Page 130 of Fun Together
I barely recognize her in the dark theater, but she looks like she’s been through it. Smudged mascara, hair that hasn’t been brushed in a few days, and an unmistakable bad aura surrounding her.She’s probably thinking the same thing about me right now.
She gestures for me to keep walking because I had stopped in the middle of the aisle. “Do you want to get a beer?” she asks.
“Um, sure?”
We walk to a bar next door, and it’s swarming with college students since it’s a Thursday night.There is a group of girls in front of us getting their IDs checked by the bouncer. They’re bouncy and giggly, excited for what the night might bring.
We get to the front and I start to dig in my purse for my ID.
“Don’t worry about it,” the bouncer says. “You ladies go ahead in.”
Alexis looks at me and shrugs before stepping inside.
“Should we go somewhere else?” I yell over the sound of cheers for the girl currently flopping around like a ragdoll on the mechanical bull in the back corner.
“Nah, come on.”
We take a couple of seats at the bar, and she orders us the Thirsty Thursday special, a shot of fireball and a lukewarm Coors Light.
“You look as bad as I feel,” she says.
I throw the shot back. “I was thinking the same thing about you.” I never speak to her with this level of candor, but how else should you talk to the boss you’re about to get drunk with?
“What’s this mystery illness that’s been keeping you out of work for the last two weeks?” She doesn’t ask this in her usual cool tone, but I almost detect a hint of worry in her question.
“Oh, the worst kind,” I say, tapping my palm against my heart. “I think I’m lovesick.”
“Yeah, me too,” she says, clinking her beer can against mine.
“I think I might be unable to accept love.”
She nods. “I think I might be getting a divorce.”
“Alexis, I’m so sorry.”
She brushes that off and shakes her head. “I’ll be fine. I’m just really going to miss him.”
“You don’t think you and Brian could work it out?”
“Brian? No, I’m going to miss Conrad.”
She’s lost me on this one, and I think I’ve misheard her over the screaming girls. “Conrad? The massage guy?”
“I’m leaving Brian.” She sighs wistfully. “But Conrad doesn’t believe in monogamy. Which is sad, because the man had a way with his hands.”
I look down into my can of beer. “Yeah, he seemed . . . talented.”
She cackles and I jump in my seat. “Will you be back to work on Monday?”
I wasn’t expecting that change of subject, but welcome it wholeheartedly over any more talk of her failed marriage or Conrad’s magical hands. “Sorry, have things been chaotic without me? I’ll be sure to catch up on everythin?—”
She stops me with a hand over my forearm. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret.”
I don’t know if I can take any more of this woman’s secrets. I take a sip of my drink.
“It’s all fake, you know,” she says.
“What is?”
