“My divorce. And I think you’re the perfect man to help me celebrate.”
“I’m flattered, but I don’t think I can help you,” Eros says to her.
“Aw, come on. No strings attached, one night of fun, I promise I’ll make it memorable for you,” she says as she strokes his arm.
Apollo’s trying to keep a straight face as we all watch her. Eros looks like he’s offended by her touching his arm.
“We actually see the rest of our group. But thank you for the beers,” Armando says as he stands up.
The rest of us stand up and follow him. I have no idea where we’re going and I’m a little sad that we’re losing our table. As I follow Armando, I realize he’s headed to the woman I want tomeet. And the other women are following us. When we get to the bar, Armando whispers something to one of the other women as I try not to stare at the one I want. The one that Armando talked to stands next to him and the other goes over to Eros.
The women that followed us start to move closer to Apollo, Keegan and me. I slip over to the one I’d been staring at and put my arm around her. I’m hoping she doesn’t hit me, I look at her and smile. Keegan and Apollo inch away from the women and move towards us.
“Where were you guys? Didn’t we say we were waiting at the bar?” the one with Armando asks us.
“We didn’t see you.” Keegan laughs. “So we grabbed a table in case we got here first.”
“Ohhh. Wait, you found a table? Did we lose it?” the one with Eros asks as she makes faces.
“I think it’s still open. Should I grab it?” Apollo asks.
“Yes!”
We make our way back to the table just in time. There’s a group of guys that were walking over to it. When they saw us, they looked like they wanted to start something, but then decided against it. Finally, the other women go back to their table.
“Thank you so much for the save. We made the mistake of accepting drinks from them.” Eros chuckles.
“What do you mean ‘we’? You mean you.” Apollo shakes his head at his brother.
“Fine, me.” Eros sighs.
“We should introduce ourselves, I’m Armando, this is Tristan, Keegan, Eros and Apollo.”
“I’m Paisley and this is Lily and Cora. Also, you’re welcome, I’m glad we could help. Those other women kinda looked like they wanted to eat you.”
“They’re celebrating, one of them got divorced and wanted Eros to be her party for the night.” Apollo laughs.
“I mean if that’s the kind of night you’re looking for…I guess it could be fun.” Paisley giggles.
“Uh. No thank you.” Eros shakes his head.
“We’re celebrating too. It’s Cora’s birthday,” Lily adds.
“We need a round of drinks, then,” Keegan says as he waves down the waitress and orders a round for the table.
“Since Valor Springs isn’t a big town, I’m going to say you’re all passing through?” Cora asks.
“I actually grew up in Valor Springs,” I say to them. “But I haven’t been back for a while.”
“We’ve been here for two years now,” Lily says as she smiles at me.
“We all met at the University and lived on campus for four years. Valor Springs was the closest small town, so we all decided to move here,” Cora explains.
“Why did you leave?” Paisley asks.
“I joined the Marines when I turned eighteen. I just got out earlier this year.”
“Thank you for your service,” Lily says to me.
