“Call me if you change your mind,” he said as he helped me into my coat. I probably didn’t need it. It was cold outside, but I was hot and bothered.
I didn’t even register my car trundling down the hill to the salon; I was too busy thinking about Parker. This had to be a joke, right? He was so freaking good-looking. I had a sudden vision of him kneeling between my legs, looking up at me with those gray eyes and that smile.
Bwaahhp!
I swerved as I almost hit the train chugging down the middle of Main Street.
“Geez, that really needs some gates or something,” I said, teeth chattering, as I turned onto the street then parked in front of a cute little beauty salon. It had white and black awnings, wood planters by the entrance, and large windows that glowed in the evening light.
Jasmine and Erika were waiting inside for me, sipping pink cocktails.
“Have one of those for me?” I asked as I hugged them.
“I brought you something stronger,” Jasmine said, pulling a bottle of whisky out of her purse.
“Is it going to be that bad?” I croaked.
Jasmine shoved the bottle at me. “Start drinking. Not too much! You don’t want to pass out and choke on your own puke before you even have sex.”
“Shhhh!Sheesh, keep it down. Do you want the whole town to know?”
“Maybe that would be a good thing,” Erika mused. “If this thing with Parker doesn’t work out, we could open it up to general inquiries.”
“It’s going to work out with Parker,” I said firmly.
“I hope so, but you keep playing hard to get.”
“I’m not being a tease. I’m just anxious.”
“Drink,” Jasmine ordered. “By the end of the week, you’re going to be an ex-virgin, or at least half of one.” She pointed to a watercolor diagram on the wall. It had cutesy paintings of various shapes you could get for your bikini wax.
“I don’t think you should do full-on Brazilian for your first time,” Jasmine said thoughtfully.
I took another sip of alcohol.
“You could do a triangle or a circle,” Erika pointed out. “Or a stripe.”
“They can also do custom shapes,” Jasmine informed me. “Once I had them do a corgi.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I was feeling festive.”
“You could do a P for Parker,” Erika said.
I took another swig from the bottle. The room was swimming in my vision.
“I’ll do a stripe. Let’s not get carried away.”
“Ready?” the beautician asked me.
I nodded. The alcohol was invigorating. I felt pretty steady as I followed the beautician to the back room.
“Aren’t you glad you had all that to drink?” Jasmine said as I put on a white gown.
Erika handed me a pink cocktail.
“Yurp!” I said, taking a sip.
