Sandra picks up the remote and presses pause mid-lyric from Coldplay.
“Thank God, The Scientist, yuck!” Jamie waves a hand in disgust.
“I love that song,” Sandra says.
“Boy, you love that song when boo-hooing to the film Wicker Park,” I add.
“What’s this ‘you need a man’ business?” Sandra cuts in.
I had hoped that my momentary outburst went unnoticed as we began to argue over one of my favorite rock bands.
“Ummm, nothing,” I shrug, climbing onto the high chair at my workstation. I grab the rolled, white fondant pearls and set aside the round piping tips.
I’m prepared to coat this section of pearls in luster dust when Jamie orders, “Reese’s Pieces, speak!”
Sandra yawns. “Yeah, keep us awake.”
“We all know you’re up to no-good,” my best friend adds.
“You guys know how I took a short drive right after we stopped for dinner?” I ask.
They nod their heads in unison.
“I took dinner by Evan’s place.”
“Damn…” Jamie sighs. “You’re trying to play wifey, aren’t you?”
I glare at the bite in his tone. “No, I wasn’t endeavoring to play anything. We all saw on the news earlier that the Russian Mafia is…”
“Who gives a damn about the Russian Mafia,” Sandra cuts in. “They have nothing to do with us, Reese. Your stepbrother is doing his job, just as he was before you entered the picture. How about I hook you up with—”
“Oh, please do!” I shout. The perfectly circled pearl before me gets smashed. “Can you get me any warm and able body by tomorrow night?”
Sandra licks her lips in shock, the blonde has attempted a love connection before, and the answer on my end was always a firm ‘no.’
“Tomorrow’s Friday night, though… I might be able to,” Sandra taps an index finger to her lips in thought.
“Reese, what the heck did you do?”
In a rushed voice I tell them how Evan called to offer his thanks for dinner, and I shoved my foot in my mouth. The entire story which seemed so monumental is over in seconds. Silence ensues.
“So are you going to help me?” I arch an eyebrow.
“I can’t,” Sandra says matter-of-fact, “My guy friends will slap me silly for hooking them up with you only to have to attend a family event on the first date. Or just maybe I have a friend… he’ll expect no less than a blow job.” She shrugs as if offering a stranger head is the ultimate means to an end.
“Trick, please,” Jamie rolls his neck. “Our Reese is much too innocent for that!”
“I’m sure she’s gargled her stepbrother’s balls!”
I stand up. “Hello, I’m still here. And I don’t know how to gargle any sort of balls. Though I did enjoy licking Evan’s balls, albeit it was after a few hours… and I don’t mean a typical one-night stand. I knew lots about him, thank you very much. He has a very manly scrotum, might I add. Now who’s gonna help me!”
“First of all,” Jamie points a finger, “saying ‘scrotum’ implies that Reese is not going to do a very good job at sucking a damn dick, so appeasement for one of your friends attending the family get-together is not going to—”
I point a finger at myself, “I know how to suck a dick!”
“Yeah, she has to,” Sandra juts her bottom lip, “if she didn’t, what good of a friend am I or you? What a good friend are you!”
They bicker so loudly that I bust out laughing. It takes a moment, clutching my side to stop laughing. Then I realize I’d just been had. “Hey, you two are friggen awful friends!”
They stopped arguing, and turn toward me.
“I need a date. Stop trying to get me off task, with this foolish talk. Mark my words, one of you hoes will be that date!” I shake a good bit of luster dust at them. The silvery, shimmered powder barely reaches across the island, and now they’re hanging onto each other laughing.
We crank up the music; Rihanna blares through the speakers as they assure me everything will be okay
Now I'm standing in the middle of my bedroom, on the evening in question, second-guessing everything down to my undergarments. I’ve already made a vow before God not to bone Evan, after my entire heart lurched in my chest while watching the La Brea shootout. So there’ll be no hanky panky, but a nice pair of undies might jumpstart my confidence.
My skin is soft, and damp to the touch as I lather on body oil. And my mind goes off on a tangent, which leads me back to him. Butterflies dance in my stomach when Evan was near and fire raced through my veins. It's almost enchanting, spellbinding the way Evan touches my body. Maybe our doomed fate caused me to say the dumbest thing ever? Subconscious reared up and kicked me square in the ass? Yeah, that's it.
“Reese! Reese!” Sandra and Jamie say from the living room.
There's giggling as I walk past the living room in boyshorts and a push-up bra.
“What the heck, guys, you would tell me if I shouldn't wear the flower printed dress?” I stop before Jamie and Sandra. The gay and the blonde cackle, sharing some sort of secret.
“I'm getting ready to meet all of Tony's family. Are the two of you going to let me down?” I scoff, latching a gold feather earring into my earlobe. My gaze blazes through Jamie, since I’m going to harass him about attending this event until the very last second. It was past one a.m. when they finally told me they had a plan, although I do not know what it is, I’m antsy with anticipation.
“As a matter of fact,” Jamie sits up, “we’ve had your back since day one. Far as I'm concerned nothing will ever change. The dress is gorg. Put it on.”
Before I can thank Jamie for deciding to be my ‘plus one,’ at least that's my interpretation, Sandra says, “We have a surprise for you.”
I reach down and grab her coffee cup from the side table. I can't drink coffee all day long
