on the table. It’s Saturday night and I’m out with my best friend Jenna for dinner.
“Thank you,” we both say as we pick up our much-needed cocktails. “And then what happened?” I frown.
“So, this little shit has put it on her and she rejected him.”
“But she was on with him, right?”
Jenna shrugs. “She kissed him.”
“And this was at the party?”
She nods as she sips her drink. “Yep and they were drinking.”
We are deep in discussion about the little dipshit that is picking on her baby sister who is only fifteen.
“What happened then?”
“She was on with him and then they went for a walk.”
I shake my head. “Stupid move.”
“I know, right? She reckons she didn’t think anything of it.”
I roll my eyes and Jenna nods.
“Then they go for the walk and he puts it on her in a park, and she says no. He gets all aggressive and shit.”
I frown. “Seriously? How old is this kid?”
“He’s only sixteen. They have a fight and he goes back to the party and tells everyone that she didn’t want to have sex with him because she has an STD.”
My mouth drops open. “You’re joking?”
“I fucking wish I was.”
My hands go over my mouth in shock. “Bloody hell, what a twat.” I sip my drink as I try to process this. “Surely nobody believes him, right?”
She shrugs. “You remember what it is like to be fifteen. Any gossip is hurtful. Even if it isn’t true.”
“Fuck’s sake. What is she going to do?”
“I tell you what I’m going to do: I’m going to march into the school and rearrange the fucker’s face.”
I laugh into my drink. “That will work.”
“I’m not even joking. What kind of kid does that to a young girl?”
I shake my head. “If I knew what goes through every man’s brain, I would be a millionaire by now.” I sigh. All week I have waited by my phone for Vegas guy to call, but, of course, he hasn’t. As each day ticked on by so did a little piece of hope that I would be seeing him again.
I really thought we had something.
Jen watches me for a moment. “I can’t believe he didn’t call you.”
“I can,” I mutter sadly. “I knew he was too good to be true.” I fake a smile. “You know the old saying—what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I shrug. “And besides, he lives in Texas.”
“Do you think he really lived in Texas, or was that another lie?”
I raise my eyebrows at the depressing thought. “God, probably another lie. He’s not a fucking mechanic. I know that for certain. Who knows what else he lied about?”
“You never know… fate may step in and you might see him again.”
I smile broadly and roll my eyes. “Will you stop with the fate shit? If we were fated to be together he would have called me, and right at this moment, I would have been staring at him across the table instead of having this conversation with you.”
Jen shrugs as she grabs my hand over the table. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Was he really that nice? Surely there was something wrong with him.”
I shake my head in disgust. “Jen, I don’t even know where to start. He was hotter than hot. Funny. Beyond beautiful and way smarter than me.”
She smiles into her drink. “I seriously doubt that, and besides, he must be a fucking idiot not to call you.”
We clink our glasses together and I smile with gratitude. I love Jen. She always pulls me out of my funks.
The waitress arrives with our entrée and I snap myself out of my depressive state. “Anyway, I’m making myself forget Vegas guy from here on in. He may have ruined me forever, but I intend to pick myself up and dust myself off,” I tell her as I raise my glass in the air. “I shall never give a thought to him again.”
“Here, here.” She smiles. “Are we going to meet the others at Luco?”
I take a mouthful of my grilled halloumi cheese salad and shake my head. “Hmm, this is good.” I gesture to my food. “You know I don’t really feel like going to Luco tonight.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s a dating kind of place and it’s not like I am going to see Vegas guy sitting there waiting for me.”
Jen giggles around her mouthful of food. “You wish.”
I laugh and sip my drink. “Tonight, we are going dancing. Screw bar Luco.”
3
Five years later
Ashley
The moving trucks come to