“No, yeah, I know,” Sasha said. “Just couldn’t be me.”
“I refer you, again, to my fuckboi comment,” April said.
Sasha laughed as she wiped down the bar. “No argument here.”
April rolled her eyes, but Daphne barely heard their interaction, her mind whirring. She knew April was right, but at the same time, she didn’t feel like she’d had a fulfilling queer experience at all. Or even a fulfillinglifeexperience. No wonder Elena’s reactions to her art were always lackluster—she hadn’t lived enough to produce anything earth-shattering.
She hadn’t produced anything worthy of the Devon.
“It’s not just about sex,” she said, finally looking up. “It’s about my whole life. I feel so…young.”
“You are young,” April said.
Daphne laughed mirthlessly, met April’s eyes. “Youngandnaive, right?”
April let out a breath. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Daphne shook her head. “No, but I am. Elena said so all the time too.”
“Fuck Elena,” April said, spitting out the name like it tasted terrible.
“Who’s Elena?” Sasha asked.
“No one,” April said, but Daphne wanted to say it. Say something, at least. There was power in words, she knew, power in speaking things out loud, and maybe if she said everything to this hot bartender, it would make more sense. She could leave April out of it.
“She’s my ex,” Daphne said. “And I just found out she cheated on someone with me. She was engaged when we met three years ago.”
“Well, shit,” Sasha said again, and took out a shot glass and a bottle of tequila. “Next round is on me. Sounds like you need it.”
“Make that two,” April said, holding up two fingers.
“It’s more than Elena though,” Daphne said, still unsettled. If anything, saying it all out loud made her more desperate to do something. Be something, anything other than this version of herself. “I had a boring college experience, too scared and unsure to really try anything, followed by a too-serious relationship that ended in literal disaster. I have no career, no money. No best friend. I’ve never had a one-night stand. I can’t even say a curse word without blushing. I’ve never stayed out all night and gotten so drunk I puked the next morning.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that last one,” Sasha said, pouring the shots.
“Point is,” Daphne said, “I want todosomething.”
“Like have an actual one-night stand?” Sasha asked, adopting a wide-eyed, innocent expression. “Because I have a few ideas for that.”
Daphne, predictably, blushed again.
“Okay, slow down,” April said, holding up her hands. “Zero to a hundred and fifty is probably not the best plan here.”
“So you’ll help me?” Daphne asked.
“Wait, what?” April said, brows lifting. “Me?”
Daphne couldn’t stop herself from smiling. For the first time in a month—no, longer than that. For the first time in multiplemonths, maybe a year, even, she felt excited about something. The Devon, and now this.
This was what she needed.
Somethingfun. Something sexy and wild and maybe even a little dangerous. And perhaps it was silly or juvenile, but as she sat at this bar with two fierce and gorgeous queer people, she realized just how little she’d lived the kind of life she wanted.
The kind of life she’d left home for.
And April and Sasha were the perfect people to help her.
“Yes, you,” she said, then looked between them. “Both of you.”
