Rivalry
by Jean Havoc

She knew she had made a mistake the moment I shut the door and valiantly made my way to the car. I knew she'd come around eventually. Katherine Armstrong just seemed to be one of those girls to me.

So I smoothly slid into the car they had brought, ignoring the probing questions of my comrades for the time being. I knew all about their little bet. As I shut the door, I jostled my pocket, "accidentally" dropping one of my few business cards right next to the tracks the car dug into the ground as we pulled away from that mansion.

The men told me repeatedly I deserved the day off after being denied so rudely, but I told them the office needed me, so I'd go into work anyway. I'm sure they watched my visage as I pulled open the car door, standing straight and tall as I walked into headquarters, not even bothering to say hello to that cute receptionist who sits at the front desk.

"My paperwork?" I asked Lieutenant Hawkeye as I made my way into the room, giving her a smile. She dumped the rather important papers into my hands and I thanked her, going over to my desk.

I only looked at the phone twice; I was most certainly not waiting for it to ring. I did, however, hear the sickening noise of a phone ringing from Colonel Mustang's office, my superior and rival in the wooing of women.

"Hello?" the enemy said in a haughty voice just ripe with hubris.

I lit a cigarette, watching the slightly ajar door with slit eyes.

"No, this is Colonel Mustang," he said. "Must have dialed the wrong extension? Would you like me to transfer you?"

'Transfer?' I thought, blinking. Colonel Mustang was going to transfer her to me? I bit my lip, rolling this cigarette between my fingers. I picked up the phone after two rings and said in a professional voice, "Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc."

"Havoc!" a boisterous voice on the other side of the phone proclaimed. "This is Major Armstrong!"

I practically wilted into my chair, taking a drag on the cigarette, gripping the arm of my chair, before answering. "Oh, Major, can I help you?"

"You must have been in such a hurry," he said, laughing. "Because you dropped nearly all your cards right by the car!"

"Oh, I must have," I said, trying to keep sullen disappointment out of my voice. "So that's why you called?"

"Yes and no," the sparkly man said. "See, Katherine came up to me after you left and said she felt terrible saying no to you like that. She wants to see you. Friday night."

A Friday night date. The Colonel didn't even have one yet! One up on him. I smiled slowly. "How about eight o'clock?" I said, keeping the rising ecstasy out of my voice.

"That's what she said!" he laughed. "Well, Havoc, I ought to be going to the Armstrong family croquet game! I'll be seeing you when you pick her up, yes?"

"Oh, I'm sure," I said vaguely, fumbling for a new pack of cigarettes. "Goodbye, Major." I hung the phone up, smiling to myself. I walked over to Colonel Mustang's door, knocking sharply, the door swinging open further.

"Colonel?" I asked, looking inside.

"Oh," Roy said, waking up, patting his paperwork as if he was actually working. "What did Major Armstrong want?"

"Oh, it wasn't really him, you know," I said, sitting down on the sofa. "He just wanted to make sure my date this Friday was going to be fine."

I swear I saw jealousy on his face for just a moment. It was a victory to be savored.