She nodded, her sobs growing louder. “Do I look horrible?”
Her nose was already swelling quite a bit, but telling her that wouldn’t help matters.
“Not at all. You’re still as beautiful as ever.”
“You know, I don’t need you,” she cried. “I can hang out on my own anytime I want.”
“I know,” I said, trying my best not to laugh.
“All I wanted was to get you out of your funk and have a good time. Why couldn’t you just give me that?”
Sighing, I slumped down beside her. “Because I’m depressed, and I’d rather continue being the lonely recluse than go out in public and hear all the horrible things everyone’s going to say to me.”
“You don’t know that they would.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Please. As soon as I walk in the door, they’ll be whispering about me and wondering what’s wrong with me that Liam left me.”
“They do that already since you’ve become a hermit.”
She bumped my arm playfully, laughing for only a second before groaning and covering her nose.
“Come on. Let’s get dressed and go make a fool of me.”
Twenty minutes later, I hobbled into The Beaver and Boot with my bruised sidekick at my side. As expected, everyone turned and stared, but not for the reasons I thought.
Lizzy ran over, her eyes wide as she studied us. “What the hell happened to you two?”
“A gigantic raccoon attacked us on the way over,” I supplied, wondering if she would believe it.
“Big Fat Rat? Yeah, he’s mean when he doesn’t get fed. Come on. I’ll get you a table.”
And just like that, everyone went back to their drinks and left us alone.
We took a seat in the back, ordering drinks immediately. My nerves were on edge the longer we sat at the bar, but I did my best not to imagine what everyone was saying about me.
It was easier to bury my head in an engine and pretend no one else existed. Out here, I had to face reality. Life would go on. Liam would not be part of my world, and most importantly, I had to find a way to make myself happy without him.
“Come on,” Cheyenne said, slapping the table. “I want to dance.”
“I might break a hip if I try to dance. I seriously bruised my back.”
She shoved back from the table, pulling off her sweater in the process. “Come on. If I can dance out there with my nose twice the size of Japan, then you can hobble along beside me.”
I couldn’t deny her anything right now. Not after I’d spent the last six weeks dragging her down with me.
“Fine. One dance.”
Squealing, she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the dance floor. The more I moved, the more my body loosened up, but I was still hunched over. The two of us looked absolutely ridiculous. Together, we made the Hunchback of Notre Dame look somewhat decent.
But I had to admit, it felt good to be out here dancing again, just enjoying the night without thinking about how sad and pathetic I was.
“See? You’re having fun!” she shouted over the music.
I was. I even joined in when the whole bar started line dancing toAny Man Of Mine. No one asked me about Liam or how I was doing.
“Can I have this dance?”
I spun around, a smile plastered on my face, but not necessarily from the dancing. Cheyenne had been plying me with drinks the whole night.
