's happening to me when it comes to her. I'm so confused."

Andrea said nothing at first, but she didn't let go of her hand either, giving herself a few seconds to absorb the news. Marina had always seemed so completely straight that Andrea couldn't help being surprised — she never would have suspected a thing.

"What is it exactly that's confusing you?" she finally asked.

A rough sigh cut through Marina, breaking on the way out.

"I think about her too much," she admitted, biting her lip a moment before going on. "At first I told myself it was normal — I see her every day and we've been spending a lot of time together lately — but on Saturday, when I was at her place, I felt… I don't know how to explain it, but I couldn't stop looking at her. I was on edge the whole time, wound up, and I kept imagining exactly what her mouth would feel like, how her skin would feel under my hands — things you do not imagine about a friend or a coworker."

"I get it," Andrea said, her smile widening.

"I don't think you do." Marina exhaled sharply. "The other day, when I saw you with her on the street…"

Her blue eyes darkened, and she could feel her ears burning with embarrassment.

"God, Andrea, I wanted to kill you. I wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole."

Andrea's laugh was sudden and loud, and several people turned to look, but she couldn't stop, and neither could Marina.

"Okay, seriously," Marina managed, pulling herself together and taking a sip of wine to clear her dry throat, "I've never felt this way about a woman before, and I'm completely lost."