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But he did

"Lane!" Calleigh called She stood in her four-inch black stilettos Drink in hand, she surged forward, brushing past Liz, and flung her other arm around Hayden’s neck

Liz took a step away froth to keep it safe Liz wondered how intoxicated Calleigh was already

"Hey, Calleigh," Hayden said, wrapping one arh took a step backward, straightened out her low-cut cream blouse Her black suit jacket was discarded in the booth She didn’t look that drunk She kept one hand resting on Hayden’s chest as if she needed to steady herself Her signature dark red hair--nearly maroon--fell down in front of her shoulders, with thick, chunky bangs falling into her ever-vigilant green eyes Was Calleigh interested in Hayden?

Liz didn’t think she stood lad you h said "Let rabbed Hayden by the crook of the elbow and pulled him toward the booth Liz shuffled after them

"Hey, y’all, this is h said "Lane, this is Trent, Jenny, Monique, and Rick They work at the Charlotte Times with me" They all nodded their heads and responded with their own salutations

"Nice tosuys wore a plain, square-shouldered suit jacket Trent had light red hair, distinct against his green shirt Rick was dark headed and stocky, with a dark blue shirt and silver tie combination Monique was exceptionally tall with short black hair shaved on the sides and styled into waves on top She wasn’t exactly big, but she had a larger bone structure hidden underneath long black suit pants and a billowy black blouse Jenny was a girl-next-door blonde, small and mousy, with a pale yellow shirt tucked into her khaki knee-length skirt

"We’ve heard great things about you, Lane," Monique said

Hayden chuckled softly, his eyes darting to Calleigh and back "Thanks I’erates"

"I would never," she said, placing her free hand on his ar hih’s hand rested on Hayden’s ar Everyone was always interested in Calleigh

"Yeah I took over this past seh decided to take the job with y’all, and I’h h," Rick said

"I think the last editor y’all got frole

Jenny rolled her eyes "Let’s not even bring hi a private joke that neither Liz nor Hayden understood She was getting tired of being anonymous and was about to speak up, when Trent noticed her

"Hey," Trent said, "aren’t you that girl who asked Senator Maxwell his last question?"

Liz flushed with pride She kneas a good thing, but it felt odd that a reporter for the Charlotte Times had noticed her

"Uh…yeah," she said She took a step forward and stood next to Hayden

"Sorry," Hayden apologized "This is reat job," Trent said

"Yeah, she’s great, right?" Calleigh said, finally including her in the group "Lane really kno to pick ’em"

Liz pushed the implication in her words out of her h was probably talking about herself Liz tried to look unruffled

"That was a stellar question," Jenny told her, leaning forward "It’s nice to see the college papers asking bold questions"

"Yeah," Trent agreed, looking her up and down "Bold"

"I guess I didn’t realize how bold it was at the ti

She took a sip of her drink She couldn’t believe where she was and what she was doing It was pretty aht," Monique said, twirling her hand in the air drareat question," Hayden interrupted "The kind of questions we need to be asking Not those questions about his age and his past runs We all know he’s young That’s obvious What people don’t know about is his record I bet we’ll be hearing a lotmonths"

There was the Hayden she knew He had all these lofty ideals about how journalism should run; whether it ran that way or not was still up in the air, but he tried to keep things as idealistic as possible She thought his philosophy kept things at the paper honest, and she appreciated the sentih said "You guys should take a seat"

Calleigh reclaih room for one person

Liz stood off to the side as Hayden took the empty spot Trent sent her a come-hither look and moved over so she could sit next to him Liz tried desperately to avoid eye contact

Hayden noticed she was still standing and nudged Calleigh over Her green eyes glanced up at Liz, and she thought she saw a flicker of frustration

Calleigh reluctantly moved down the booth, and Liz sat down next to Hayden She sipped on her drink thoughtfully Hayden had stuck up for her, and she appreciated it

"Before y’all showed up, ere talking about Senator Maxwell What do you know about hi up at the side as she looked from Hayden to Liz

"Probably not as much as you do," Hayden said "What have you heard?"

"Oh, nothing really," she said, waving her hand