Page 13 of If My Wishes Came True
Vanessa and I pile our plates high with food, then find an empty table. A minute later, she waves at someone across the room. “Sam’s here! Now, I’m sure you’ll get along great, but a word of warning—she has absolutelynofilter,” my friend says all in one breath, a split-second before Sam reaches our table.
“V!” Sam squeals when we stand to greet her.
“Long time no see! You look fantastic!” Vanessa says, hugging Sam. “I love your dress.”
Itisan amazing dress. Very bohemian chic. It’s white linen andhits right above the knees, with a deep V-neck and ruffled sleeves. It looks stunning with the contrast of her dark eyes and hair.
“Thanks! It’s vintage, from the seventies. The only downside is, I can barely keep my tits in it! I had to use tape.” Sam looks down at her breasts, then squeezes them a few times. When she’s satisfied everything’s in place, she reaches out her hand to me. “Hi! I’m Sam.”
I barely contain a laugh. “Jenna. Nice to meet you.”
“Wow,” she says looking me up and down. “You’re a total smoke show.”
“Oh! Um…thank you.” My cheeks burn.
“I told you Sam has no filter,” Vanessa says with an amused grin.
Sam laughs. “It’s my fatal flaw. I’m sorry. But if it makes you feel any less uncomfortable, I promise I wasn’t hitting on you. I’m into dudes, unfortunately.Although Ihavebeen told I have masculine energy. But I think it’s just because I’m a thirty-year-old woman who doesn’t want to be tied down.”
Vanessa chuckles, then turns to me. “She’s still sowing her wild oats.”
“If only it were that easy. The guys I meet are all so needy.” Sam rolls her eyes. “Give me an orgasm and be on your way, okay? We don’t need to cuddle all night and have breakfast in the morning.” She shudders.
“Okay, then!” Vanessa exclaims with a clap of her hands. “On that note, I’m going to make you a plate, Sam. I know how much you love Haitian food, so I’ll be sure to give you a little bit of everything.”
“Thanks, V,” Sam says, taking the empty seat next to mine as Vanessa heads to the buffet.
“So, you and Vanessa met in New York?” I ask Sam.
She nods. “We used to frequent the same coffee shop when I was in grad school. I wrote most of my dissertation there, and whenever I needed a break, I’d strike up a conversation with the poor sap at the table next to me. Young, old, male, female—I didn’t care. Most people want nothing to do with you, but occasionally someone’ll stick, like Vanessa. I started doing it in the study lounge in undergrad. It’s a fun way to make friends.”
“Where’d you go to college?” I ask.
“Northwestern. You?”
“I went to Michigan. But a friend of mine from high school went to Northwestern. I’m sure you’ve heard of her. She’s kinda famous now, since she married a celebrity. Sunny Dexter?”
Sam blinks at me for several seconds. Then her eyes go wide. “Holy fucking shit! Are you JennaAndersen?”
“Um…yes,” I say with a tentative smile, but my gut clenches. Here I was thinking I might get lucky and make two new friends this week, but with the way Sam’s looking at me right now—somewhere between shock and horror—that doesn’t seem likely. Why would she know my name?
Oh god. Is it possible someone leaked salacious photos of me and Dex to the press sometime in the thirty minutes since I last checked my phone?
Surely not. It’s been three years since we slept together, and why would anyone care? Plus, I’m sure my phone would be blowing up like crazy, and I haven’t felt it vibrate once.
I wish that fear weren’t always in the back of my head. But the thing is…it wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened.
In grad school, this guy I dated during our last semester texted a picture of me half-naked and asleep in his bed to a third of our class. Alex was the first guy I dated after Hunter, and I truly believed he had feelings for me. Turned out he’d made a bet with his friends that he could get me to have sex with him before graduation.
“So you’retheJenna Andersen, from Beachwood, Ohio? Head cheerleader? Homecoming queen? Most popular girl in school?” Sam says, pulling me back to the present. “And you’re telling me you and Sunny arefriends?”
Well, that settles it…I guess Sam does know Sunny. At least I can breathe easier knowing there aren’t leaked photos of me and Dex floating around online. But something tells me I’m about to get an earful from Sam about my history with him. She probably sees me as a threat to Sunny, and now I’ll be stuck having to defend myself. I glance at the buffet table to see if Vanessa’s heading back, but she’s busy talking to her uncle.
Dammit.
“Sunny and Iarefriends,” I tell her.
Sam eyes me skeptically. “I don’t buy it. Last I heard, you two were rivals, vying for the same man.”
