Page 10 of Thick Girls Pole

I stretched my legs and propped my feet on the small table between us. A few of our students had stayed to help clean up so we were done in no time.

“Definitely better than the one we held after I first opened the studio. We sat here alone most of the day.”

“It wasn’t that bad, but today was definitely better,” I said. “Classes have been pretty full recently, but I’m thinking after this, there’s going to be a waitlist. You should be so proud of the community you’ve built here, Anjannette. It’s amazing.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“It’s been my pleasure.” I blinked back tears. “After all, you saved me from having to find another soul-sucking corporate job.”

“Speaking of your corporate job.” She shifted sideways and rested her elbow against the armrest. “Let’s talk about Simon.”

“What about him?”

“It was obvious I interrupted something between the two of you earlier. Did you think I wasn’t going to ask?”

“I’d kind of hoped you wouldn’t.”

“Why? What happened?”

“He asked me to go out to dinner,” I said. “Just the two of us,” I added just in case that wasn’t clear.

“Itoldyou he’s into you. What did you say?”

“After the initial shock wore off, I told him I needed to check with Granny Vi and I’d let him know.”

“Why didn’t you just say ‘yes’?”

“I don’t know if I’m going to.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s…” I gestured helplessly. “Simon.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’ve never thought of him that way and don’t know if I want to start.”

“From what you’ve always said, he’s a great guy.”

“He definitely is,” I said. “Simon is super smart and really sweet. He’s just not my type.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“What do you mean?”

She dropped her feet to the floor and sat forward.

“You definitely have a type, just like I did. And you’ve been working with Dr. Green long enough to have established the fact that your type isn’t healthy for you.” When I didn’t deny or acknowledge her words, she continued. “The guys you dated were all tall and good looking, but they were dicks and treated you like shit. Of course, I didn’t realize it at the time because the guys I dated treated me just as bad.”

“But now you have Leo, and he treats you like a princess,” I said, hoping to deflect the conversation from me.

“Exactly! And he’s different from anyone else I ever dated.”

“You two are truly made for each other.”

“And what if I didn’t give him a chance because he ‘wasn’t my type?’”

“Don’t act like you met Leo and it was smooth sailing. It took a little nudging to get you to go out with him.”

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