“No,” she says seriously. “Dex was an asshole. The best part of breaking up is getting over it with someone else, not a new vibrator.”
“I thought the best part of breaking up is when you’re making up,” I laugh.
The bartender and I belt out an off-key rendition of the 1989 Shana remake of the hit song by the Ronettes at the same time. I’m such a research nerd to even know what year that song was remade and by whom, let alone every single word of it.
Julia rolls her eyes and snarls.
I continue to drunkenly sing and dance.
“Come on, I’ll show you how easy it is,” she says, yanking me to her side and away from my bartending dance partner. “Let’s play a game.”
“Darts?” I say, pointing to the dartboard. The room sways a little.
“No,” she giggles.
“Pool?” I ask, pointing in the direction of the billiard room.
“No. Shhhh,” she hisses and grabs me by the shoulders and spin me around to look out over the other people in the bar.
“Let’s see how many phone numbers you can collect in the next twenty minutes.”
“What? No way.” My eyes are glazing over and I’m starting to see two of everything.
“I’ll do it with you.” She smirks at me, “I bet I can get more than you.”
“Yeah, me too,” I say dryly.
She whirls me around to face her and opens the top three buttons on my shirt until my cleavage is on full view. Then she lifts her hand to my hair and pulls out my hair tie. My hair spills down around my shoulders and I yelp out a cry of pain. “You pulled my hair, you wench.”
Julia takes a step back and appraises me. “Now, you look like competition.”
I look down at my chest; my boobs look awesome. I giggle.
“Loser pays for dinner at Masa,” she says.
“That place is expensive,” I scowl.
“I know,” she smirks.
“I kind of wouldn’t want to eat there. I need a better prize,” I say, shrugging.
She purses her lips and tilts her head in thought. “Okay, I got it. The loser has to buy the winner a two-hundred-dollar gift card to the winner’s favorite booksto—”
“GO!” I scream, racing away. I’m so fucking winning that gift card. I head to the front of the bar on a mission. I glance over my shoulder at Julia and she’s already leaning her head near a business suit by the bar and whispering in his ear.
Ugh.I will not let her win!
I tap the closest guy standing near me. He spins around and narrows his eyes at me. “Yeah?” he asks.
“I’m going to need your phone number,” I blurt, yanking my phone out of my back pocket.
His eyebrows raise. “Oh yeah? Why is that?” His eyes dart to his friends and they all chuckle. I feel nauseous. At the other end of the bar Julia is on her next business suit.
I look up at the guy and I really don’t know what to say next. “Forget it. That was stupid, I’m sorry. Pretend I never asked.” I want to cry.
“Whoa, whoa. Hold up a second. What’s your name?”
“Jane.”
