A Tale of Two Pretties (11 page)

I thought Mother might freak out, but instead, she gave Darcy a sickly sweet smile. “Bless your heart.”

* * * * *

Mother was silent the whole trip back into the city. She hardly said goodbye to me and didn’t say a word to Darcy at all. I was willing to bet I’d get a phone call from her later in the week complaining about Darcy’s rude behavior. I didn’t care, though. No one ever stood up for me. Once the Lexus pulled away from the curb, I wrapped Darcy in a hug.

“That was amazing, Darcy! No one stands up to Mother like that, and you did it without backing down even an inch. Pure awesome,” I told her.

“Look, I’ve been researching all week. I can’t help it if the facts just roll off my tongue.” She smirked. “I will say that I wanted to slap her when she came back with that ‘bless your heart’ bit. Everyone knows that’s a southerner’s way of saying
fuck you
. Next time, I’ll make sure to say it to her first, just so she knows I know what it means.”

“Easy, girl. Let’s go upstairs,” I said, changing the subject.

***

Eighteen

Uncle Tony’s Pizzeria

Monday

11:00 PM

Darcy

The only good thing about closing up at the Pizzeria was that Brad always made sure we had the same closing shift. It was a good thing too because I was pretty sure that Kellie’s twin sister Heidi, who was the other bartender, hated me just as much as she did. And I’d rather have it be me and Brad closing together than him with any of the waitresses.

“Good news, Peach. It looks like I get to train you on hostess duties tomorrow.” Brad came over, smiling as he swept the last of the crumbs in the dining area.

“Seriously?” I leaned the broom against the wall. “Like for real? You aren’t just playing with me and I don’t have to be stuck cleaning up tables forever?”

“Depends, what are you gonna give me for the promotion?” He arched an eyebrow.

I took a step closer, pressing my body firmly against his and ran my tongue along his bottom lip, looking up at him. “That depends on how big my raise is.”

“I’ll give you a raise all right.” He cupped my ass, lifting me off the ground. I locked my legs around his waist, squealing.

“Brad! Stop it! What if someone walks in?” I wrapped my arms around his neck, even as I was saying the words, I couldn’t deny that I liked having him hold me up. I’d been dying to spend some alone time with him all night but his brilliant marketing idea just made the pizzeria busier so I never got to see him.

“Then they’re going to be pretty jealous that I have the hot new hostess in my arms.” He sealed his last word by kissing me.

I gripped onto his hair, tugging it which caused him to groan into my mouth and I took that as the opportunity to nibble at his bottom lip.

“Fuck, Darcy,” he whispered, kissing me fiercely.

And I would have fucked him. Probably right there at the pizzeria. That is if I didn’t hear the back door slam. I gasped and snapped my head back. Brad let go of me and put me back to my feet. I stepped away from him just as Mac burst through the kitchen door.

“Hey, y’all. Was I interrupting something?” She wiggled a finger, pointing it between the two of us.

“Not at all,” I said. “B-Rad was just telling me that I was promoted to hostess.” I forced the biggest smile I could even though my face felt like it was a million degrees.

“Good, I’m glad sleeping with your boss has some perks,” she said.

“We’re not sleeping together!” I countered.

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just hope he gave you some sort of raise, cuz you’re buying me a drink. I had a hell of a night at work.”

Brad slipped behind the bar. “Gotcha covered.”

Mac took a seat in one of the red pleather bar stools and I tentatively sat next to her. “That bad?”

Brad placed a full mug of beer in front of Mac and a vodka cranberry in front of me. Mac took a big gulp of her drink, downing half of it. “Yeah. These mall shoppers are crazy. You have no idea..”

“I can only imagine.” I sipped my drink. I wasn’t that big of a drinker and was pretty much a lightweight. Too many and I’d be on the floor. That was probably why Brad kept serving them to me.

“Tell me about it. At least it’s going to help for something with all these expenses we have for next weekend.”

“If that will even cover it,” I muttered.

“I know. Fuck. We’re broke. How the hell are we supposed to afford this trip?” Mac shook her head, staring into her mug.

“You ladies can just move in with me,” Brad said, leaning in on the counter.

Mac shook her head. “I’d rather sell the couch and have Darcy sleep with me than do that. Then you’d be really jealous, B.” She took a big swig of her drink.

“We could sell the couch...” I tested. “I mean it’s not that great of a couch, but we should be able to get at least a hundo out of it and that would pay for part of the room on Friday or gas or something.”

“A hundo?” Mac arched an eyebrow. “How fucking much have you been hanging out with B-Rad?”

My cheeks grew hot and I took a big gulp of my drink, hoping I could blame it on the alcohol. Before I could even set my glass down my phone buzzed in my purse. Since the two main people I talked to were sitting with me I knew who the call had to be from and I immediately winced before pulling my purse off the bar where I set it earlier in the night.

“You could always sell your giant purse, too,” Mac suggested.

“No way! I’m not getting rid of big blue!” I rummaged through my giant Coach purse trying to find my phone.

“You probably got it from some ex-boyfriend. Did that Dyl-hole give it to you?”

I froze, my hand on my phone. Yep. She hit the nail on the head. I could have gotten rid of the purse when we broke up, but it was a really nice purse and even though he was trying to buy me early in our relationship, I still liked having something nice.

“Dude, he totally did. I’m calling that a Dyl-hole purse until you get rid of that giant-ass thing.” Mac laughed, tipping back the rest of her beer.

I didn’t even answer her and grabbed my ancient flip phone that was held together with duct tape after one of my many exes and I had a fight and he broke it in half. I flipped it open, trying to force my most pleasant voice possible. “Hello?”

“Darcy, Darcy, Darcy, what the hell are you doing answering your phone this late?” My mom was never one of those ‘loving’ mothers or one that ever just called someone and gave them a simple ‘hello.’ She had a two-pack a day habit. Combine that with her thick Chicago accent and her voice was downright scary, especially when I was a little girl traveling across the country in a beat up station wagon to shack somewhere new because Mom got fired or dumped by another guy.

“I’m just getting off work, Ma.” My eyes flitted between Mac and Brad who were definitely staring but looked away and started a conversation as soon as I caught them.

“A real job now? Finally doing something with that degree instead of just using random rich guys for their money, ey?” Mom was a real sweetheart that way. She also knew me too well.

“I’m working at a pizzeria and I moved out of Dylan’s place. I’ve got an apartment in the city and a really nice roommate, actually.” I was pretty proud of myself for all I accomplished in the past couple of weeks. I finally got rid of the jerk, moved out on my own and got a job. Okay, so I basically got the job because I was seeing the boss and it wasn’t a real career or anything, but it was something. I was going to tell her about writing and the conference, but then she started hacking.

“A pizzeria after dropping all that money on a degree? Way to fucking be, champ. You’re just like your old man was, biggest son of a bitch I ever met.” She cackled.

That’s how Dad was always referred to: “son of a bitch.” Too bad he left before I was even born, so I’d never even met the guy.

“It’s a start, I am working on writing my first book right now and my roommate and I are going to start self-publishing. We even won tickets to a conference in Savannah for next weekend that we’re going to go to.”

I guess sometime in the middle of my conversation Mom decided she was bored with me and started talking to someone else in the room because I heard a gruff man’s voice. Possibly a new boyfriend.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great, Darcy. Listen, I gotta go, Shaun and I are heading out. Just let me know the new place I can forward all your college shit to so it doesn’t keep coming here.”

“Okay.” I rattled off the address to our new apartment, but I think she only half listened.

“Yeah, bye kid. See you around.”

She didn’t even wait for me to reply before she hung up. I stared at my phone before sliding it back into my purse and took a long sip of my drink. The woman could drive anyone into being an alcoholic. It’s why I only lived with her when I really had to which would only last a few weeks at a time before she’d usually kick me out and I’d be on my ass again.

“Your mom sounds like a real sweetie. Bless her heart,” Mac said.

“You have no idea...” I shook my head.

“And what the hell is up with your phone?” Mac nodded toward my purse. “That thing is ancient.”

“Yeah, well not like my mom was going to get me anything better and I haven’t had a boyfriend who has wanted to put me on his plan, so unless you’re going to put me on yours, quit bitching.” I wasn’t in the mood for her taunts, so I took a big gulp of my drink, already feeling the effects as the liquid warmed my throat.

“You know...I could put you on my plan. It would actually probably save us both money and then B-Rad can text you all night instead of me.”

Brad was cleaning up behind the counter but shot a wink in my direction.

“Are you sure you want to do that, you don’t have to...” I got a lot of handouts from guys but I wasn’t about to start fucking things up with my new roommate.

“I’m sure as shit, D. We can head to the mall tomorrow or sometime this week and see what kind of deal we can get. Who knows, maybe it will even help with money for this trip because lord knows we need a fucking vacation.”

“Hell yeah we do.”

She held up her now empty glass. “To being hopeless in Hotlanta.”

I held my glass up and clinked it to hers. “To hopeless in Hotlanta.”

***

Nineteen

Mac & Darcy’s Apartment

Tuesday

10:26 AM

Mac

After my ridiculous promise to get Darcy a new phone, I knew she wouldn’t forget my words. She was up early, even though we went to bed late. She was one of those early risers, people who were wide awake as soon as they opened their eyes. Me, on the other hand… I needed at least two full cups of coffee before I was anything close to
pleasant
.

Darcy all but followed me around the apartment, anxious to get her phone. I finally had to demand she leave me alone for five minutes so I could shower. The truth was, I was used to having alone time. Between an ex-fiancé who left me home alone often, to fuck other girls, apparently, and spending the bulk of my time working odd jobs, I never spent that much time with anyone, least of all another girl. Other college girls weren’t my style, mostly. There were the loners, of course, but they were
loners
; they didn’t want more friends. Or any at all.

I wasn’t one of the loners, not exactly. I liked my time alone, but I did okay in a crowd, too. This Savannah trip was going to test just how social I could be, I guessed, what with authors and bloggers, plus readers. I was a little nervous, but Darcy’s excitement was kind of inspiring, getting me hyped up about the event.

We took a bus to the mall, not bothering to tell anyone, especially the guy next door, where we were going. He had somewhat of a fetish with Darcy. She thought it was adorable, but if she truly didn’t want to be with him, then it was creepy, in my opinion. If some random guy wanted to spend all his time with me, I’d probably freak out.

The mall was almost empty, what with all the junior high and high school kids still in school. A few moms with strollers trolled the tile, stopping every once in a while to stare longingly at the display window of a pricey shop. It was almost sad, but it strengthened all my ideas not to have any children. Even if I found the
right guy
, I didn’t think my mind would change. There was a chance it could, of course. I was still really young, with a lot of years left to enjoy the single life.

We approached the mobile center, where they sold plans for every possible carrier. I told Darcy earlier to let me do the talking. I was an expert negotiator, something I was quite proud of. I talked the guy into giving Darcy a free smart phone, something that he didn’t actually want to do. But to make the sale, he did it. He gave her a new number, showed her a few of the cool aspects of the phone, and then we were on our way.

“Thank you!” she said, hugging me.

“No touchy,” I muttered, my face far too close to her boobs. Having a tall friend had its perks, but a position like that was not one of them.

She laughed, finally letting me go. “I really appreciate it, Mac,” she said, her voice chipper.

“Yeah, well, if you screw me over, I figure I’ll survive,” I said.

“I won’t screw you over. I can’t afford to,” she joked. I knew the feeling.

“Should we get an early lunch?” I asked, knowing we couldn’t really afford it, but I could probably squeeze a cheap meal onto my credit card.

“That sounds amazing. I’m starved,” she replied.

We walked around the mall, looking in the display windows while we decided where to eat. Darcy played on her new phone a lot while we walked, zoning out a few times. After two full laps of walking the mall, both stories, we were no closer to a decision of where to eat, but possibly much closer to actual starvation. Just as we rounded a corner near the food court, I heard B-Rad’s voice before I could see him.

By the time I spotted him, Darcy waved him and his friend over. His friend,
Preston
. I thought I might die. The guy wasn’t really my type, as far as I could tell, but he could turn me on with just a look. The one he threw my way was heated, nearly on fire with need. I imagined the look I sent him was similar. Instead of following my gut reaction, though, I lashed out.

“Are you guys following us or something?”

“Of course not,” B-Rad muttered.

“Kind of,” Preston admitted, his eyes on the tiled floor.

“Well, which is it?” I asked, my eyes lingering on Preston.

B-Rad sighed. “I saw on Facebook that Darcy posted you guys were coming here, so we decided to stop by, make sure that everything was going good.”

I turned to glare at Darcy, who was suspiciously quiet. “Are you kidding me right now?”

She kept her eyes on the ceiling until she couldn’t take my vicious glare anymore. “It’s not like I invited them to come.” Her defense was true, but I still didn’t like it.

“We just wanted to invite you girls to lunch,” Preston piped up.

I fixed my glare on him and assessed the situation. We weren’t exactly rolling in the dough. As much as I didn’t want to accept the offer, I knew we should. All we had in the apartment was a few bags of ramen noodles and a box of cereal with no milk. At least if they treated us, we’d be full for a while.

“Fine. Take us to lunch,” I said, surprising everyone.

Darcy got to pick where we went because I didn’t care, and the four of us walked together.

“It’s nice to see you again,” Preston whispered to me, the two of us trailing behind Darcy and B-Rad, who were talking and laughing loudly.

“Oh, please. I know this was some ploy so you could talk to me again,” I retorted.

“You’re absolutely right,” he admitted shamelessly. “But hey, I’m a man who knows what I want.”

“Oh, so I’m just some prize? Something for you to get your hands on?” I was pissed.

“That’s not what I meant,” he started. I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything. “You’re gorgeous, Mac, of course I liked you from the start. But this whole attitude thing is a front and I know it. You’ve got a heart of gold and there’s a reason people are drawn to you. Because as much as you’re a royal bitch, you’re also loyal and a great friend. Darcy and B-Rad see that in you, which is why they put up with your shit.”

“Then why do you even want to be around me?” I asked, curious.

“At first, I was drawn to your looks. And then you showed off that attitude, calling me Jack Daniels and just pushing me away, like what we did together meant absolutely nothing… It intrigued me. I knew who you were because B-Rad and I have been friends for years, so I asked him about you. His exact words were:
Dude, leave that hellcat be
. So, naturally, I wanted you even more.” He laughed, the sound drawing Darcy and B-Rad’s attention.

“You two alright?” Darcy asked, her eyes on me. She knew how I felt about Preston.

I nodded to her and the two of them kept on walking. I turned my attention back to Preston. “So, I’m just someone you want to conquer?”

“Not at all, Mac. You’re someone I want to learn about, someone who means something to me, even if I don’t quite yet know why,” he explained.

I understood what he meant. I felt similarly about him. I was unsure. My brain fought my heart, both unable to agree about Preston. I liked him even when I didn’t want to. Even if all we had was sexual, a part of me wanted to explore it even more.

“I guess we’ll just have to take it slow,” I allowed.

* * * * *

Lunch was decent enough. Preston and B-Rad cracked jokes with Darcy while I sat back, sipping my beer and watching. I took in their antics, the way the three of them interacted, as if they’d all been friends for years. I felt oddly out of place, as if their good natures were all out of my league. I didn’t have the natural humor that seemed to come to each of them, choosing instead to keep myself locked away.

At one point, I noticed something on Preston’s hand, so I grabbed it. “What is this?” I rubbed at the side of his hand, trying to get the dirt off. Then I realized it was permanent ink. “Is this a
yolo
tattoo? Tell me this is temporary.”

“Not quite,” Preston confessed. “I was young and dumb, once upon a time.” He looked embarrassed, so I let it go.
For now.

“Everyone has a tattoo they aren’t proud of, Mac. Chill out,” B-Rad suggested. I glared at him, but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, like B-Rad, here, has a cat tattoo on his big toe,” Preston countered.

I stared at B-Rad. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He shrugged. “It was a dare.”

“That’s fucking nuts. I’d never get something that crazy permanently inked on my body, even if it was a dare.” I shook my head.

“What about your tattoo?” Darcy blurted.

“So the hellcat has a tattoo? Where is it?” B-rad raised his eyebrows.

I shot daggers at Darcy. “None of your fucking business.”

A few times during lunch, I caught B-Rad giving me curious looks, but as soon as I caught him, he glanced away, diving back into the conversation. I wondered what it was all about, but I kept quiet, just enjoying the happiness surrounding me.

Preston paid for lunch for all of us, something I was thankful for, since B-Rad didn’t really seem to have much more money than Darcy and I did. As we left the restaurant, my flip flop broke, tripping me. I nearly faceplanted into the hard tile, and would have if Preston hadn’t caught me.

“You okay?” he asked, setting me upright. His eyes were worried, concern evident in their blue depths.

“Yeah, sure,” I mumbled, embarrassed by my reaction to him.

“You need new shoes,” Darcy assessed.

“Yeah, I guess. Anyone mind if we stop by the shoe store?” I asked.

“Nope,” Preston and B-Rad replied together. Then Preston bent over to grab my broken shoe, turning his back toward me. “Get on.”

“Umm, what?” Inside, I was screaming, but I managed not to sound over excited.

Preston laughed. “You can’t walk around the mall in bare feet. I’ll give you a piggy-back ride to the store.”

I gulped, putting my hands on his shoulders. Just as I got on his back, he stood up, my legs sliding around to his belly and my hands wrapped around his neck. The position was intimate; I could feel every bulging muscle in his back and arms. He was stronger than I imagined, much less like the lean figure of B-Rad. Preston was bulky, as if he went to the gym on a regular basis. The muscles were tempting me, begging me to run my fingers over them.

“Ready to go?” Preston asked.

I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “Yeah, let’s go.”

It wasn’t far to the cheap shoe store. I insisted on cheap, since I couldn’t really afford anything else. Once we were on the carpeted floor, inside the store, Preston let me down, though I doubted he wanted to. I didn’t, either.

“Women’s shoes are this way,” B-Rad said, leading me away from Preston and Darcy. I got the feeling he wanted to talk to me about something, and they must have realized it, too, because they hung back, letting us go further into the store.

***