Page 61 of She Used to Be Nice
The crease in Morgan’s forehead softened, and she slowly went back to typing. Seconds later, awhooshsound came from her phone. “Sent!”
Charlie suggested they call an Uber before the lines at the bars got too long, and everyone murmured their agreement and gathered their belongings. Avery busied herself by helping Morgan clean up. Panic swelled in her chest, her hands trembling as she tied the drawstrings of a garbage bag into a tight knot. Should she change her phone number so Noah couldn’t reach her? No, that would invite way too many questions. Who changed their phone number out of nowhere, for seemingly no reason?
But it was only no reason to everyone else. To Avery, Noah was the reason for everything. She just needed to keep pretending until the wedding that he wasn’t.
18
COMEDYCELLAR SMELLED LIKEbeer, old wood, and musty carpeting. A man holding a clipboard led Avery and Pete down a hallway covered in inky newspaper clippings into the main room, where the comedians would do their sets. Their second-row seats were so close to the stage, they’d be able to see sweat bubbling on the performers’ foreheads.
“I thought this place would be much bigger,” Avery said as she scooted over to make room for a couple seated beside her. It was her first time here at the iconic venue and she was excited, taking it all in. “My apartment is bigger, and that’s not saying much.”
“It’s not,” Pete said with a laugh. “Your place is small.”
“Listen, at least I don’t live with my parents.”
Pete pretended to stab himself in the chest with a knife. “Ouch! You went there.”
Avery looked around the venue, at the big mirror stretching along the back wall and the famous colorful “Comedy Cellar” sign lit up on the stage. Her gaze snagged on a framed photo of Louis C.K. hung up next to photos of other comedians who did stand-up here in the past. She frowned. She’d once been a huge fan of that guy.
She leaned in closer to Pete, grateful that he was one of the good ones. “Well, I’m happy we’re here together.”
“Me too.” Pete slung his arm across the back of Avery’s chair, his delicious sandalwood cologne making Avery feel heady and exhilarated. “What’d you do last weekend?”
Avery didn’t want to think about last weekend. The only thing she did after Morgan gave Noah her phone number was get progressively more drunk and resist the urge to text Pete strings of unintelligible words. At the bar, she realized she wasn’t having a good time because she wished he was there, so she left alone before midnight, bought a slice of pizza that she ate in the cab ride home, and put herself to bed. She hadn’t felt such an allegiance toward a man since Ryan. That she didn’t want to stay out all night searching for stimulation, satisfied by the knowledge that Pete was on the other side of hergood nighttext and she’d see him soon enough, felt something like progress toward a more stable emotional state.
“Not much, just hung out with some friends,” she said. “What about you?”
“It was my cousin’s birthday, so we had a little party at my aunt’s house.” Pete cleared his throat. “My mom actually asked about you.”
Avery’s ears perked. “Yeah? What’d you say?”
Pete nudged her, smiled bashfully. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Avery leaned forward, her heart warming at the memory of Gina, the familiarity of her. How awful Avery had been to cut their meeting so short that night on Staten Island. “I would, actually.”
“Oh, nothing. She just asked where that nice girl was that she met a few months ago.” He spoke in a relaxed and airy sort of way, like what he was saying wasn’t a big deal, but Avery was relieved to hear that Gina still thought she was nice.
“And what did you say?”
“Well, first I told her you were more than just nice.” Pete nuzzled into Avery’s neck, making her ticklish. “I told her you were smart, and beautiful, and funny, andfun…”
Avery was momentarily disoriented by Pete’s positive descriptors of her. Was he talking about her, or someone else? She almost felt like she was tricking him, the way he could only see so muchgood in her. Or maybe it was possible that she wasn’t so bad, if a guy as great as Pete thought she was great too.
“Pete, stop!” She giggled and shoved him away lightly. “We’re in public!”
He blinked hard a few times while the rest of his face remained expressionless. “Avery, we had sex in a bar bathroom. The jig is up.”
“Fair. I’m trying to be more civilized now, though. No more sex in public bathrooms, okay?”
Pete laughed. “That was my first time anyway, so that’s fine with me. But if you change your mind, let me know. Would happily do it again.”
A waitress came by to take their drink orders. Then the lights dimmed, the chatter quieted down, and the host, a scruffy man with a beer belly, came onto the stage and introduced himself as Steve. He told some jokes to loosen up the crowd before zeroing in on Avery and Pete, preparing to heckle them. He asked where they were from, and when they said New Jersey and Staten Island, he roared a dramatic guffaw.
“I’m so sorry for the both of you,” Steve bellowed. “How did you guys meet? You both cast on the same season ofJersey Shore?”
“We met at a bar, actually,” Pete called out.
“Whoa, how old-fashioned!” Steve gestured wildly to the crowd. “Isn’t it crazy how meeting at a bar is now considered a meet-cute? You guys dating now or what?”
