The next day in the elevator, Norah took her usual spot in the corner. While she was bummed that she didn't see Cole on the commute to work, she knew he would slip into the elevator at any moment. So she watched the door eagerly on tip-toes for the moment, but as everyone squeezed in, she felt them pushing against her. Feeling pinned, she tried to push back, but it only created a group wave like a moshpit at a concert.

Despite the load of professionals in suits and pencil skirts, the shoving quickly turned into a frenzy. The last thing she wanted was to be trampled by sharp stilettos as her mind flashed to images of catching a heel through the arch of her foot. The more everyone pushed on each other, the more Norah became pinned in the corner. This was madness! She thought this as she felt the air in the elevator constricting, and she was finding it hard to breathe.

"I need air! I need air!" She yelled.

Miraculously the shoving came to a halt as Cole Collins pushed through the crowd, parting them like the sea. She didn't even notice him get into the elevator, so his presence was like a hero on a horse scooping up a damsel. He took Norah's hand and hauled her through the gap he created. As soon as the elevator doors opened, they made their escape.

It wasn't graceful as they practically barreled out and spilled onto the sixth floor. Cole caught her as she tripped, and she clung to him as they embraced like dancers in the middle of a deep bow. She burrowed her face in his blazer, desperate to hide how tomato-red her cheeks were. Norah took in a deep breath. His cologne worthy of a blissful sigh, but she held back the temptation.

"You ok?" Cole asked as he tried to steady her back to her feet and then bent his knees to be eye level with her.

Feeling foolish, she swiped away the droplets forming at the corners of her eyes. If there was one thing she feared, it was tight spaces... and being completely embarrassed in front of a crush.

"Yes. I just felt very claustrophobic." Forcing a smile, she added, "I'm afraid that's what happens when you're a short person living in a tall world."

Cole threw his head back with a laugh. "Right. I guess us 'tallees' don't know how good we have it."

His expression turned serious as he studied her. Which only made Norah more self-conscious. She ran her fingers over her hair, making sure it didn't become willy nilly during the almost panic attack. However, she could feel just how unruly it had become.

"Have drinks with me after work," Cole said, which came off as a demand rather than a question.

Oblivious to it, Norah shot her eyes up to his. Woah! Never did she imagine her day starting like this. Being able to catch a glimpse of him was one thing but being asked on a date was a completely different universe! 

Picking her jaw off of the ground, she stuttered, "O-ok." The rouge on her cheeks intensified.

"Meet you in the lobby after work?"

"Ok." She nodded enthusiastically, a wide grin spreading on her face.

He took her small hand in his and lifted her knuckles to his mouth. Kissing them, his lips lingered on her skin as he said, "see you later, Norah."

He caressed her jawline just before parting ways, leaving her standing there in a frozen state of disbelief because holy COW, Cole Collins just asked her out! Norah rushed up the stairwell to the eighth floor. She had to tell someone, but who? Despite living in San Francisco for two years, she didn't have friends. Sure, her coworkers would chat with her in the breakroom or invite her out for drinks, but that's as far as things went. As soon as she entered the office, the first person she saw was Trixy.

"What's gotten into you this morning?" Trixy grinned upon seeing her.

Norah looked around for any gossipers hanging about. She leaned into the reception desk and whispered, "Cole asked me out for drinks!"

Trixy gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth. Speaking through her fingers, she said, "I knew it would be a good day!" She reached into her purse and pulled out a copper coin. "I found this in front of the building."

Norah plucked it from Trixy's fingers and examined the penny. "Maybe you're onto something with these lucky pennies."

"Can I come with you!" Trixy leaned forward, her smile growing impossibly bigger. "I promise I won't step on your toes. I want to be there, so you don't freak out."

Norah leaned back and thought it over. "That wouldn't be rude, would it? It's not like it's a date. And honestly, it would be nice to have an anchor there."

Trixy's brows raised with a bop, and she opened her mouth wide in a silent but excited scream. For the first time, Norah actually saw Trixy for what she was. A kind, and yes, a pushy chatterbox but also someone that was rooting for her. Maybe Trixy could be her friend?

By the time work was over and the elevator made its descent to the lobby floor, Norah was wracked with nerves. She kept teetering on her heels and fumbling with the buckles on her purse until Trixy grabbed her arm. She looked down at Norah and gave her an assuring smile. Not only that, she took the penny from her purse and slipped it into Norah's hand.

"This will turn out good, you'll see." She winked.

Norah took a long breath as the doors opened to the lobby. They made their way out but didn't have to search or wait for Cole to show up. There he was, standing in the middle of the lobby's marbled floor, and turned just in time to see them step out.

For a moment, Norah's breath caught as she saw him, but then she rubbed the penny in her hand and decided to put a little faith in it. Tonight would be a good night, and she wouldn't act nervous or clumsy. Instead, she would be normal... but what if nervous and clumsy was her normal? She pushed the doubt away and decided to have fun.

"Table for three, then?" He smiled and leaned in to kiss both girls on the cheek. "How did I get so lucky?"

"Actually," Trixy held up her hand. "Barrett is joining us. Kind of like a double date. Hope you don't mind?"

Even though there was some hesitation in it, Cole claimed he didn't mind. On the other hand, Norah did mind. The dread of Barrett being able to collect an arsenal worth to tease her with the next day was going to be torture. Maybe that lucky penny wasn't so lucky after all...

It had been an awkward BART ride to the Casanova Lounge, which Cole suggested because it was close to all of their apartments. Trixy did most of the chatting on the ride over, spewing out tales of her childhood. She wasn't even shy about the embarrassing memories, like the time at a pool party when her sudden onset of diarrhea created a mass evacuation. Barrett laughed hysterically, Cole seemed grossed out, and Norah blushed from nerves. However, when Trixy wasn't spraying word-vomit, Barrett and Cole were walking down memory lane.

At first, it seemed friendly as they talked about their soccer playing days, but after a while, it became more of a subtle pissing contest. Especially when Barrett's ex-girlfriend Chloe was brought up. Norah stared at Barrett wide-eyed, silently begging him to stop, and if her eyes had been darts, then Barrett would've been seriously injured. Feeling the awkward tension, Trixy brought the conversation back to her, and the foursome began laughing again. From across the seats, Norah looked to Trixy and mouthed a thank you.

When they arrived at the lounge, it was before the night crowd. They ordered drinks from the bar and then searched for a place to sit, lucking out on a couple of couches in the corner. On purpose, Trixy pulled Barrett onto the couch next to her so that Cole and Norah could sit on the opposite one. Cole was polite and asked Norah about herself, and she tried her best to open up about where she was from. 

She rarely got to open up about her childhood and family, so it was nice to have someone ask her about it. She was the youngest daughter of a single mother who worked long hours to put food on the table. Her siblings were significantly older than her, Norah being a complete oops since her sisters were already teenagers when she came along. Not to mention that their father left not long after Norah was born.

With her sisters going off and living their own lives, Norah was often left to fend for herself while their mother worked. But she grew used to the solitude and learned how to cook for herself, sew up holes in her clothes and study hard so that she wouldn't have to work at a factory, like her mother. Not that she looked down on it, she just wanted more than to make ends meet barely. She wanted to make her mother proud.

As the night wore on, Cole related stories of his high school and college life. He didn't give details the way she did, but Norah listened closely. She also couldn't help darting her eyes to Barrett to see if he was eavesdropping. Thankfully Trixy had his ear occupied with laughter. Suddenly she wished she were part of their conversation instead. Not that she wasn't enjoying Cole's company, it just wasn't going as well as she had fantasized. Not only was she nervously stuttering over her words, but Cole was practically guzzling Gin and Tonics and becoming too handsy with his flirtation.

She wasn't used to such bold come-ons. Frankly, she wasn't that great at dating, period. She only had two serious relationships in her life. Chad, her high school boyfriend of two solid months, and then Monty, her college boyfriend of ten months. So to say she was inexperienced when it came to the advances of men was definitely correct.

Scanning the look in Cole's slow blinking, dilated pupils, and hooded drunk eyes, Norah sensed he was ready to go to sleep. So it wasn't a surprise that he was the first to call it a night. However, his hand slipping to Norah's backside didn't go unnoticed by her either. When he leaned into her ear to ask if he could walk her home, she instantly tensed. In movies, whenever a man walked a woman to her door, it always involved a kiss. However, after a few drinks, the man usually wanted more than just a kiss. Norah wasn't that kind of girl, yet she ignored the voice in the back of her head telling her that Cole was wrong for her.

As they stood, Barrett shot his eyes to them, and Norah swore she saw a hint of panic in them. She smiled at him, but his lips didn't lift the same way.

As they left the lounge, she had a burning need to look over her shoulder. When she did, she caught sight of Barrett watching them leave. His eyes looked empty, like the blank devastation when a loved one dies. He cut his attention back to Trixy, but his demeanor was no longer enthusiastic like before. A strange feeling zipped through her stomach. She wanted to turn back, make him laugh, mess up his hair, let him tease her... something, anything to make that look on his face go away. The feeling was short-lived as Cole took her hand. Norah rubbed the penny in her pocket and hoped there was magic in it.

He was a gentleman as they walked to her apartment, which eased her nerves. He held her hand the entire way, but once they got to her door, he leaned in and planted a kiss on her without warning. Norah tried to make the best of it but found his hands too eager as they slipped up her blouse, and it set off the screaming voice in her head.

Pushing him away, she said, "Thanks for seeing me home, Cole. I had a nice time."

She turned to unlock the door and felt him wrap his arms around her. Her body tensed. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and pretend the night didn't happen because Cole being drunk was never part of her fantasy. She wiggled out of his arms and turned to him, but he mistook it for a desire to continue kissing.

"Cole." She said against his lips and pushed away for the second time. "It's late, and we both have to get up early, but I had a lovely time. See you tomorrow?"

A silly inebriated grin spread slowly across his face, and he leaned his forehead against her's. "You're sweet."

"Thank you." She replied and turned away from his booze-drenched breath. "Have a good night Cole."

He held her hands as he backed away and let them drop the further he got. "Sweet dreams, Norah."

As soon as he disappeared, Norah opened the door, rushed inside, and couldn't lock it fast enough. Usually, when she watched him walk off of the elevator, a piece of her went with him. This time, she didn't feel a thing. This time she felt as empty as the look on Barrett's face. She removed the penny from her pocket and chucked it across the apartment floor.

Stupid, stupid pennies!