The synagogue Rivka had settled into was called Riverside Jewish Center, and it seemed to be a pretty good fit. It fell somewhere between Orthodox and Conservative in her opinion, though they called it Orthodox. It was definitely not stuffy, and being less than a mile from the school she could easily walk. It was designed to fill a gap that the founder had seen, and reach out to Jews that may have fallen away during college but were now returning. As such, the service was done mostly in English, though the English and Hebrew were both put up by projectors. It made the service easy for its American audience whose Hebrew might be rusty (or non-existent) to follow. Rivka liked it, as the Hebrew made it easy for her to follow, and the spoken English was helping to improve her English as well. As shuls went, it was relatively small, with seating for perhaps 150 and an attached dining or general purpose room off one side. 

The only thing she didn't like was the ages of the congregants. They had some old and wizened couples and leaders whose children were long gone, and they had many young couples with little children as well as single adults in the mid twenties to thirties. But she was about the only teen that attended. The next closest was a boy of 12, and while she didn't hate him, he was rather a pest. Rivka hadn't the slightest clue that this was his immature, awkward, way of flirting with her each week.

She had arrived early for Friday evening service. She usually came to the morning service, but her father was supposed to come to town tomorrow morning, so she'd come for evening instead. 

"Rivka, I have a job for you" the rabbi told her as she was hanging up her raincoat. She looked at him questioningly, and he continued on with a smile. "As you've gotten comfortable, I've noticed you're a very bubbly person." Oh, if only he knew, she thought, but keep her mouth tight shut, and tried not to make a face. "Could you greet guests and give them this week's flyer as they arrive please?" 

Still wanting to giggle, she kept her mouth closed but smiled and nodded an affirmative before positioning herself by the door. She was wearing a dark blue midi dress with 3/4 length sleeves. She liked the outfit because it went well with her eyes, and was also 'rebellious' in as much as her father would have wanted it longer with full-length sleeves. She could imagine his scowl if he saw it, which made her smile since she wasn't actually on the receiving end of it tonight. The rain was coming down as a strong, cold, drizzle, so she was guessing attendance would be lighter than usual tonight. 

Ufgad

1979e6

Perhaps it spoke volumes to Erik's social life or lack thereof that he had absolutely nothing to do on a friday night. His boss at his official place of employment all but kicked him out since he had been practically a fixture at BlackTac since his hiring whenever he wasn't busy with something else. He had been just killing time riding around on his motorcycle until night would fall and he could begin his more clandestine off the books night job. The onset of a drizzle prompted him to pull into an available lot with only a few cars and people filing into a building. As much as he had fun with riding around he didn't feel like wrecking his bike in the wet conditions. After getting his bike parked and situated he found himself at the very end of the procession of people.

Once inside he finally pulled off his full helmet and looked around only to realize where he was. his first instinct was to do an about face and leave till his eyes caught the rather attractive girl to hand him a flyer. "Hm? No thanks I just came in out of the rain." A lie would have been harder to remember and being honest was a strong suit of his. He shuffled to the side a  bit to find a suitable place to let his trenchcoat drip, his very combat style boots thudding against against the floor as he did so. 

"Not that I haven't been curious, but I doubt any religion would have me." Offering a hint of a smile as he attempted a joke, his social skills were truly getting rusty. Finding an empty coat hanger he gestured to it "Do you mind?" before shucking off his wet coat and hanging it up to make a mess in a more appropriate area. He was dressed rather plainly aside from the nice coat and boots. A pair of blue jeans that were dark and fresh accompanied a plain white t shirt.