Page 20 of Unlikely You

I’d been on the fence about going to Sapph and I should have just stayed home with my book or some work.

It was rare that I took a night off, but eventually I got to the point where I had to. There was only so much work you could do before burning out and I couldn’t afford to be out of commission. Taking care of myself was just good business sense.

My night off had turned into something else and I was still grumpy about it. I wasn’t that upset about my shoes and jeans. That was partially my fault anyway. If anyone else had walked out of that bathroom, I would have been over it by now.

But no. The person who came out of the bathroom just had to be Honey Holloway. Honey Holloway, at the sapphic bar, wearing an outfit that showed her body and made her look like the kind of woman you’d dream about but never see in real life. And then she’d talked to me about her name and blathered on about nonsense while she waited with me.

For some reason she just always got under my skin. It wasn’t fair how often I had to see her every week and then on my night off, she’d infiltrated Sapph?

Some cosmic force was playing a joke on me.

“Why did it have to be her?” I asked Arson. She just slow-blinked at me and started licking one of her paws.

I hope you’re doing something better than what I’m doing tonightI sent to Melliferal.

She didn’t answer right away, which meant she probably was doing something better than staying at home and reading like I was. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but when I’d had my mind set on having a drink at Sapph and staring at the beautiful people, reading was a little bit of a letdown.

At least no one in my books would spill SoCo and Coke all over me. That was a plus.

Deciding to make the best of things, I put on my softest and most favorite socks, a sheet mask that I’d been saving that had gold or something in it, and made myself a little vodka cranberry with lime. At least I didn’t have to hear any karaoke singers.

I scrolled through my ereader and perused the paperbacks and hardcovers I had on my two shelves of books I still needed to read. Okay, so it was three shelves. Reading books and buying books were two different hobbies and I was better at one than the other, especially when I had to visit the bookshop regularly for work.

Nothing on my shelves was grabbing me, so I perused my ereader and selected a new release that was supposed to rip your heart out. That sounded like exactly what I needed. Someone else’s struggles to lose myself in for a while.

Chapter Eight

Honey

I really did feelhorrible about what had happened with Bren. She didn’t seem like the kind of person who would even go to Sapph in the first place and then I’d surprised her and wrecked her night. I’d done my best to salvage the situation, but she’d just completely shut down on me no matter what I’d done. So I blabbered and tried to make pleasant small talk so we weren’t standing there silently waiting for her car. That probably annoyed her more, but I didn’t know how to do anything else. For a second, I even thought about singing, but she might have strangled me and that would have ruined both of our nights.

So I sent her off in a car and had to decide if I went back into Sapph, or if I went home. Aunt Eileen’s words ran through my head. She’d told me to go out and here I was. I hadn’t even had the chance to order a drink when I’d needed to hit the restroom to pee.

If I left now, then I was giving in. And I had been having a good time, the few minutes I’d been there. Sure, the karaoke was mostly offensive to my ears, but it was all in good fun. If I had a few drinks in me, I might even get up and sing.

I turned around after watching Bren’s car vanish around a corner and went back into Sapph.

A little while later,I had a pink drink in my hand and was posing for a selfie to send to Aunt Eileen as evidence I was out and having a good time.

The drink was sweet and fruity and masked the taste of the alcohol, which was exactly the kind of drink I liked, so I did my best to pace myself and not gulp it too fast.

I’d somehow managed to find a corner far enough away from the bathrooms and the karaoke that I could actually hear myself think. I sipped and breathed a sigh of relief when there was a break in the karaoke madness for some real music. Bopping along, I looked around at all the beautiful people. A few caught my eye, but I was still thinking about Bren. I wished she was here with me. No doubt she’d be scowling at everyone and grumbling about something under her breath, but maybe I could tease her and drag her out onto the dance floor, doing my best to make her smile.

That was the fantasy. Reality wasn’t that kind. I’d never made Bren laugh, not even close. And after making her spill her drink, she was going to be even more annoyed by me when I saw her tomorrow. That was going to be awkward. I fully intended to pay her back for the drink, though. She had her payment accounts linked on her displays at the marketplace so it would be easy to send it to her. She might reject it, but I was going to try. And if I ever saw her at Sapph again, I’d buy her another one.

Aunt Eileen sent me back a message that she was thrilled I was out and having a good time. And then she told me to find someone cute to kiss, but I wasn’t going to do that. Besides, the last few people I’d kissed had been total disasters.

A few people approached me and asked to buy me a drink or have a dance and I said no. I could have just gone and danced, but I was scared. After my last several completely awful relationships, I was terrified to try again.

My most recent girlfriend, Mila, had left me for her high school boyfriend when she’d gone to her ten-year reunion and had informed me that our eight-month relationship was over via a drunken voice note, and again via text in the morning.

I should have known she wasn’t serious about me because she always said, “why do we have to put a label on it?” whenever I asked if she was my girlfriend, or if we could talk about our relationship. But she’d been sweet when she wanted to be, was funny as hell, and the sex was pretty good. I’d been all too happy to pretend those red flags weren’t slapping me in the face until it was too late.

Some people only got their hearts broken once in their life. I seemed to have drawn some sort of cosmic short straw and I’d had mine broken a few too many times already. That was why I wasn’t dancing with beautiful women or letting pretty people buy me drinks or any of that. One minute I’d be having a good time and the next I’d get the feeling like the world had dropped out from under my feet and I’d know I’d caught feelings again.

Keeping my distance was not only smart, it was good for my health.

Admire from afar, that was the way to go. Gotta keep my heart safe for the next person who was going to break it.

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