“Bridge, have you heard this one? A priest, a minister and a rabbit walk into a bar. The rabbit says, ‘I must be a typo.’”
Hailey started cracking up before Bridget could even respond. Bridget gave her a blank stare.
“Because it’s usually a rabbi. Rabbi, rabbit, typo?”
“Oh! Okay, now I get it! Ha! That’s a good one. Where’d you find it?”
“Reddit. They have a whole sub for silly jokes.”
“Well if there’s anything you are, it’s silly. We work too much now, I miss your antics when we go out. I can’t wait for the bachelorette party!”
“Oh my gosh, same. I can’t wait to relax with just the girls and break free a little.”
She noticed the knowing look Bridget sent her way.
As she sat there the rest of the night checking people in and renting out shoes and chalk bags, she thought hard about Gage and their conversation today.
“Hey Bridge, can I ask you a serious question?”
She loved getting advice from Bridget because she never sugar coated anything and she always dropped truth bombs all over the place. Bridget had her long box braids styled differently this week and she got distracted staring at them against her flawless, dark skin. She could never get over how she had the coolest designs in braids. Somehow her hair had a star braided into it. A star! And she could barely make a proper ponytail.
“Of course, hit me with it!”
“Has a guy ever told you that you could stand to get in better shape?”
“During middle school a doctor did. Fuck that guy. Luckily, puberty helped me lose a lot of weight. Why? Wait. Who the fuck is telling you you need to lose weight?”
There she went, seeing right through her.
She said, “Gage,” with a deeper sigh than she intended.
“Dude, when are you going to get rid of that asshole? I’m praying it’s before my wedding. Think you can dump him by then?”
“I’m not going to get rid of him, he’s just stressed right now.”
“He’s stressed? With what? All the beers he drinks every night with the guys, hardly ever giving you alone time?”
“Well, we’ll be alone tomorrow night! It’s our one-year anniversary.”
“Jesus Homo Erectus Christ, have you really been with him that long?”
“I … Homo Erectus? Why?”
“Just go with it.”
“Yeah, I’ve really been with him that long.”
“Mm-hmm, and when did your depression start?”
“Damn, coming right for my throat tonight.”
“Just trying to look out for you. C’mon, when?”
“Um…” she took a deep breath and with another big sigh she said, “It started getting bad maybe eight-ish months ago but I’ve had it for years.”
“Are you sure it was the newspaper that was bringing you down?”
“Oh my gosh yes, my boss made me uncomfortable almost every day. Plus, he smelled.”
