No. Brad Dearborn is not present in her life, at all. Instead of spending quality time with his beautiful daughter, he sends her money as a parental substitute.Lotsof money. I know it hurts her. How could it not? The money comes in handy, though, and she figures why not use it for good. Or in the case tonight, for evil.
Ordinarily, I would refuse to help her spend her dad’s cash. It’s not mine, after all. But tonight, I had no trouble helping her because I was going to need some liquid courage and I couldn’t afford fine establishments like this one.
As a matter of fact, until this week, I had no money coming in, but I finally landed a work-study job at the library—thank goodness—because the word “broke” wasn’t strong enough to describe my bank account. No, I’d say nearly destitute instead. And since my parents make just over minimum wage at a discount store in our hometown of Pontiac, Illinois, they sure aren’t going to fund my night out.
Don’t get me wrong, my parents are awesome. They’re kind and generous to a fault. They just don’t have a pot to piss in, as they say. It’s one of the reasons me and my sister don’t get along, but I won’t bore you with all that drama.
With no fight left in me, I followed Carley up to the bar where there were two open seats. Surprising because this place was packed with people, most of whom were wearing suits and work attire. I guess it makes sense for these people to go out on a Friday night after their work week. As Carley ordered us our first drink, I took a moment to scan the bar. Most of the people here were young. I’d guess midtwenties so that was good. At least we weren’t sticking out like a sore thumb here since we’re both twenty-one. I felt something cool touch my fingers and looked down at the drink Carley placed next to my hand. I peeked over at her. She raised her glass and looked at me expectantly. “To new challenges.”
I lifted my drink, which looked to be a vodka cranberry, my favorite, and tapped my glass to hers. “To kicking your ass tomorrow for making me do this.”
“Ha!” She laughed before she sipped her drink. “Like you could kick my ass.”
She’s right. I’d never been able to do it. She’s way bigger than me. Okay, not in the weight department. I’m pretty sure we weigh about the same. The difference is she’s eight inches taller than me, so the pounds we both carry are stretched out on her. Yeah, on her they look good. On me, not so much.
Actually, Carley is mostly my opposite in everything. Like I said, she’s tall, I’m not. Her hair is blonde, while mine is more of a mousy-brown hue. She’s athletic, having played most sports in high school while I was more of a mathlete. Still am. She’s open, spontaneous, and funny. I’m closed off, nervous, and awkward. I guess that’s why we’ve been friends for so long. Opposites attract. At least, it works for us.
Heck, even tonight I knew she meant well. I should be angry with her, but how can I be when all she wants to do is help me. She’s the one who’s had to listen to me whine and even cry sometimes about the fact I’ve never had a boyfriend. Hell, I’ve only been kissed once and that, again, was all thanks to her and a party in middle school. She got a game of spin the bottle going and well, that’s it. I spun the bottle and it landed on Shawn McNamara. I could tell by his expression that I was the last person he wanted to kiss, but he did it because the bottle told him he had to.
“So, let’s get a couple of drinks in you and then we’ll choose the guy.”
I quickly downed the rest of my drink because, oh, God, she wasreallygoing to make me do it this time.
She’s tried in the past but to no avail. Those times she even helped me prep. We talked about what I’d say once I stepped up to the guy. We rehearsed it for goodness’ sake. But every time I approached a guy, I’d freeze up, turn, and walk straight back to our table or out the door, whichever was closer. Honestly, I have no idea why she thinks tonight would be any different.
“And before you chicken out like you usually do, let me tell you why it’s going to work tonight. Why I chose this place.”
Holding up my glass, I made eye contact with the bartender. When he saw me, he quickly stepped in front of us. “Need another one, beautiful?” Then he winks.
The urge to roll my eyes was almost too much to bear, but I didn’t do it. I kept my eyes in place. “Yes.”
“Be right back.”
Turning to Carley, I waited for her to tell me why she chose the fanciest club in town.
“I chose this place because we don’t know anyone here.”
I looked around just as the bartender returned with my drink. “That’ll be ten fifty.”
I nearly choked at his words. “For a tiny drink?” I squeaked. Carley’s right about one thing—you won’t find college students at a bar like this one because no college student could afford this place.
Carley handed over her credit card, which got her a wink from the bartender.
Once he’s gone, she continued. “And because we won’t know anyone here, you can approach a guy––a guy that you’ll never see again.”
“Okay.” I nodded as I took a long pull from my drink. “I can see the benefits of that.” I really could.
“So, because of that, I say you should choose the hottest guy in the place.” She shrugged. “I mean, why not?”
Why not?I could tell her about a million reasons why not, but I didn’t. “I guess.”
“I’m thinkingthatguy.” I followed her line of sight until it landed on a guy who belongs on the cover of a magazine.
“Him?” I practically choked on the last little bit of my drink. Becausethatguy was way out of my league. From here, I could tell he was tall. Plus, he looked built like he had some muscle beneath that suit jacket. That’s not the best part of him, though. It’s his face… it’s perfect. Like a young Paul Newman.
Now, before you think that’s an odd comparison, my mom loves Paul Newman. She has every single one of his movies on VHS, and if you were to look him up—young Paul Newman—you’d agree that the man was gorgeous. This guy had the same sort of wavy, golden-brown hair. I couldn’t see his eye color from my spot at the bar, but part of me hoped they were the same blue as Newman’s.
Ugh. Why was I going off on a tangent about Paul Newman?
