"You'll never change Zach, you'll be like Hugh Hefner in years to come, but totally deaf so you don't have to listen to their laughs"
"If only they had a laugh like yours! I swear it's deeper than mine" Zach said with another laugh, Ness raised her eyebrow
"Oh, come on, your laugh can't grate on anyone's nerves"
"Well it pissed off the last guy"
"You're kidding? No way!"
"Well, I was laughing at him, we were on the bike, I thought he was ready and pulled away, apparently he wasn't ready, I kinda left him in the middle of the road"
"Huh?"
"He fell off the back of the bike as I pulled away" Ness explained, trying to keep her face straight, Zach whooped with laughter and that was it, they were crying before they got control again.
"He never did like the bike anyway, but he had to agree I never got stuck in the damn traffic, so he had grudgingly allowed me to ride that night, I think it would've been alright, but Boyd was there, and he just roared with laughter" Ness spluttered
"Oh Jeez! Boyd? That man scares the shit outta me" Zach's laughter ending abruptly
"Yeah, well, I scare the shit outta him so we're all good." Ness grinned and Zach laughed again
"You scare the shit outta most guys, do you fake all sweetness and light to get the guys? Or are you actually going soft now you're working?" Zach ducked the hand that was heading towards the back of his head but missed the other hand that pushed him off the bench
"Zachary Robert Greene, I am and always have been as soft and sweet as cotton candy"
"Yeah, cotton candy wrapped around a rock. There is no one I'd rather have on my team in a fight" he replied, as he got up from the floor, causing a smile to spread across Ness's face
"good save dude, but you can hold your own in any fight"
"Except against Boyd, that man is huge!"
"chicken shit" they both laughed as Zach sat down on the bench again. "I do use a bit of common sense at work though, nobody wants a brawler on the editorial team, not that I fight much nowadays"
"Yeah, getting older kinda sucks for that" Zach nodded as he spoke
"I never went looking for fights, but I never shied away when one found me, got a punchbag at home and that helps with getting the aggression out of my system." Ness looked at her hands, the knuckles were red and looked like they had been split recently" I should probably wear gloves rather than just wrapping" she shook head,
"Anyway, enough about me, tell me all about your life and adventures since College"
"Nothing changed really, just go to work instead of class, we both know what you think of my choice of evening company" Zach grinned
"Nobody long-term at all? Seriously Zach, don't you want to settle down at some point?" Ness asked, turning to look directly at him
"At some point yeah, I suppose so, but I've got plenty of time yet, can you imagine me with a couple of kids? That shit terrifies me more than Boyd!" He laughed again but it was half-hearted and faded off when Ness didn't join in, he hung his head and looked through his messy hair at her, she wore a sad look on her face and he felt bad, Ness was one of the guys but she was still a woman and she would be a great mom, her husband would never need to shout or defend the kids, she would scare the shit out of anyone that caused trouble. A thought crept from the depths of his brain, snaking through his mind, a thought that he had tried to bury years ago, they were friends, had been since 9th grade and no matter how much he loved her, he was never going to spoil that friendship.
"Ice cream?" he asked, changing the subject. Ness stretched her fingers and her knuckles cracked
"Ooh, good call, rocky road from 'Jerks'?"
"It'd be rude not to!" Zach laughed
A comfortable silence fell as they ate and continued even when the ice cream was long gone, neither felt the need to break it
"Vanessa?" A female voice called across the pier, Ness groaned, she hated people shouting her name like that, folks always looked around to see who would respond, she was tempted to blank them, but Zach's head had shot up too,
"Who's she?" He asked,
"Nosey as ever, huh Zach, it's Meg from work, she'll talk for hours if we don't escape now" Ness responded quickly under her breath
"Hey Meg, how you doing?" She asked in her normal voice
"Oh, I'm good, Paul made me come out, I was sitting writing for hours and he reckoned I was turning into a vampire sitting in the dark all the time, I told him he was being silly and I had to get the article written but he insisted that I could take a break from it…" Meg's voice was irritating at the best of times but now, breaking into their quietude, Ness felt the urge to punch her; Zach heard the knuckles crack on the bench beside him
"I think they're finally starting a new volleyball game, Ness, you ready?" His voice cut across and silenced Meg for a moment,
"Oh! I didn't realize you were with someone; I just saw you sitting here, you weren't talking so I thought you were just two strangers." Meg said, shifting her weight awkwardly
"It's ok Meg, we've been friends forever, this is Zach, my old brawler pal from high school." Ness inclined her head slightly towards him
"Always a pleasure to meet one of Ness's friends," Zach said, standing and holding his hand out, he turned on all the charms and completely flustered the poor girl, "but if you'll excuse us, we were just waiting for a new game to start." He added looking down at Ness who stood too,
"See you at work Meg!" She said before Meg could invite herself to the game and headed off with Zach.
"Thanks for that" she said once they were out of earshot,
"Seriously? You deliberately cracked your knuckles! She was like, half the size of you and you have to work with her, of course I was gonna get you outta there! Plus, her voice was…" Words failed Zach for once
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean" Ness laughed