Who We Could Be - Chelsea M. Cameron Page 0,34

much information. Maybe dancing it out would help.

I couldn’t stop looking at Monty in her outfit. Just an absolute knockout. I hoped no dudes tried to hit on her, because that was literally the last thing she needed.

“What are you thinking about?” Monty asked as I sipped my drink. It was alcoholic and had a bunch of stuff I’d never heard of in it, but it was really good. I’d have to remember what it was so I could try and replicate it at home.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re plotting something. I can tell.”

“I never plot. At least not in public.”

That made her laugh a little. “You look really great. I hope you know that.”

“Thanks,” she said, her cheeks getting a little pink. “So do you.”

“SO, WHERE TO NOW?” We stood outside the restaurant post dinner and chocolate dessert and I tried to pick a direction.

“This way,” I said, pointing to the left.

“You have no idea where we’re going, do you?”

“Nope! That’s the point. I thought we’d been over this.”

Monty looked from right to left, as if at any moment someone was going to jump out and attack her. The streets were filled with other people going to dinner or strolling or shopping. It wasn’t even that late, and this was a busy area.

I heard some music and it was a good song, so I decided to follow it. We crossed the street and turned a corner and there it was.

“That’s where we’re going,” I said, pointing.

“Okay,” Monty said after a little hesitation. Wow, I’d actually expected more resistance, but cool, okay.

We approached the building, which turned out to be a bar that had a bunch of women in leather vests leaning against motorcycles and smoking outside.

“Are you sure we should go in there?” Monty said, holding my arm.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Because I don’t think we belong in there,” she said.

“Why not?” Looked fine to me. What was her deal?

“Because I think this might be a lesbian bar,” she said, and then I saw two women making out right in front of us.

“So? We’re women. Just because we aren’t lesbians, doesn’t mean we can’t go in and have one drink. Come on, one drink.”

Monty looked up at the brick building as if it was going to swallow her up and never let her go.

“It’ll be fine, you’re being extra,” I said, pulling her toward the door. We had our IDs checked and went in. Yup, definitely a lesbian bar. There were rainbow flags and memorabilia everywhere.

“Listen, Vanessa and Hollie would be mad if I didn’t go to this place and then bring back stories and tell them about it,” I said.

Monty snorted. “You’re probably right.”

“Let’s get a drink.”

We waded through the crowded and I bopped to the beat of the music. It was so crowded that dancing would only be possible if you were okay with bumping into a whole lot of sweaty strangers.

“What can I get you, sweetheart?” the bartender asked. She had two eyebrow rings and more tattooed skin than not. I lost the ability to speak for a moment.

“Uhhhh,” I said, looking at Monty. She shook her head, her eyes wide. What was wrong with us?

“How about I make you something special? You’ll like it,” the bartender said with a wink, and I felt my face get hot. Or maybe it was just the lack of moving air in the room.

She poured a bunch of things together into two copper cups and pushed the drinks toward me and Monty.

“Want to start a tab?” she asked, taking my credit card.

“Sure?” I said. I’d promised Monty only one drink, but why not? The bartender gave me a smile and I picked up my drink with both hands for some reason.

“To the last night of the bestfriendimoon,” I said, holding my cup up. It had a lime wedge on the side that I squeezed into the drink and stirred with the tiny black straw.

“I’m not going to call it that,” Monty said, holding her cup.

“Come on, just one last time. For me?” I pretended to pout and Monty’s eyes went wide for a second and if it wasn’t so damn dark in here, I would have sworn she was blushing.

“To the last night of the bestfriendimoon,” she mumbled, and we tapped our cups together. I was wary about drinking something without knowing what was in it, but bottoms up!

“Oh, that’s nice,” I said. The drink was sweet and smoky at the same time, with a tiny hit of mint