Page 45 of Bad Boys Don’t Date Clumsy Girls

“You would have done the same if the situation was reversed,” Bek says.

I don’t point out that the situation would never be reversed, because Joel would never burden me with an emotional breakdown. “She’s going to have quite a shiner,” I observe. “It was already coloring all the way below her eye before Joel finished bandaging her.”

“Think she’ll wear huge sunglasses to work?” Sam shudders. “I would!”

I think about it and realize I have no idea if Mom would try to cover it up or not. She indicated it wouldn’t be a good look for work, but would it be enough for her to wear a hat and glasses to hide? That would be super obvious since she sits inside a store all night. “I don’t know what she’ll do.”

How sad that I have lived with the woman for over seventeen years and don’t know her well enough to guess what she would do in this situation. My own mother!

A murky sense of depression looms in my psyche. I can feel the allure of wallowing in my misery, but I’m desperate to fight it off. I focus my attention on Sam. “Hey, have you gone out with Barista Boy again? Did you suggest a new place?”

Sam gasps. “Oh, my gosh! Haven’t I told you?”

I look between Bek and Sam. “I guess not.”

“Barista Boy texted on Tuesday to ask if I wanted to go to the park to see a friend of his play in a band this weekend.” Sam makes a comical face. “I mean, honestly, that did sound fun, but it would put us in the same place for our third date. So, I texted back and suggested we go to the movies instead.” Sam raises her hands in the air. “Totally normal date thing, right?”

I shrug and nod. “Sure.”

“He went ballistic. Texting that I was all about me and I didn’t support him or his friends and that I was too selfish, and he didn’t think it was going to work between us.”

I gawk. “Seriously?”

“It was crazy, Ava. It was one text after another, after another. I think by the time he was done, I’d gotten thirty texts from him. Each a single line of his tirade.”

“Wow. That’s pretty nuts, right?” I look at Bek, who has clearly heard the story already. She agrees. If Bek isn’t trying to make an excuse for Barista Boy’s behavior, then it was crazy.

“I’m glad that came out so early in the relationship,” Sam says. “What if I’d invested more time into it and then found that out?”

I smile. “Sam, you went on two dates. For you, that is investing time.”

Sam presses both hands over her heart. “You’re right. I feel so betrayed. I gave him so much of myself.”

We laugh, and my heart lightens. Once again, with my girlfriends around, everything is going to be all right.

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