Page 75 of Not Another Yesterday
“You have both our numbers.” Audrey places a hundred-dollar bill on the bar, smiling as she pushes it toward me. “Text us if you’re up for some company.”
I nod, mostly out of habit. The napkin burns in my back pocket.
As I said, patterns. Cycles. Can’t escape them.
Cat
“Alright, so here’s the thing,” Vada says the second we’re sequestered in the ladies’ bathroom at the Foxtail Lounge. She reaches for my wristand whirls me around to face her. “Dusty is really freaking hot,” she says with a nod. “And I want to get laid.”
Vada hasn’t been shy about putting herself out there since college. Once she was over Steve, she dove headfirst into dating. Even Brady hasn’t slowed her down much. “I’m young, I’m hot, I want to have fun,” she told me recently. That was right before launching into why I should “go get some college dick.”
“Uh-huh, so what are you telling me?” I ask, wiggling myself free from Vada’s hold.
Her lips pucker while she rests her hand on her popped-out hip. “That we should take them up on their offer to go back to their apartment…”
I get the impression she has more to say. I flatten my lips between my teeth and wait for her to continue.
“…and that Levi is really cute, and you should get laid, too.”
There it is.
I turn to the mirror and begin to mess with my unruly hair. Not totally sure if it’s the added moisture in the air, but the long blonde strands are a mess today. A pang of longing shoots through me. Ronan loved my hair, especially when it was big and messy like this. “You look like a damn lioness, baby. It’s sexy as hell,” he’d always say.
I freeze, my fingers still in my hair. It doesn’t feel sexy now. Just wild and untamable. Like my emotions.
I sense Vada step up next to me, her face and body turned squarely toward me. I stare at myself, ignoring her intense gaze. “Come on, Kitty Cat. You’ve only ever experienced one cock, right?Andyou and Ran are broken up. That means, one, you wouldn’t be cheating, and two, it’s valuable life experience. It’s not like you’re ‘saving yourself for marriage.’” She shrugs, then turns, leaning onto the sink counter and closing the distance between herself and her mirror image. “So, you might as well go and live life a little. Get your rocks off, you know? Nothing wrong with that. Plus, you’ll be doing me a favor,” she sayswith a smirk, then retrieves her trusty red lipstick from her black bag and applies it to her pouty lips.
My fingers rake through the mop on my head, acting as a makeshift comb. It’s useless, though. I’ll need heat to straighten the waves. “And how exactly would I be doing you a favor by having sex with Levi?” I ask, half-amused.
“Well, I’d feel a lot less guilty having an orgasm if I knew you were in the room next to me having one, too, rather than just sitting on the sofa watching an episode ofFriends, waiting for me to finish.”
“You know, for someone who was so intent on Ran and me getting together, you’re awfully pushy about me having a one-night stand.”
Vada doesn’t take the bait. “Well, Ran’s acting like a complete douche-canoe and you deserve a good time. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t find Levi attractive.” She tosses her lipstick back into her purse.
I shrug. “I mean, he’s not—”
“Yeah, I know, he’s not Ran aka Adonis,” Vada says with an eye roll.
I stifle the sigh before it has the chance to escape my mouth. “That’s not what I was going to say. I was going to say that Levi isn’t bad looking.”
Vada smiles triumphantly. “Honestly, that’s all that’s required: not bad looking. And you can always close your eyes, too. Look, I don’t expect you to fall in love and start a deep relationship with Levi. I don’t even expect you to falloutof love with Ran. But I do expect you to try and have a few minutes of fun and get yourself a big, screamingO.”
She hooks her arm under mine, then pulls me out of the bathroom and back to our table occupied by Levi and Dusty.
***
The cab ride back to Levi and Dusty’s place is… awkward. I never sit in the front passenger seat, but would have gladly traded places with Levi once Vada and Dusty began making out in the backseat next to me.Man, to have Vada’s unabashed confidence and self-assurance.
Levi kept looking over his shoulder at me, communicating his apologies with his eyes. The forced smile on my lips was both for his benefit and mine.
I’m not convinced that Vada and Dusty’s lips disengaged or that his hands retreated from Vada’s body while they clambered out of the cab and up to the apartment, only to disappear into Dusty’s room. Vada pulled her tongue from Dusty’s mouth only long enough to throw me a meaningful look before the bedroom door slammed shut behind them.
Levi motions for me to take a seat on the sofa, then walks no more than five feet to the kitchen. This place is even smaller than Ronan and Shane’s apartment, but I’d bet anything their rent is half of Levi and Dusty’s. That’s the difference between living in one of the boroughs, like Queens, versus “the city.”
The suction noise of the refrigerator opening sounds from the kitchen. “Want anything to drink?” Levi asks. “We have… water, Gatorade, beer, chocolate milk? What the fuck?” he mutters that last part, making my lips curve. What an eclectic mix of beverage choices. The fridge door shuts. “And vodka.” Levi’s head appears around the corner, a miffed expression crowding his face.
“Uhh—”
