The convention hall was packed with booths from different vendors trying to hawk their wares to the mass of men and occasional women patrolling the isles. Colorful lights and jumbo screens invited passers by to stop a moment and examine the items more closely. Small stages erected throughout the room supported scantily clad models with artificial smiles, showing off the product they were paid to flaunt in the hopes to help the company they represented collect business from the convention goers.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Lucas said as he shook his head in disbelief. “Tell me again Lawrence, what the hell are we doing here? “

“Babes dude. We are here for the booth babes.” Lawrence answered with a Cheshire cat sized grin. “My cousin Raymond has been coming here for three years. It’s the biggest convention of its kind on the Eastern seaboard. These girls are easy pickings!”

Lucas had felt uneasy when his running partner had suggested the outing. He wasn’t in the market for a relationship and the idea of trying to pick up a model at a convention was less than appealing, but Lawrence had insisted. The man seemed to think that another woman was the solution to all of Lucas’ current girl problems. The idea that adding another person into the mix would somehow make things easier was horribly flawed but his friend was only trying to help in a backwards kind of way.

Lawrence meant well but he was a free spirit and his mind seemed to work differently. There was always an angle to exploit with him despite the fact they never really seemed to pan out. Against the odds though, he did manage to always stay optimistic. Even now, his long dreadlocked hair bounced about his shoulders as he looked around the room like a kid in a candy store. Lucas had indulged him more out of friendship then anything else. Scanning the large hall himself now, he was beginning to regret his decision.

Grabbing Lucas’ shoulder, Lawrence pulled the man around so he would see what he had found. “There you go m’man. Your first victim.”

The woman was definitely attractive. Her long, blonde curls hung about her shoulders and swayed ever so gently while she turned to smile at the different men as they would pass by her tiny stage. She had piercing blue eyes that gave her an intense look that would stick with you long after she had left the room. The woman was clothed in an erotically cut fairy outfit with a to short skirt of flower pedals and low cut V front that left little to the imagination. Long gossamer wings flowed out from behind her to complete the look. She filled the costume out well with her slender but curvaceous figure. The 5 inch heels on her feet and the fragile looking golden cage surrounding her forced a stance that accentuated areas of her body and she knew exactly how to use these props effectively. It was tough not to look at this woman as you passed by, as many of the men at the convention were proving every moment. In her elegant fingers, she suggestively held a long wooden shaft that ended with a large black rubber bowl.

“A plunger. You want me to hit on the caged plunger fairy?” Lucas said, exasperated. “There’s something wrong with you man.”

Lawrence seemed insulted at Lucas’s reservations. “Think about it man! This is a hardware and tool convention. These women don’t want to be here and are at their most vulnerable. They are dressed up in stupid, uncomfortable outfits and are being gawked at by overweight guys in tool belts all day. A nice athletic dude like you is a god amongst these goons. When do you think your best chance is with a girl like that; when she is at the club with her friend being hit on by every douche around or here, when she is alone and out of her element?”

The black man stopped talking, feeling he had made his point more accurately than Perry Mason’s closing statements in a law drama. When Lucas didn’t immediate jump forward like a cave man to club the fairy on the head after such a motivational speech, Lawrence took it as a case of nerves.

“Don’t sweat it m’man. It’s easy. You just walk up to her and give her some cheesy line and it is all smooth sailing from there. Try asking her if she needs her pipes unclogged.”

Lucas closed his eyes and sighed. “Stop talking Lawrence.”

Still trying to support his friend, Lawrence continued on unphased. “If she isn’t your type there is a girl over there with a power drill. You could ask her when the last time she got …”

“Stop talking Lawrence.” Lucas interrupted before something even crasser came out of his friend’s mouth.

Not willing to give up, Lawrence continued on. “What about that fox on the riding mower? Hey baby, how many CCs in that engine of yours?”

Lucas finally broke as the waves of horrible pick up lines and peer pressure continued to pummel him mercilessly. “Alright! I’m going! Just…stop talking….and never speak of this to anyone ever again.”

Administering a hardy pat on the back, Lawrence eyes opened with excitement and anticipation. “That’s m’man! Go show that fairy your magic wan-”

Lucas’ hand shot out and a finger covered Lawrence’s lips to keep him from saying anything else.

“Mental note, kill Lawrence.” Lucas thought to himself as he started to walk towards the small stage where the caged plunger fairy strutted her stuff.

A drill. Riley was modeling….a drill. This was ridiculous, and some of her least favorite days out of each year. Unfortunately, the exhibition hall paid well when they had their stupid little conventions, and it was worth it to watch slobbering idiots drool all over the floor for a weekend. The worst part…usually it was impossible to tell whether the men were drooling over her or the power tool.

Riley was far from the only girl modeling today, and she couldn’t help but thank her lucky stars that she wasn’t the plunger fairy in the cage. That blond had definitely drawn the short straw. Riley pulled the trigger on the drill and grinned as the bit spun…the drill was definitely better. Even if she was wearing some stupid dress that looked like it had come off the floor of Rosie the Riveter’s closet, then been washed in warm water and shrunk to a size more appropriate to a cabbage patch doll than a full grown woman in heels.

Two new guys entered the picture, and after a moment Riley decided that they probably weren’t here to look at drill bits and plumbers fittings. Yeah…Riley had seen their type before, and they headed straight for the blond. Riley quirked an eyebrow, what was it about that plunger?

Riley rolled her eyes, one of them was approaching now. She was not a team player, but the girl was suck in a cage for God’s sake. She couldn’t even walk away. There was only one thing to do. Help.

Plastering on her best sales-woman smile, Riley approached the guy. She didn’t want to lose her job, but these guys were too much.

Within easy earshot, the dark-haired woman stuck out her drill as close to his face as possible without being close enough to be scary and pulled the trigger.

”Hi!” she chirped.

”In the market for some tools?’

The blond looked relieved. Riley just smiled.

As he crossed the convention floor, Lucas was pretty sure that this was going to end badly. The fairy in the cage was trying to do her job, nothing more. Sure, her job was to use sex appeal on men but that wasn’t an invitation to be bothered by guys looking to score. Yet here he was, trying to meet her in an attempt to get his friend off of his back. He had no idea what he was going to say but Lucas continued to walk forward, frantically searching for something he could use to strike up a conversation. Nothing was coming to mind.

Reaching the foot of the young lady’s stage, Lucas looked up into her eyes and saw the bored expression hidden beneath the false pleasantness. She looked down at him with a hint of annoyance, as if she had been in this position a million times before and she was just waiting for him to try something so she could shut him down. Feeling guilty under her scrutiny, Lucas opened his mouth to try and explain but was startled from his plan by the sudden sound of a drill powering up beside his ear.

“Hi” the cute, dark haired woman said cheerfully as she flashed two rows of pearly white teeth. “In the market for some tools?”

Lucas didn’t know what was more ridiculous; that he had been dragged to a tool convention to pick up women or that Lawrence might actually be right and this worked. He had been pressured into talking to the blonde in the fairy costume but before he managed to open his mouth, another model had crossed the aisle and intercepted him. It seemed she had abandoned her post in an obvious attempt to talk to him. Now, the young man stood in front of a gilded cage with a scantily clad fairy inside, another provocatively dressed woman trying to chat him up before he could make his move. Were girls at these conventions really that desperate?

The true irony was that Lucas wasn’t even interested in picking up either of them. It wasn’t that he didn’t find both of them physically attractive but his romantic life was already way to complicated. Adding fairy folk or power tool operators to his love life could only make it worse. He had been forced into this situation and now here he was, one model trying to steal him away from the other. It was another of the universe’s cruel jokes and he felt like the punch line.

Smiling as politely as he could Lucas turned to face the newcomer. She was aggressive, her dazzling blue orbs not breaking eye contact as if she was a predator hungrily assessing her next victim. It made Lucas a bit uneasy. He would try to let her down gently if he could.

“To be quite honest,” Lucas said “The tool that brought me here is already too much to handle.”

It was meant to be funny but when the words left Lucas’ mouth he regretted them instantly. He had been referring to his friend and hadn’t considered a possible double meaning until it was too late. Instead of telling the attractive young model he wasn’t interested, the young man had inadvertently hit on her in the rudest way possible. Lawrence would have been proud.

Luckily for the young man, Riley had been watching him and his friend. It would have been bad for him if she’d thought he was dropping a line. Instead, a dark eyebrow rose and she eyed him for a moment.

”Then maybe you should take him…” she said, nodding towards the companion. ”And leave.”

There wasn’t really much more to say on the matter, and Riley decided to be the bigger person and let it go. At least until she found herself turning around, words leaving her mouth almost unbidden.

”Or…if you didn’t mean that tool…” she called, nodding once again at the companion. ”Maybe you need to see a doctor. Letting parts of your anatomy choose activities is generally frowned upon among the sane.”

The plunger fairy laughed. Riley grinned.

This was too much. Lucas could handle being dragged here and thrown into the awkward situation of being forced to talk to a woman on the fly but to be attacked for his efforts by a complete stranger was over the top. She had been watching him long enough to know he had come here with Lawrence which meant she had probably observed how he would have rather not done this in the first place. For some reason, she had still felt it was her place to make things worse by walking over and belittling him. Why did the attractive ones always think they had the right to stick their noses in other people’s business? He turned to the newcomer and let his frustrations from the day’s events seep out.

“Really? Is the risk of two people striking up a conversation across the room so difficult for you that you felt the need to sabotage my efforts before I even opened my mouth?”

Lucas swiveled his head back to the blonde in the cage to address her next. “Or are you guys together? If you are seeing each other, that’s fine. I didn’t come over here to screw up someone’s life. I just thought you were attractive and wanted to see if we had anything in common. Are you guys an item?”

The fairy hesitated for a second before shaking her head to express they were not.

Lucas’ attention returned to the power drill model that was still standing there, facing away from him. “Just so I can get this straight then. It is somehow your duty to strut over here and go all flannel bulldog on my ass because I wanted to see if this woman and I might get along?” He took a second before shaking his head with pity. “That’s just sad.”

Exasperated, Lucas raised his arms and dropped them again at his side. “I’m sorry if you aren’t happy with your life. There are parts of mine that are messed up too so I get that but you got to change it yourself. Trying to screw up other people’s happiness so they are down at your level won’t make you feel any better.”

He hadn’t meant to be so harsh but once he got started it was far too easy to stoop to the woman’s level. Trying to remove the tension from his voice, he planned to extend an olive branch but was probably already too late. “I’m sorry. That was out of…..”

“Hey m’man. You going to hog all these fine ladies to yourself?” Lawrence said as he slapped his hand down on Lucas’ shoulder and displayed his best smile to the fairy with the plunger.

Lucas closed his eyes and dropped his head, defeated. There was no chance of winning sometimes. The man could not have picked a worse time.

“Stop talking Lawrence.” Lucas grumbled.

Riley pretty much just sighed and let the guy roll through his tirade. As he spoke, she turned slowly, drill still dangling from her fingers.

Apparently y she’d had the wrong idea about this whole situation. He’d been looking for his soul mate…at a power tool convention. Trying to find that “connection”. A dark eyebrow rose at all the appropriate parts of the one-sided conversation, and Riley’s arms stayed crossed.

Towards the end, the guy tried to apologize, apparently he’d crossed some line with himself he felt the need to redefine with excuses about bad days. The words didn’t make it out of his mouth though, before he was interrupted by the tool who had brought him in the first place.

It was interesting. Riley rarely won an argument by simply standing in one place and not saying anything. The temptation to turn around and walk away was high. It would leave a lot unsaid though.

“My mistake Sir.” Riley said. ”I didn’t realize that just because you were the three-hundredth person to stop and gawk at her today , it meant that you were her potential soul mate, here to rescue her from the drudgery of the industry.”

” Then again, maybe you’re one of those guys who thinks she wants the attention since this is what she does.” Riley shrugged her shoulders, ”But that’s probably just my bitter, lonely life talking as I try to pull you down into is vacuous depths.”

“It is your mistake.” He answered her in an "a matter of fact" manner. “I am not the 300th person to stop and gawk like the rest of these clowns.” Lucas made a gesture to single out a couple of men who happened to be checking out the woman he was debating at that exact moment. They quickly looked away, having been caught red handed. “I actually planned on talking to her instead of just walking by like the rest of them. I thought she was attractive and wanted to see if there could be something there. It is what people do when trying to meet other people. Which could support my argument that I was trying to actually figure out who she was beyond eye candy. If she wasn’t interested, I’m sure she could have spoken for herself.”

Turning back to face the woman in the cage again, he saw that the conversation was starting to make the blonde a bit uncomfortable. “You have a voice and can speak for yourself, can’t you?”

The fairy hesitated, looking back and forth between the drill model and Lucas, not wanting to get involved further in the argument. He gave her a second before turning back to the brunette.

“Well I am sure she has a voice in there somewhere.” Lucas added jokingly, trying but failing to keep a grin from curling up at the edges of his lips.

“I’m not looking for a soul mate or to rescue anybody. I was just trying to strike up a conversation with a pretty girl. I won’t appologies for trying to get to know a woman that I thought was attractive but I am sorry for being harsh before.”

Putting out his hand to shake as a sign of truce, he smiled and introduced himself. “I’m Lucas by the way. Nice to meet you.”

Good god, another tirade. Was he really going to stand here and lecture her on what a great guy he was? Riley couldn’t have cared less.

”Usually.” she retorted, ”People don’t show up to tool shows to pick up girls.”

”It gives the wrong idea.” she smirked. ” I’d be willing to bet that between the two of you, you and your buddy couldn’t name half the tools here.”

His appeal to the plunger fairy went unanswered, and Riley couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. The guy really was kind of hopeless…and not very good at taking a hint.

He introduced himself and held out his hand like she was going to shake it and let bygones be bygones. Her eyebrow rose as she stared at the proffered hand…man that eyebrow was getting a workout.

” Riley.” she said, not bothering to uncross her arms.

Now she was questioning his right to even be here? This girl just didn’t let up. She was determined to be as big a bitch as possible and even Lucas’ attempts to meet her half way were failing. Why were the cute ones always bat s#!7 crazy. He just wanted to walk away and be done with it. No girl was worth this much trouble but a part of him couldn’t let her off the hook that easy. Riley would just go on to terrorize another hapless victim. A lesson had to be learned somehow. The day was already pretty much wasted and Lucas didn’t have anywhere he had to be. Might as well try to have some fun with what was left.

Letting his hand drop back down to his side, he addressed the woman again. “I accept your bet Riley.” He answered her as the thrill of competition forced a devilish glint into his eye. “It is a pretty big room though so let’s say you point out ten tools and I have to identify at least five of them to beat you. If I am successful, you are taking me to dinner and making a public apology for your behaviour at a time of my choosing. What do you want if I fail?”

He…took her bet.

Dammit.

Riley simply had to stare at the man for a moment, surprise evident in her features as she tried to find a way out of what she’d said. She hadn’t thought for a minute that the guy would actually take her bet. He’d just been some freak trying to pick up a good time.

Except…apparently not.

Dammit. Dammit. One thing Riley wasn’t….was a liar.

Riley bowed her head in defeat. As to his terms. Pay for dinner? If he’d simply said that if she lost he got to take her to dinner, Riley might have had a problem.

As it was, she studied Lucas for a moment, “I don’t think you’d make the bet if you thought you were going to lose.” she said, a slight smile curving her lips.

“Pull the public apology and you’ve got a deal. I can’t imagine myself handling that with much grace, I will apologize though. Flip the tables if you lose.”

And just like that, they had made the subtle transition from full out arguing to negotiation. Lucas saw the smile develop on Riley’s face as his challenge took hold in some competitive part of her nature. She might not have realized that Lucas had eight years of building maintenance experience under his belt but she knew that trouble was brewing and didn’t back down.

The possibility of a counter offer came to mind but Lucas decided to dismiss it. He didn’t want to push his luck. Things had turned from ugly to bearable, why mess with success. “Done. An apology at the time of the winner’s choosing and dinner at the loser’s expense.”

Looking around at the different kiosks, Lucas tried to spot a tool that Riley might find difficult to identify. Starting with a little psychological warfare would give away his knowledge but add a bit to the competition for both sides in the long run, making it more fun. His eyes fell upon a section for plumbing that looked complicated enough for his purpose.

“Oh, look there! Those tempered copper pipe cutters might seem challenging. Want to start there?” Raising an eyebrow to mock her previous and possibly future expression, he couldn’t help but add a final dig. “I like my steak medium well in case you were wondering.”

He agreed to her terms. Good, Riley wouldn’t have accepted anything else, and she nodded her approval. This was an interesting turn of events for the day, and she had to admit that it was better than having to stand and smile for the rest of her shift.

Rules of the bet established, Riley followed Lucas’ gaze towards some kind of claw-looking wrenchy sort of thing. Oh, apparently that was a tempered copper pipe cutter.

Good God, what had she gotten herself into? He liked his steak medium. Oh great. Riley shot a mild glare in Lucas’ direction, ” Don’t forget…I’m a poor taken-advantage-of model with a meager salary who is barely able to scrape by.” she pointed out in mock solemnity. She was definitely not teasing…and she was also definitely not already apologizing in a way for the drama earlier. So what if she was.

There were lots of bulby things on tables to her left, and there were some things that looked kind of like saws to her right. Straight ahead were the wrench pipe cutter things, and off a little to one side was a table of clampy looking stuff. Dammit.

”Okay. So I wouldn’t know if you knew what you were talking about even if you didn’t.” she admitted just a little sullenly. ”Are you going to make me go through all the motions just to drive your victory home?”

The elitist attitude had all but evaporated and left an actual person behind. Riley had turned somewhat pleasant as she accepted her defeat and the humble pie that came with it. There was hope for her yet. Initial impressions could be so damning and Lucas decided to make an effort to look past the original awkwardness and give her a second chance.

“I was considering savoring the feeling of driving my victory home actually but since you want to concede; I could find some compassion in my black, womanizing heart for a poor taken-advantage-of model like yourself I suppose.” Lucas offered light heartedly. “How late you stuck here wearing Bob the builder’s hand-me-downs? I could either meet up with you later or hang around until your shift ends depending on what works.”

Riley had to chuckle when Lucas met her quip for quip. ”Touche.” she said, then shrugged her shoulders.

He asked how long she had until she got off work and that darn eyebrow shot up again. He immediately wanted to cash in. ” Forty-five minutes.” she answered. What did it matter if this went down sooner rather than later?

”But what makes you think this is a costume? Maybe I dress like this all the time.”

Riley’s question had a possible flirtatious undertone that made Lucas slightly uneasy but he pushed his fears aside. They had just been pretty annoyed with each other a moment ago. Chances are it was not meant that way and it was just a part of her personality. Abrasive yet playful, an odd but interesting combination. It would take some getting used to but had added a refreshingly unique element to their conversation now that they had both relaxed a bit.

The question the model had posed on the other hand was a trap as it invited Lucas to consider her as more of a sex object than a person. He wasn’t going to bite but he would oblige her with an answer just the same.

“There are two reasons I know you don’t dress that way all the time.” He said, making sure to keep his eyes at a respectful level. “Firstly, anyone that would give a stranger crap for talking to a woman in a low cut fairy costume probably wouldn’t dress as provocatively if she had a choice.” It was a blunt evaluation but Lucas didn’t see anything that might offend. He was just telling the truth as he saw it and if he had guessed correctly, it was the one clear path out of the minefield she had laid before him.

“And secondly, it would get mighty cold during a New York winter in shorts like that.” He also wanted to add that she seemed half way intelligent but a backhanded compliment at this point would break his wrong impression rule. The relationship door needed to stay closed. Lucas had enough girl issues to deal with. Hanging out with her might be fun but that was the line that he wouldn’t cross.

“I can handle waiting 45 minutes. I’ll just check out the con with Lawrence until you’re done.” Lucas added as he turned to see his friend in full pick up mode by the plunger booth. The Blonde in the cage was giggling like an air head and lapping up the muscular black man’s every word. Her fairy cheeks blushed pink as she flirted back heavily with batting eyes and a coy head tilt smile.

“Or I might just walk around a bit and try to find myself a bucket instead. Either works.”