Page 99 of Perfect
“I havenoidea what’s going on there.” It’s not a lie, but it’s not the truth.
“So, it’s a situationship?” Jessica asks.
“You havenoidea,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Does the sex make up for it, at least?” Anna asks in a teasing tone, and I almost spit out my drink, blushing deeply. I’m not answering that question in front of Ben, but she and Jessica see the answer written on my face. “Well,that’sgood, at least,” she says, and I try not to laugh.
“God, men fucking suck. Oh, sorry, Ben,” Jessica says when she sees Ben scowl. “Listen, Alex, he’s an idiot to fumble you. You should let the guy who’s been staring at you all night buy you a drink.” I cock my head slightly, confused.
“What guy?”
Anna laughs in shock. “Alex,come on. The guy who hit on you at the bar?”
I shrug. “Oh, he wasn’t hitting on me. He was just being friendly.”
Ben looks over at me incredulously. “Can you not tell he likes you?”
I shrug, and Jessica laughs. “Girl, you areblind. Listen, I’m setting you up with one of our coworkers while your situationship gets his shit together.” She winks as she pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through contacts. “Let’s see…Will’s gay, Louis is shit in bed, Nathan’s got a girlfriend,Rob’s hot, but he’s, like,forty. Are you into older guys?” I shake my head quickly. “Gotcha. Maybe you’d get along with Zach? What do you two think? You both know him better than I do.” Ben looks at Jessica for a long moment before shrugging at me.
“He’s cool, I guess, but he’s not our only single coworker.”
“Yeah, but he’s much better than the other guys we work with,” Anna says quickly. “The rest aren’t worth your time,believe me.” Her face tenses as her eyes dart to Ben quickly, and I can see Ben scowling again. I don’t think he likes being part of our unofficial girl’s night conversation very much. “Plus, Zach’sdefinitelyworth getting to know,” she says teasingly, and Jessica snickers. I raise my eyebrows at Anna, and she nods a little.
“Oh. Um, I’ll think about it, okay?” I think Theo would go fucking ballistic if he even heard me having this conversation.
“You should,” Anna says with a wink, and I force a smile and finish my beer quickly as the trivia starts back up. Thinking about what might happen if Theo caught me on a date with someone is sobering, and I have no intention of thinking about that, orhim, or being sober.
Anna, Jessica, and I are bad at the trivia theme for the week, and we start a drinking game where we drink every time we get an answer wrong, which is almost every time. I also drink whenever I think about Theo, so I’m pretty drunk when trivia is over. The girls and I make plans for brunch while Ben closes out, and I use the restroom when they go outside to catch their ride.
I sit in the stall, checking my phone, but there’s still nothing from Theo. I want to go over and apologize tonight, but I’m not sure if he’s back from wherever he went yet. Even if he is, knowing him, he’ll get pissy about me being so drunk.
He’s such a fuckingmomsometimes.
When I leave the bar, it’s pouring rain, and I groan, pulling my light denim jacket tight around me. I can’t believe I forgot to check the weather. My rain jacket is at Theo’s, anyway, and I’ll be freezing and soaked by the time I get home. I pull out my phone and pull up his number, my thumb hovering over it. I don’t think I’m ready to talk to him yet, and I don’t want to ask him for anything before apologizing, but I know he’ll come get me. At least, I think he will.
Maybe he doesn’t want anything to do with me now.
That shouldn’t bother me as much as it does.
Fuck it, I’m going to call him.
“Hey, Alex. Need a ride?” I look back and see Ben leaving the bar, holding up his keys, and I smile back at him. I can call Theoonce I’m home, and Ireallydon’t want to walk home in the rain, so I slip my phone into my pocket.
“Yeah,I do. Thanks.” The ride to my place is quick, and we mainly talk about whatever Ben brings up, although I can’t track the conversation entirely because I’m drunker than I thought I was. He parks across from my house, watching me as I unbuckle the seatbelt with some difficulty.
“Hey, can I use your bathroom?”
“Sure.”
I lead him upstairs and show him to the bathroom as I hang up my jacket and head into the kitchen to make dinner. I’m not hungry, but I haven’t eaten much in the last few days, and I know I should. At the very least, it will soak up some of the alcohol in my stomach. I feel a slight pang as I look at the lone glass container with a sticky note on it sitting in my fridge. I grab it and look at the neat, blocky writing on the note.
11/10
BRAISED LAMB & ROOT VEG PUREE
ADD 2 TBSP WATER
MICROWAVE 2 MIN
