“And you were saying?” Bev nudges my attention back to her.
“What?” I’m lost.
“How did you end up here, at this place in your life? Single, living in New York, taking bribes for cheap rent, and attending weird celebrity weddings with zero notice?” She hiccups as she finishes the question.
“That is a long story.” I run my finger around the rim of the empty mug.
“We ain’t got nothing but time.”
“Well, starting at the beginning,” I laugh, “when I graduated from university, I was offered a position in New York for a PR firm. I’ve been here since—”
“No, the part about you being single.” She lifts a finger and points at my nose. “It’s new. What happened?”
“How can you tell?” I am stunned at her guess. I thought I was doing well hiding it.
“You haven’t hit on or flirted with a single dude here. No ring. And your eyes are a tiny bit puffy, like maybe you’ve been crying recently but you’re good at covering it up.”
“That’s impressive,” I say flatly.
“Spill!”
“He cheated.” It falls from my lips before I can stop it. Realizing I have admitted the worst part, I continue, laughing at the stupidity of the story. “Yesterday,” a tense giggle interrupts, “I was bringing him a coffee from his favorite café. I’d just come from my dad and stepmom’s house. And she was so mean to me, and I needed someone to listen to me vent. I thought I’d see him and complain for a minute and then maybe we’d have sex and I would feel better.” The giggle ends and the cruel reality stings.
“And when you got there, he was with someone else?” She’s psychic, I’m convinced.
“Yup,” I squeak, certain I’m the most pathetic person she’s ever met. “Aslin, a girl from work.”
“We hate Aslin,” Bev says flatly. “Did you bust in and kick some ass? Are you wanted by the police for assault and that’s why you’re here? Your boss is hiding you?” She waggles her dark eyebrows with excitement in her eyes.
“I wish.” I snort. “Actually, I ran.” My face lowers with shame but the words don’t stop, “I took the coffee cups with my name on them and left his house key in a puddle and ran home. I changed my number and deleted him from my social media, erased the last three years of my life, except work.” The humor is gone and I’m ashamed of what I’ve admitted and who I am right now. “I’m moving apartments and I hope I never see him again.”
“He has no idea that you know?”
“No.” I swallow hard.
“That’s amazing. You are my fucking hero, girl.” She grabs the beers from the server as he begins handing them out. “I need your attention please. We have a toast, everyone!” Bev shouts at the people in our area. “Lift your glasses to my new friend, Jenny. She is a boss ass bitch.”
The table of hockey players, rich kids, and Sukii lift their glasses.
“To Jenny!” they shout in unison, knocking glasses. I laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. They have no idea what they’re toasting. And no one cares. They just want to drink and have fun.
Bev hugs me and plants a juicy kiss on my cheek. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, but I’m glad you’re here. This bunch of assholes is normally unbearable.”
I kiss her back. “No, thank you for making me feel welcome. I was worried about coming to this. I’ve been a ball of nerves since Stan asked me to take his place. I keep sweating for no reason.”
“Stick with me, you’ll have a blast.” She takes a long drink off her mug. “In fact, tomorrow is supposed to be a spa day for the girls. But I can’t do Sami and Nat and spa day. I’ll kill someone. And it just so happens this place has a premier paintball course. So me and Matt’s other hillbilly cousins from the sticks brought our gear. We play at home.” Her eyes sparkle with delight and mischief. “You wanna come play?”
“Won’t they be angry if we crash the guys’ thing?” I lower my voice.
“No, they’re terrified of me so we’re doing it. Not one of them will talk shit to me. They know what’ll happen.” She lifts an eyebrow. “Watch.”
She turns her head toward the head table, giving a shitty look to Brady. He catches the stare and winces, nudging Matt who glances over. He scowls but there is definite worry in his eyes. Brady mouths something and Bev turns back to me, leaving the two of them hanging.
“See? Terrified.” She starts drinking again as if it didn’t happen and offers nothing to Brady and Matt who now clearly believe they’ve done something wrong. Matt is visibly uncomfortable and Brady is trying to get her attention, but she doesn’t bother to turn back. “Have you paintballed before?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I don’t bother to lie. “I was on a team in college. My roommate was into it. He was a big nerd and they had a quota of girls they needed. So I’m pretty good.”
“Of course you are. Look how muscled your arms are.” She flexes her thin arms and we both laugh.
“What’s your story?” I ask. “Who’s the person in your life?”
“Why do you think I have a person?” She tilts her head and cocks that grin.
“You haven’t flirted with a single guy here tonight, not one, and like you said, this table has nothing but talent.” I motion my head toward the Southerners. “I get that you’re related to that part of the table, but the rest of these guys?”
Her eyes dart to the far side of the room where a camera guy films Sami smiling at Matt as Nat tells a story.
“Ah.” I nod at the cute guy behind the camera.
“That’s another thing I’ll ask you to take to the
