FIGHT FOR ME Read Online Free PDF Page B

glass of wine. The meal was coming to an end but it felt like it had just begun. She felt like she could banter with Lucas forever.
    “After this,” he began, as if he was feeling the same as she was. “I was thinking about going to a gallery. You might have seen it earlier today when you were downtown. It’s called the Tilt. There’s some modern art show that I thought you might like.”
    Ivy raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I like modern art?”
    He shrugged. “You seem like you’d like classy stuff.”
    “Classy? I like that.” She laughed. “Sure. I’m down. Are you ready to go now?”
    Lucas nodded and hailed the waiter.
    * * * *
    A few minutes later they pulled up in front of the gallery. The building had large glass windows that gave a preview of the show inside. It also showed that the gallery was empty except for an elderly man with a thin face sitting at a little counter looking at his phone.
    They got out of the car waved to the man inside. It took a few moments before he noticed them. The man opened the door and let them in.
    “Welcome to Tilt. Our current show is of the work of artist Michael Huntington. Enjoy.” The man sat down again and pulled out his smart phone.
    Lucas and Ivy shared an amused glance. They had both noticed the man’s lack of enthusiasm.
    After spending a little over an hour consecutively with Lucas, Ivy was familiar with his sheepish smile. He smiled often, but as if he shouldn’t be or was surprised to be doing so. It made her want to kiss his lips and see him smile without noticing.
    The art was very strange.
    Ivy had never heard of Michael Huntington, and she never wanted to know more about him. The gallery was filled with statues that seemed basically like blobs of shaped plastic, often in phallic shapes.
    “What do you think?” Lucas asked after they had made their way about half way through the gallery.
    “Well… I’ve never seen anything like these, uh, statues.” Lucas nodded, agreeing. “Though I have to say, they’re a little…” Ivy really didn’t want to say the word phallic on their first date.
    “They look like cocks,” he said in a matter of fact tone, stating the obvious.
    They both burst into laughter. “Yeah,” Ivy said, “That’s exactly it.”
    They continued walking through the gallery, now making joking comments about the art. “That one’s huge,” Lucas said, nodding toward a large blue blob in the corner of the room they were in.
    Ivy nodded. “I can’t believe this guy is making money off of these. I mean, who would buy one?”
    Lucas laughed. “I wouldn’t.”
    When they were nearing the front of the gallery again, Lucas stopped walking. Ivy stopped as well. “What is it?”
    He looked uncomfortable. “Well, I wanted to say…”
    Ivy felt a little cold. Here it was. Honestly, she had felt a big reveal coming from Lucas since the moment she saw him and here it was.
    He was gay. He was married. He was a figment of her imagination. He was something he shouldn’t be if they were to be together.
    He seemed to realize he had been silent for a little too long, thinking. “Sorry, I haven’t done anything like this for a really long time.” He let out a breath. “I wanted to say that you’re really interesting… and beautiful… and I wanted to make sure you had a great time on this date so I brought you to this place, but it turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. So, I’m sorry if you’re… disappointed. I really haven’t done this in a while.”
    Oh.
    The reality of what he had to say was both relieving and worse than what she had imagined. Ivy tried to think of how to respond.
    “Lucas,” she said, taking one of his hands in hers. “I’ve had so much fun tonight. This weird exhibit is hilarious, not disappointing at all. And just spending time with you has been awesome. Not disappointing at all.”
    He looked at their hands, then up at her. Ivy smiled.
    “I’m not as used to this kind of stuff,” he