That’s the working title of one of the books I’m currently in the process of writing. Here is the first part of the first chapter. The second part will be posted next Monday.
Jenny looked at her screen. The cursor blinked on, off, on, off. Over and over. She shook her head, breaking the spell the cursor had put her under.
“Girl, you’ve been at that for at least sixteen hours. You need to go get some dinner,” came the voice from behind her.Read More
She turned and looked at Cory. He smiled, but she could see the concern in his soft, blue eyes. He was her best friend and often, the only one that would drag her… well, she thought, from just about everything she needed to be dragged from. His was the shoulder she’d done the ugly cries on when she’d had bad breakups. He’d been there with a margarita for her when she didn’t land the client she expected to land. He’d literally thrown her over his shoulder and carried her from a bar before she made a giant fool of herself one night. He was the person she trusted more than anyone, even herself. Time after time, he had looked out for her in more ways than she could count.
“If you say so, Cory. Where to?” she said, rising from her ergonomically designed chair after clicking through the procedures to turn off “Death Star,” her programming machine.
“Since it is ten o’clock, choices for dinner are limited, but I have an idea.”
With a flourish, he strode from the room, leaving Jenny is his wake. He was slipping his phone from the breast pocket of his tailored sport coat as he disappeared from view. She gathered up her purse and slipped her faded denim jacket over her slender frame. She pushed her glasses up her nose and rushed to catch him.
Turning down the hall toward the building exit, she caught him just before he stepped through the security gate. “Well?” she asked.
“I just got off the phone with my friend, Jesse. He is getting us a table at Midnight and they are setting us up with a full dinner. VIP experience.”
“Midnight? I thought we were going somewhere now…”
“Silly girl. Midnight… that new restaurant and club? The one EVERYONE wants to get into. Mile long line. Midnight. But you DO need to change clothes. We can hurry by your place and I’ll see if you have any clothes you could possibly wear.”
Again, with a flourish he turned and headed toward her car. And again, she ran to catch up. She half expected him to demand to drive her car, too.
***
They sat on the dais that surrounded half of the dance floor. The small table between them full of small dishes, the remnants of their dinner. Away from the steps that led to the main level, there was a private buffet loaded with food samples. Jesse had outdone himself. Cory had asked for “something exotic” and he had provided a Middle Eastern extravaganza. The portions were small, but there had been at least thirty different dishes to try… They were both stuffed and had turned to watch the dance crowd rapidly accumulating beneath them.
“Good grief,” Jenny said as she pointed out a woman standing on the far side of the bar.
“Seriously, just because they make it in her size doesn’t mean she has to buy it or wear it,” Cory said… his “Mean Girl” surfacing.
“I know, right? And it was out of style twenty years ago, when it might have fit.”
“What about that guy, Jen? He is ridiculously handsome,” Cory said, pointing out a tall, dark-haired man casually strolling over to the bar. He turned and glanced their way and smiled.
“Was that smile for you or me?” Jenny asked.
“Me… Has to be me. There is NO way a man that well put together can be straight. Sorry, Girlfriend,” Cory said, a smug look on his face.
Over at the bar, the bartender handed him his drink and he left some cash on the bar as he flashed them a smile, before a leggy blonde sauntered up to him. They couldn’t hear the conversation, but Cory started his own narration. As she talked with him, she looked back across the bar, then gave him a pouty expression and walked away.
Cory narrated both sides of the imagined conversation… “Hi good-looking, my girlfriends have a table over there, want to join us?” he said in a falsetto voice.
“Um, no. I’m strictly dickly,” he replied, answering himself, using a deep voice.
“Ok, Mr. Taylor, she was hot enough that even a gay man would have been tempted. Hell, I would be tempted,” Jenny interrupted.
“You’re right, Jen. I have to admit, I’d hit that… if only to find out where she got that dress. And boy, did she wear it or what? You need a dress like that.”
“Right. What kind of fashion expert are you? I’m a couple of numbers and letters short of filling that thing out,” she said, looking down at her “less-endowed” chest. “What do you think… thirty-six, double D?”
“Seriously, Jen, you are a hot number. Any guy… I mean ANY guy would be lucky to have you on his arm. Combine that with the fact that you are brilliant and the second most wonderful person in the world, and you are a total package.” He lightly put his hand over hers. “We’ll get your sense of style fixed…”
“Second most wonderful?”
“Well… there is me,” Cory replied before getting up to trot off to the “little-boys room.”
Jenny looked up again, but Ridiculously Handsome was gone from the bar. She scanned around the room for a moment, expecting to see that he had decided to take up Miss Stacked on her offer, but she didn’t see him.
Jesse, Cory’s friend, stopped by and dropped off a couple more drinks. As he set them down, he told her they were called Arak, a Middle Eastern drink made from aniseed, and tasted similar to Ouzo. That clears it up, she thought to herself, but smiled and took a sip. She tasted licorice, presumably from the aniseed of the anise plant.
“Wow, that is potent stuff,” she said out loud, coughing.
Jesse threw his back like a shot and encouraged her to do the same. She coughed again, and her eyes got big for a moment. He took the glasses and told her he’d be back in a minute.
As Cory rejoined her, Jesse set down another couple of rounds and disappeared. She and Cory moved their glance around the dance floor and the bar looking for others to watch and make up stories about as they tossed the remaining drinks back.
“I need to visit the powder room,” Jenny said as she rose, slightly unsteadily. “Whew, those Araks are serious.”
“Are you going to be ok?” Cory asked her, also rising and finding that he wasn’t much steadier on his feet.
“Just keep an eye on me, but I’ll be fine.” She self-consciously pulled the hem of her short dress down and headed for the stairs. Three careful steps down and she was on the dance floor, crossing toward the bathroom.