Page 61 of Pretty Broken Things

“I ran into her while I was looking at dresses for tonight. She’s working at that funky thrift shop I like. Anyway, there she is helping me pick out things, and she asks me what it’s for, and I—” Tracy trails off.

“You? The baddest bitch in the west, got all up in your feels and invited Jess to come out with us?” Lydia scoffs.

Tracy shrugs. “I felt bad for her. If it helps she didn’t seem high.”

“Well, she sounds lovely,” Jen deadpans.

“Lydia and Jen are right. We should just cancel.” Even I can admit it is a lame ass attempt to get out of going, but you can’t blame a girl for trying.

“No way. I did not spend an hour on my hair to stay here and binge crime shows with you guys. And Tracy is right, you need to move on. It’s time, Tess,” Lydia says.

“Fine.” I grab a small clutch I found at Tracy’s favorite store and drop some cash, my fake ID, my phone and keys inside. “If we’re going to do this, let’s grab the skank and hit the road.”

Lydia giggles as we go to the door and find Jess standing there waiting. We pile into Jen’s old SUV and head out.

* * *

My last hopeis that the bouncer at the door of Club Thunder will realize our IDs are fake and turn us away. I have no such luck, though, because the guy Tracy got them from is some kind of forgery artist. He waves us by with barely a glance. The first thing that hits me is the heat. There must be a couple hundred packed inside, most of them writhing on the dance floor together.

The inside of the club is exactly what I expect, bright lights and booming bass you can feel thumping against your skin. Tracy pulls me onto the dance floor when one of my favorite songs comes on. That’s when it happens, the buzzing spreading through my chest, the tingling along my skin, and the kind of euphoria that only comes when you really let go. I don’t need booze, or anything stronger to reach this level. All I need is to move to the beat and clear my mind of everything that’s been haunting me.

“Thank you for making me do this,” I shout to her over the music.

She winks at me before turning around and dancing with the guy behind her. I laugh and continue to dance alone. A hand slips across my body and pulls me back against his chest. The hair on my neck stands up, and I stiffen. I feel warm breath against the back of my neck.

“Boo,” a male voice whispers in my ear.

I spin around and squeal. “Benji! What are you doing here?”

“You left without any notice. No chance to throw you a party. No goodbye. What did you expect me to do? There was no way I wasn’t going to come to you,” he says.

It wasn’t so much that there wasn’t enough time to say goodbye to him when Tracy and I left Seattle, but more that I was afraid that if I’d stopped to see him I wouldn’t have been able to go. Benji is my weak spot, but he’s also my source of strength.

We start to dance, and when he twirls me around I catch Tracy’s eye and she winks. I roll my eyes and shake my head. She’s always up to something. I expect it, and honestly, her machinations amuse me now.

“You didn’t just follow us down here. Be honest, Tracy called you, didn’t she?”

He nods. “She said you needed a pick me up, and so here I am.”

We dance for a couple more songs before we rejoin the rest of the group. Jen and Jess seem to be becoming friends. Not the combo I would have guessed since Jen is on her way to becoming a nurse, and Jess is a shoo-in for rehab. But, then again Jen is the kind of person that will extend a hand to anyone in need, and in Jess’s case that need is for a friend.

Lydia sits down next to me, props her head on her elbow, and bats her eyes at me. “Who’s your friend?” she says in a singsong voice.

“Lydia, meet Bennet, or Benji as I like to call him,” I introduce them.

He reaches forward and shakes her hand. “Call me Ben or Bennet. Only this one gets away with calling me Benji.”

I loop my arm around his, and lay my head on his shoulder. “That’s because I’m special.”

He kisses the top of my head. “You’re something, that’s for sure.”

“Hey,” I protest, and playfully swat him on the arm.

Tracy strolls over with the guy from the dance floor. Her eyes are sparkling which can only mean one thing. She’s found the next love of her life. Ford thinks she left him for me, and probably believes she stayed put in Seattle the entire six months she wasn’t here in Playa. For the most part she did stick around in the city, but there were times she’d disappear into a relationship and I wouldn’t see much of her for weeks at a time. This will be no different.

“Can I get anyone a drink?” new guy asks everyone.

Jen and I decline, while Jess quickly takes him up on it. Judging by the glassy look in her eyes, she’s already had a few, or taken something stronger.

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