Page 59 of I Did Something Bad
It’s a quiet Monday night. The bartender excuses herself from a conversation with the men at the end and comes over. “Hi there,” she says.
“Hi,” I chirp.
“What’ll it be?”
“Gin and tonic, please.”
“Huh,” she replies, looking like she’s trying to hold back from saying something.
With a tentative smile, I ask, “Is… everything okay?”
“Sorry,” she says with a short laugh. “I just… have never had someone under forty order a gin and tonic.”
Despite my phone volume being on zero, I swear I heard Tyler snort. “You soundjustlike my friends,” I say with a jovial eye roll. “But with the week I’ve had, itfeelslike I’ve aged ten years. I’m Kh—” I catch myself in time. “Carina.”
“Julie,” she says with a nod. She places a glass on the counter and starts mixing. “Wanna talk about it? Let me guess—men?”
I prop my chin atop a fist. “Isn’t it always? I met him on this dating app, and we had agreatfirst date. Like, I kept worrying that the butterflies were going to pummel their way out of my stomach.”
“Awww.” Julie pauses to place a palm over her chest. “That’s cute!”
“Right?” I say with a one-shoulder shrug. “And we had an incredible night together, and were texting nonstop until a few days ago when he just—” I give her awhat the fuckgrimace. “Ghosted me.”
Julie lets out the deep sigh of someone who’s heard this story a hundred times. “Men,” she repeats.
“You wanna know the worst part?” I ask sheepishly.
“Hit me.”
“I… kinda went down a social media wormhole and saw that he was a regular—” My eyes dart from side to side. “Here. So I kinda came tonight hoping that maybe… I’d see him? Ugh, I know, it’s pathetic.”
Julie puts the drink down in front of me. “It’s not pathetic. What’s his name?”
I take a slow sip, pretending to mull over whether or not I should tell her. Finally, I say, “Jared.”
“Jared?” I look up, and Julie’s whole face is scrunched up. “Australian? Dark brown hair? White?ThatJared?” she asks, but her reactionmakes it clear that what shereallywants to ask is,That’s the Jared you were gushing about?
I nod. “He doesn’t have a girlfriend or anything, right?”
“He did, but I hear they broke up a while ago. Maybe about a month? Two?”
So Dipar was telling the truth. “And you… haven’t seen him with anyone else? Heard himtalkabout anyone? Sorry, I know I sound nosy,” I hastily add. “I just…reallyliked him.”
“Huh,” is all Julie says, working overtime to be polite.
“Have you seen him?” I ask. “Recently?”
I can tell she’s really trying to school her face, but it’s like her face doesn’t know hownotto look disgusted when talking about Jared. “No, sorry,” she says. She doesn’t sound sorry. “Last I saw him was about two weeks ago? Maybe two and a half? Idoremember that it was also a Monday. I try to take the Monday night shifts because they’re quiet,” she explains and gestures around at the venue. “But lucky me, I got to serve Jared that night.”
She gives a surprised start when I snap up in my seat. Two weeks ago. A Monday. That was the night— “Oh my god,” I blurt. Her head rears back at my attitude shift. “That was… the night after our date,” I say. “How was he that night?”
Julie frowns at the ceiling, face screwed up in concentration. “His particular crusade that night seemed to be how”—she forms air quotes—“all women are bitches, and all bitches need to be trained.”
I sputter. “Oh. Wow. Shit. Really?”
“Like I said,” she says with a wry smile. “Lucky me got to serve him all night. He got weird right at the end, too.”
“Weird? Weird… how?”
