Page 105 of Penalty Shots

I look up at her. And I see it. There's no animosity. There's no betrayal. Just a history. Two girls who met in college and fell for the same boy once.

"Ugh," I breathe out, looking up at the ceiling and trying to pat dry my eyes so my mascara doesn't run.

Jenny sits on the edge of my desk. "I'm assuming it's about a boy?"

I nod.

She hums. "Well… this sounds like a job for a mimosa. Come on."

"It's the middle of the day, Jenny."

"Up, up, up," she pulls my arm up and gets me to stand. "We are hardworking women, Rina. And if we want to have a mimosa in the middle of a workday, then dammit, we're going to have one and there's nothing anybody's going to get to say about it.

Three mimosas and a box of tissues later, Jenny is sitting next to me in the booth at Reggie's Eggies and squeezing my shoulder.

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you," she nearly cries.

"Oh, please. I was the bad friend. How dare I not even consider your feelings? I don't deserve your apologies."

"Shut up. Shut up right now. I knew that Keelan had a thing for you. I knew it the second you walked into class wearing his jersey. He claimed you. The first day he saw you, he left his mark on you. I had been talking to him on and off for weeks, and the second I saw that jersey on you… I just had to win. You know why?"

She holds onto my shoulders and looks at me. "Because I'm a bitch, Rina. That's why."

"Don't do that. You are a good friend. You got me out of the dorms and to actually have a life when all I wanted to do was hide away. You did that!"

"I mean, you were a little brown recluse," she admits.

I laugh. "Are you saying that because I'm Hispanic?"

"You know I didn't mean it to sound like that, but… yeah?"

She chuckles, and I laugh, too.

"Okay, okay," she says. "Obviously we both made mistakes. We were young and we were dumb. But look at us, Rina. We are women, dominating in an industry that used to only be reserved for the male species." She hugs me to her side and squishes her cheek against mine. "We are badass bitches."

"Badass bitches," I repeat.

"Um, would either of you badass bitches like a refill? Or water. Or a ride share, maybe?" Our waiter says, approaching with our check for the third time.

We both reach for it, but Jenny gets to it first. She pulls out her card and hands it back to the waiter. "Right now, all we need is a box for our food and the directions to the bathroom because I'm about to burst."

I turn to her. "Oh my god! Me too."

"Let's blow this popsicle joint," she says, scooting out of the booth.

"Uh, ma'am, you'll need to come back to sign," the waiter calls, waving her card.

"Right!' She says, helping me out of the booth. "I'll be back for that and my boxed-up food. And then, we're blowing this popsi-sicle joint," she slurs.

I burst out laughing as we go in circles, looking for the bathroom.

"It's that way," the waiter says dryly. "And I'm going to go ahead and call you a ride-share," he adds.

"You do that, Ernie," I say, patting him on the shoulder as I walk by.

"I-It's Eric," he corrects.

"Yeah, you do that, Ernie," Jenny says, stumbling behind me into the bathroom.

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