Page 29 of Begin Again Again

“Whatever. Remember when you got put up on the wall of shame at that Spanish place?”

Beth tried to smile. Shedidremember but the memory wasn’t particularly funny.

She and Lara headed out of the shopping complex and into the sunshine. Beth turned her face to the sky, glad she wasn’t nursing a hangover. Lara drained her Gatorade and threw the bottle in a nearby bin. “So… are you ready to tell me what happened last night?”

“I told you, we had a few drinks, went back to his place, and made out for a bit.”

Lara gave her a look.

“It’s true.”

“But it’s hardly The Truth.”

“What do you want? An article with an inverted pyramid structure? Who, what, when, where, how?”

“Yes. On my desk by five.”

Beth smiled. “You’ll be waiting a long-ass time, Ginger.”

At the corner of Princes Park, Beth pushed the pram into the shade and cracked her sparkling water.

A woman jogged past. “Beautiful baby!”

“Thank you,” she and Lara said together.

Lara reached for a banana. “I love having you around. You’re like a decoy mum. I can be hungover as fuck and no one’s the wiser. Or we can both be Angus’ mum. Like lesbians, but you’re the together, organised one, and I can be the lazy dude one.”

Beth grinned as she checked her phone. “We should head back. Glenda’s booked a meeting at two.”

“We can head back as soon as you tell me why you didn’t stay over at hot guy’s house.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “You’re never going to let this go, are you?”

“Never.”

Beth sighed. She’d hoped to be telling a different story about the dudes she hooked up with in the bold new post-COVID 2020. But here she was, about to admit she’d gone back to a wasted guy’s house and had him flake out on her. “He was pissed. We were on his bed, I went to pee, and when I came back, he’d fallen asleep.”

Lara choked on a mouthful of banana. “Oh, fuck.”

“Yeah. Flattering, ey?”

“It had nothing to do with you. He’s an electrician, he must get up early.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t make excuses for me. Or him.”

Lara pursed her lips and Beth watched her decide to drop it. “So, what now?”

“No idea. He hasn’t messaged. It’s probably all over.”

“You’re not going to text him?”

“I did. Last night.”

“Ah.”

Lara chomped her banana in a way that would make a man wince. “But you liked him.”

“That doesn’t change the fact he basically fell asleep on top of me.”

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