Her Billionaires(25)
“Suddenly some guy pops up in the chat window on this website and asks you out?”
“Yes.”
“Worth it?” That was code for whether he was attractive.
“He looks like that actor who played Thor in the movie.”
Josie’s jaw dropped. “Not fair! When do I get Captain America hitting on me?”
Laura laughed and dumped her coffee, pouring a fresh cup. She started to tremble inside, the urge uncontrollable. It was all too much, too intense, and spelling it out for her best friend was making it all too real.
“What’s he do for a living?”
“Ski instructor,” Laura mumbled as she hurried to fill her mouth with more coffee and delay the interrogation. Josie rolled her eyes.
Her friend poured herself another cup of coffee, glanced at the clock and said, “Oh shit, I’m late for work, but I don’t care, this is, this is—this is awesome! Way, way better than any movie. Plus I have a front seat view!” They both winced at each other and Josie added, “Uh, you know what I mean. Not literally.” She shuddered.
“I’m so glad that I’m meeting your entertainment needs.”
“Come on, what kind of life do I have? I haven’t had sex in seven months. I have to live vicariously through you.”
Laura snorted, “Well, it serves you right after all the years I lived vicariously through you having sex. It’s only fair.”
Josie hung her head in mock shame. “Well, yeah, OK, fair enough, but lay off the years comment. I haven’t gone through that many men.”
“I beg to dif—”
“Shut your whore mouth!” Josie threw half an English muffin at Laura’s head and, with catlike precision, she dodged it, both women howling with laughter.
Laura paused, thought for a moment, and said, “You know, you can open your own profile and see what pops up. To solve that seven month problem you’ve got going on there.” She gestured vaguely at Josie’s torso.
“Oh, I’ve seen what pops up. You know the phrase, ‘shit floats’?”
Laura just laughed. Ouch. Then again, Josie’s last date had been from an online dating site. Turned out to be a sixty-year-old neocon Tea Party activist who used a Groupon for dinner and made Josie pay her half before the coupon. Capitalism at its best—he’d made money off their date. And all Josie had to remind her was a lovely restraining order when the guy wouldn’t leave her alone.
“So when is the date?”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Well yeah, right after work. Mike says there’s enough daylight to make the climb in ninety minutes.”
“The climb?”
“We’re hiking. One of those hills at the state park outside of town.” If Josie rolled her eyes any harder they’d pop out and wander down the hallway out into the street.
“He hikes, too?”
“He’s a triathlete.” Laura coughed, the unveiling increasingly ridiculous. Was any of this really happening?
“So wait a minute, Mr. Ski Instructor Gorgeous Triathlete Thor Lookalike chats with you for a couple minutes this morning and already tonight, you,” Josie looked her up and down as if surveying her from hair down to toes, “who are about as athletic as a slug, are going on a hike to the top of one of the biggest hills outside of the city where you will eaten to death by mosquitoes, you will become sweaty and ridiculously tired and then...”
“You’re so flattering,” Laura muttered.
“What? You’re gonna what? Climb a mountain, Laura? You have a heart attack when you can’t find the remote and have to actually stand up to change the channel.” That gave Laura a reason to pause. What the hell was she going to do? By the time she met up with Mike it’d be six at night. He said it was a ninety minute climb to the top. Granted, it was summer so there was plenty of sunlight until nine or so. But what had she gotten herself into? Did she even own hiking boots?
Josie continued, “Do you even have any shoes that are going to work with any kind of an outfit for climbing a mountain?”
Laura just stared at her as if she’d been reading her mind. “I guess I’ll have to figure that out. All I know is I’m kind of in a super-emotional state right now, Josie. I got an unsolicited chat yesterday morning from a hot firefighter. Went out with him to one of the trendiest restaurants in town and ended up in his bed. When I woke up, I was surrounded with pictures of a woman who looked like she was a combination of a beach volleyball player and a surfer. Which I’m not. Ever. At all. It will take me four lifetimes to ever be like that. I slumped out of there and then— boom!— I come home and there’s a chat from another guy. I, I don’t even have time to think. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think. All I know is I’m just saying yes to it all. I’m saying yes to life, I’m saying no to doubt and I’m just grabbing the brass ring and—”#p#分页标题#e#