Natasha

Sounds like a great idea, Jen! Would you and Drew care to stop by 10:55 AM Saturday? Hope I'm not imposing but it'd be a really good time~

Drew shrugged. “Well, alright.”

As the unofficial leader of the Beer Club, Natasha was probably the best possible host that could have volunteered.

On Sunday, they rung into her apartment from the entrance at 10:59 AM, and only needed wait two seconds for the speaker to pick up.

“Natasha, it’s…” started Jen.

“There you are!” responded Natasha. “Come upstairs, quickly!”

The door to the lobby clicked, and Drew and Jen heeded Natasha’s call as best they could, jogging to the elevators. They turned the corner towards Natasha’s room at 11:02. They spotted the silver-haired 63-year-old writer already outside her door. Surprisingly, for such an attentive host, she was already speaking to a tall young woman.

“Perfect timing!” said Natasha, noticing them out of the corner of her eye, “Come in!”

As Drew and Jen shuffled past, she turned to the tall young woman she turned to her acquaintance.

“We’re about to play a board game,” she told her, “won’t you join us?”

“What?” said the woman, “Oh no, I’m way too busy…”

“Nonsense! You were just saying how boring your morning has been!”

As the woman turned to leave, Natasha grabbed the hem of her shirt and began pulling her in like a helpless fish.

Drew and Jen sat down in the living room. They were first joined by the young woman, wearing a t-shirt and jeans with her brown hair braided into a single long pigtail. Natasha quickly followed with a tray brought in from the kitchen with four icy drinks on coasters. She presented the young woman with the matcha first, coaxing out a warm smile. She gave Drew his water and Jen her lemonade, then raised her own black tea in a toast.

“To good company!”

They clinked, and took a sip or two each, except for Jen, who sucked up half her glass before putting it down.

“I don’t believe you’ve been introduced,” said Natasha. She gestured to the couple. “This is Drew and Jen, they’re a part of my activity group. Drew and Jen, this…”

She pulled the pigtail over the woman’s near shoulder and slipped her hand around the far shoulder, which made her tremble.

“…is Juana, the landlord’s niece. She’s such a dear, she does repairs, moves furniture, delivers takeout…”

Juana blushed.

“Just trying to help out, that’s all…”

“Don’t undersell yourself,” said Natasha, “You’ve done so much for me already, I can hardly believe you moved in just last month.”

Natasha pulled Juana and herself close together and gently stroked her shoulder. Jen took the break in the conversation as an opportunity to open her bag and set the board game down on the table.

“Looks exotic!” said Natasha.

“I got it for a dollar!” said Jen. “And look at the craftsmanship!”

They admired the board for a moment while Drew took another sip of his water. Natasha picked up the cat and woman game pieces.

“Have you played this before?”

“No,” said Jen, “this is our first time, too. Seems simple enough, though; we take turns rolling and drawing.”

Natasha nodded. She took Juana’s hand and placed the cat piece in her palm, gently folding her fingers around the carved wood. She then placed the woman piece at the start and picked up the dice.

“Mind if I go first?”

No one gave any objections, and Natasha tossed the dice onto the table.