“Fine. Then we’ll make up something cool.” She lifts her margarita. “To us getting wild while no one’s around to pull us back from the ledge.”
“To one night where I’m nobody’s daughter,” I say.
I lift my bottle and we toast to that.
Lena’s expression softens, because under all the rowdiness she understands what tonight means for me.
Kassy goes ramrod straight in her seat as a server slides three drinks off a tray and onto the table in front of us and walks away before we can pay.
“Oh my God!” she says a little too loud. “Those three hot guys are looking at us.” I don’t think Kassy even understands the concept of subtle, like at all.
I glance over and discover she’s referring to the three men at the high-top we passed earlier. Two are exactly what you’d expect from men who send drinks to women in a bar. They’re handsome, casually dressed, and have big, easy grins. I quickly realize the drinks are their way of reaching out to us, and they’re eager to see how their gesture lands.
One has dark hair, a beard, and looks like he works out. The second one has sandy brown hair and is leaner. He looks like an underwear model. Both of them are eyeing Lena and Kassy. My friends are used to clubbing, so they’re dressed to capture the male gaze. Me? I’m wearing black jeans and a t-shirt, like always.
It doesn’t matter to me that they’re overlooking me in favor of my friends. Neither of them is my type, anyway. It’s the third man I noticed earlier who ticks all the boxes for me. But he’s not looking at us at all.
He’s bigger than the other two, and he’s ripped. His dark hair grazes his shoulders, and he’s got a neatly trimmed beard. Like me, he’s wearing dark jeans and a black T-shirt. The only difference is my shirt skims loosely over my body and his is stretched tight around his bulging muscles.
If I didn’t know better, I would think he was their bodyguard. The other two men are confident, outgoing, and friendly, but the slightly older one has a serious expression on his handsome face. He’s busy scanning the room, and every now and then his gaze goes to the entrance like he’s expecting trouble to come marching in.
He’s doing the thumb thing with his beer bottle. Not like I do though. Instead of fake drinking it, he’s sipping it, making it look like he’s drinking while barely taking any in. I’ve never onceseen a stranger as reluctant to drink as I am. It throws me for a loop.
“The bearded one’s mine,” Lena announces, claiming him from afar. “Kassy, you can have the pretty one.”
“That suits me just fine,” she practically purrs. “But what about the big one?” Kassy says.
Lena turns to look at me. “Do you think you can handle him, Nora?”
“He’s not interested,” I say.
“He’s gorgeous though,” she exclaims. “You’ve got to at least try to talk him up.”
“He’s not even looking in our direction. He’s surveying the room and looking at the exits.” I take a sip of my beer, a real one, just like the big stranger. “Trust me. That’s not a man who came here to meet anybody. I think he might be their bodyguard or something. He seems like he’s working.”
“They’re rich enough to have a bodyguard!” Lena squeals gleefully.
When the two of them begin whispering together, I roll my eyes, unable to keep the smile off my face for anything.
Which is the exact moment all three of the men stand up. The two in front eagerly, already smiling. The bearded one says something that makes the sandy-haired one laugh. It makes me wonder if they’re calling dibs on my friends the way Lena and Kassy did a moment ago.
The big one saunters along behind them, wearing mostly a blank expression.
The bearded one leans both hands on our table and grins at Lena. “Hello, beautiful. I’m Andy.” Just then the music switches to a slow song. “Do you want to dance?”
“Yes,” Lena says. “I’m always up for a little fun.”
Andy holds out his hand, and she slides her hand in his. When they walk off, the sandy-haired one steps up. His smile is white enough to light up the room, and it’s directed at Kassy.
“My name’s Ed.”
“I’m Kassy,” she replies with a spectacular smile of her own.
“How about you? You wanna dance?”
“It’s a shame to waste a slow song,” she replies warmly.
Ed leans over and whispers something in Kassy’s ear that I can’t quite hear. She giggles like a schoolgirl and is out of her seat and walking off with him in the blink of an eye.
