Big Dick Energy - Cindi Madsen Page 0,80
You two are acting the same way you did the night you sprang a triple date on me.” My gut divebombed down to the alcohol splattered floor. Last time, Ron and I had been broken up for a couple of months. “Please tell me you wouldn’t schedule a blind date for me this close to a breakup.”
Ellie winced, and Cat placed her hand on my knee. “Just give the guy a chance,” Cat said. “He might surprise you.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can survive that right now. Everything’s too raw and—”
“It’s for me,” Ellie blurted. “I’ve been talking to this guy and suggested we meet up here. I figured I’d just step away for a drink, but he already had plans with his buddies, and without thinking it through, I told him that was perfect, because I’d be here with my two single female friends.” She stretched her hand across the table, taking mine in hers. “You don’t have to make a love connection, Pen. Just polite chitchat and some wing woman action. Please.”
A twinge plucked at my chest, its reverberations reminding me far too much of a guitar, which led to picturing a certain musician. How his fingers moved across the strings, the same way they’d moved across my body.
The security I’d felt in his arms and how I’d bared my soul to him with full confidence it’d be safe.
How dare Archer convince me that my sweetness made me strong. Admittedly, it’d led me to embrace that side of me during my presentation. It’d undoubtedly won over the committee, too.
So why did I feel so weak?
When-oh-when would it stop hurting?
Not that everything should be about me and my broken heart, but it seemed extra thoughtless on my friends’ part to spring a blind date on me in my current state.
Then again, no one clung to their hope in finding love as hard as Ellie did. She and Cat always had my back, and we’d sworn every variation of oaths and vows to be there for each other, no matter what.
Cat and Ellie looked at me like I might bolt, enough worry on their faces that I decided to forgive them for not fully thinking through their plan. “You’re lucky I love you. Both of you.”
Relief flooded Ellie, and beside me, Cat released a long breath. “Thank you,” Ellie said. “I really like this guy, and I know I’ve said that before, but it’s been a while since I’ve experienced even a glimmer of hope.”
“How many minutes do I have before the guys show up?” I asked.
“Five, maybe ten.” Ellie slid her powder compact across the table. Cat extended a tube of mascara to me while suggesting I also use the lip gloss I always carried in my purse. Damn. My girls were not pulling punches tonight.
Slowly I took the makeup and stood. The two of them whispered across the table in a harried manner that had me pivoting back to study them. They straightened and flashed me Cheshire cat grins.
Weird.
“P.S., the windows in the bathroom don’t open wide enough to wiggle through,” Cat said before I had the chance to analyze and put my finger on why. Then she swept her long dark hair over her shoulder. “Not that I was ever on a date I was desperate enough to attempt to ditch that way or anything. That was one of many lessons on why being a bitch is better than the alternative.”
I pointed a finger at Cat. “After we wrap up this blind date, you owe me that story, and you two are buying my drinks all night. I also don’t care if they’re messy—I want a big basket of fries and two sides of ketchup just for me. I expect it to be waiting for me to dive into by the time I get back.”
Ellie saluted. Bold of her to be such a smartass when I was doing her a favor, but it at least eked a laugh out of me.
Once I got into the bathroom and stared at my reflection, I understood why my friends had plied me with makeup. My two-day old mascara had settled underneath my eyes, giving me a zombie vibe, and oh shit—I’d left one of those pimple patches on my forehead.
“Real classy, Penny.” I shook out my hair, redid my bun so it didn’t look like I’d slept on it—spoiler alert: I had—and cleaned up my eye makeup. It still landed on the smoky-eyed-side, and Ellie’s skin tone was