I was just determined to do my best not to look like a hot mess. And step one was wearing sunglasses so they couldn’t see my bloodshot eyes.
“Hey, girl,” Hailey said. “Fun night last night?”
Well, at least pretend not to look like a hot mess.
“Usual night,” I said. “It was fun. You should come join sometime. Bring your man.”
Hailey smiled politely, but I knew she was thinking, “No way in hell.” Not because her man couldn’t drink—it was one of those biker guys that liked to drink even more than me—but because she couldn’t drink like they could. Every time she’d come out with me, she’d never had as much as I had.
I also knew that even I didn’t want to do half the shit I said I did, but like I said, vicious cycle.
“You two look like you had fun last night.”
“Well, we saw our men.”
“We? Our? Men?”
I looked to Melissa, who had something of a “guilty but don’t care I’m guilty” smile on her face.
“What?”
“Corey and I are dating again.”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t believe it. I literally could not believe it. Melissa and Corey dating again? You’d have me sooner believe a wolf and a rabbit could live together in peace.
“I thought you two hated each other?”
“We did, definitely, but long story short, we’ve reached a point of understanding.”
I shook my head with a smile, but secretly, I had to admit that I wished I had what she had. And I was also worried that the two of them would now pull away even more than they already had. I understood some of it from their parents’ sudden death, but if they both had men…if they both had no reason to party…
I’d have to face the consequences of my actions for myself alone. And that was kind of terrifying in its own way.
“I guess I’ll just have to find myself a nice biker boy so I can be like you two,” I said with a sarcastic smirk. “I mean, live loose, party, be free, make love to a bunch of people; what’s not to like?”
Hailey and Melissa shared a look like they knew something I didn’t. No, it wasn’t “like” that; they just definitely knew something I didn’t.
“That’s how they start,” Hailey said. “But when you make that connection and you know you’ve met the right person, you’ll wonder why you ever tried anything else, why you ever partied and went crazy.”
Maybe.
Or maybe if I did that, I’d risk having another man in my life be cold and distant. Just like my father. And that was misery enough in my childhood.
But I didn’t show any of that to the Cook sisters. I just laughed.
“I’ll just make him part of the party life!” I said.
Hailey and Melissa had the good sense to laugh at my joke. But then their food came out, which gave me a chance to go quiet, aside from placing my own order in. And the silence gave me an idea.
“You know,” I said. “Since these boys love to party, you have an in—”
“You can’t keep up with them,” Melissa said, cutting me off. “I know you think you like to party, but I promise you they like to party so much more.”
“And besides, they’ve got some things going on, and they aren’t doing any club parties for a while. But you could join us for drinks at some po—”
Hailey tried to cut herself off. But it was too late. I had my opening.
An opening I wasn’t even sure I wanted, but one I felt almost instinctively compelled to take.
“Invite me out, and let’s have some fun!”
