The sound of her cell going off had her closing her eyes. She knew who it was, and it was too damn early to talk to her mom, but if she ignored it there would just be another call in ten minutes, and then ten minutes after that. She reached out, blindly grabbed for it, and slid her finger across the screen without looking at it.
"Hi, Mom." Rubbing her hand across her face she listened for the next five minutes as her mom talked about the wedding plans again, and how it was only a couple of weeks away, and how she couldn't wait to meet the guy Mary was bringing.
"Mary, are you listening to me?" Her mom sounded annoyed. "I don't like the way you've been acting as of late. I don't know if it is the people you've been spending time with, you've grown disrespectful, and I won't tolerate it, young lady."
Oh man, she brought out the "young lady", which always meant she was serious.
"I meant no disrespect, Mom. I'm just tired." Mary rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up so she was resting her back on the headboard. Her head pounded, but it had nothing to do with having those two cocktails last night, and everything to do with the face she was running on a few hours of sleep and still couldn't get Alex's arrogant ass out of her head.
"You feeling all right, honey?" The irritation in her mom's voice changed to worry. The sound of china clinking together told Mary her mother was probably getting ready for afternoon tea with her socialite friends.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Content with that answer, her mom was once again in wedding mode. "I just called to make sure you and your date will be here on Friday evening after you are finished with your classes. We will have a family dinner with Joe and Margo." Just hearing Margo's fiancé's name had her wrinkling her nose. Joe Barton was not only an attorney, but was renowned in their community as a shark in the courtroom. That wasn't a surprise to Mary, not when everyone in that circle was always out for blood it seemed. He had a very apathetic and bland personality, but Mary supposed he had to in order to deal with his very strung-tight fiancée.
"Mom, I don't think my date will be able to come." There was a beat of silence. Wait for it. Wait for it.
"Mary Sandra Trellis, we have already added the extra head in the order count for the wedding, and your father and I were looking forward to meeting this boy. I've already told Marlen to make an extra meal."
Good grief. He mom was always using her full name when she was trying to be stern and condescending all in the same breath.
"Mom, things come up. I can't help it if plans change, or if he has a life outside of Margo's wedding." The lie came from her easily, although Mary supposed it wasn't too much of a lie.
"We would really love it if he came, because we would really enjoy meeting the boy that you're seeing, honey. Besides, you don't want to be the only one there without a date, right?" God. She should have just said no, that there was no way in hell she was bringing Alex or anyone else, but she pursed her lips and went back to staring at the ceiling. Despite the fact she was royally pissed at Alex, didn't really want to see him again, and hoped his dick fell off ... okay, maybe not the last part, but still, Mary couldn't help but image the reaction they would get if she brought the tattooed bad boy with her. It would shut a lot of people up, and bring an immense amount of pleasure to her.
"I don't know, Mom, but I'll see if he can rearrange his schedule." She should have kept her mouth shut, but it was too late for that. The excitement and hopefulness in her mom's voice were evident, and even after they hung up she knew she had made a huge mistake. Alex had made it perfectly clear what he thought about her, and what he thought she was only good for, but here she was, actually contemplating still taking him with her. And all because she wanted to piss some people off and say, without actually saying it, that she didn't give a fuck what they thought? Well, clearly she didn't care about what she thought either because she was actually thinking about going back over and speaking with him.
Yeah, that pretty much summed it up, but in reality bringing arrogant Alex with her was a hell of a lot better than going to the damn wedding alone, or trying to talk someone else into going with her. It wasn't like she had a lot of guy friends, none really, and the ones she did know were from tutoring, and they were in relationships. Dammit, she honestly didn't know what to do, because her pride demanded she never speak or look at Alex Sheppard again, but another part of her wanted to take him because he was such a prick he would scandalize all of the people that ever made her feel like shit while growing up. But even if she was mad at him, and especially hurt for the way he treated her at the club, like she was nothing but another piece of meat he could thrust into, her body didn't give a damn and still warmed at the thought of him. She needed to get Darcy's opinion and maybe work out until she couldn't walk anymore.
After taking a shower and getting dressed she headed downstairs. Darcy was up, but barely, and that was clear by the way she was draped over the couch, one arm and leg hanging over it, a blanket thrown haphazardly on her body, and the television muted but playing some black and white movie.
"You feeling okay?" It was a stupid question given the bags under her eyes and the almost green hue to her face. Darcy had far more to drink then Mary had last night, and clearly she was feeling it this morning. Darcy cut her eyes to Mary, but other than that didn't move or speak for several long seconds.
"I feel like shit." Her voice sounded like shit, gravelly, and like she had been smoking for the last twenty years. She moved marginally, but winced and flopped back in place. "I feel like an elephant chewed me up and shit me out."
"Nice analogy." Mary stared at the TV for a moment then turned back to Darcy who was watching her. "Why don't you go back to bed?"
"I can't. My head is pounding. I feel like throwing up, and every part of me hurts." She groaned and threw an arm over her eyes. "Why did you let me drink so much?" Mary snorted, and Darcy lifted her hand and glared at her. "All right, I guess I probably wouldn't have listened, but still." That was an understatement. "Mind telling me why we had to haul ass out of there so soon? Aside from you saying something about a guy, I don't remember shit."
"You really don't remember anything I said last night?" Mary had told her about some douche-bag in the club, had even let Alex's name slip, but was surprised Darcy really didn't remember any of that.
"Everything is a bit hazy after that third A Piece of Ass."
"Piece of Ass?" Mary had just seen Darcy grab a few shots, declining when her friend offered her some, but hadn't known what they were called. The fact that was the name of the drinks had her laughing.
"Ugh, I shouldn't be talking about alcohol right now."
"Sorry."
Darcy waved her apology off, and they sat in silence for a moment. Mary saw Darcy swallow several times, and hoped she didn't throw up this early.
Darcy knew she tutored, but didn't know she was helping Alex, or that she wanted him bad enough that she would have let him take her right there in the club for anyone to see. That realization had her cheeks heating in humiliation. Maybe she was no better than the girls he was with? There had never been a time when she wanted to do something so daring, but it seemed being with Alex brought out a lot of emotions in her that were foreign. She stared at Darcy and knew if anyone could give her advice on guys it was her friend. She slouched down in her chair and took a deep breath.
"I needed to get out of there because of Alex Sheppard." Darcy put her arm down and scooted up on the couch.
"Okay. And what does the star quarterback have to do with you?" She glanced up at the ceiling as if in deep thought, and then a light bulb went off over her head. "Wait, I think I remember you mentioning a guy named Alex. You were talking about that Alex?" Gone was her hung-over friend, and in her place was a very curious roommate.
"Yeah. I agreed to tutor him, and we had our first session last night. We made a deal that if I tutor him he'd come with me to my sister's wedding in a few weeks." Darcy stared at her like she was lost.
"I'm confused as to why we had to leave because Alex was there and you tutor him. Did you not see the hottie with the body I was grinding with last night? He threw Dane right out of the damn water."