“Rude. Like I care if I’m rude to a stranger, Selma!” I couldn’t contain the shrieky frustration lacing my voice.
“Well, I just wasn’t raised that way, stranger or not.”
I shook my head, finding myself again stupefied by all things Selma. “You’re unbelievable.”
She caught my eye in the mirror, refusing to say a word. I narrowed my eyes, taking in the stubborn set of her jaw, the way her eyes flared with simmering irritation.
“Fine. I’ll answer him. I’ll tell him he was a mistake swipe or something.”
“What? You can’t say that.”
“Why not?” There were too many rules for online dating, exactly the reason it was better I’d avoided it.
“Way to kick a guy when he’s down. No, I would not like to see you tonight. Actually, I think you’re a dog and wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole. Have a nice night!”
“Well, I wouldn’t be that harsh.”
Selma shook her head, finishing one last curl in her hair before placing the wand on the counter and unplugging it. She spun, pushing fingers through her hair until the curls bounced and bobbed with enviable volume. “Tell him the truth—you’re a busy college student with a very large stick up your ass.”
“And with a nosy friend who doesn’t know how to keep her hands off other people’s property,” I chimed in.
“Sounds about right. Listen, chica…” Selma paused, catching her reflection in the mirror and adjusting her boobs in the cups of her bra to get more oomph. Her word. Not mine. “I’ve got to meet Pratt outside in twenty minutes. I hope you give yourself a break tonight. You deserve it. Give that vag a little workout, and you’ll feel better in the morning.” She spritzed some of my perfume in a cloud around her. “I’ll call you later when I get home…or in the morning.” She paused. “It probably won’t be until the morning.” She winked, then placed a kiss on my cheek. “Let loose tonight, Carly. God knows you need it.”
She turned, blowing me one last kiss before sauntering out of my apartment in her chunky, laced boots and skirt.
I glanced back down at my phone, then to the puppy pajamas that fell to the tops of my bare feet.
I sighed.
I did need some fun.
I was ready for a life outside of textbooks and professors and exams and essays.
I hovered over the keyboard, not knowing what in the hell to say before I typed quickly.
Sure. Where and when?
Before I could think twice, I hit send.
Maybe Selma was right. If I didn’t use it, I would lose it. Perhaps not so much my vag but my sexuality, my sense of self, my free spirit.
I grinned, shutting down the app and tossing it on the bed, not caring if the handsome guy with the cocky smile ever replied or not. I was having fun making the butterflies in my stomach jump all on my own.
TWO
Thorn
She messaged back.
Holy shit, she messaged back.
What the hell do I write now?
I groaned, running a hand through my hair, still damp from a workout. I’d pounded away my anxiety on the treadmill, not looking forward to showing up to another doctor’s Valentine’s Day Ball alone.
The damn thing was tomorrow night, and it never failed—the number of women who would throw themselves at me, advances getting thicker, petting getting heavier as the night wore on and the drinks flowed from the open bar.
I’d wanted to fucking skip this one altogether, but I knew it wasn’t a great idea if I wanted to be chief of the ER someday. I had to network as best I could with the chief of staff, and outside of the sporadic meetings—and these irritating staff parties—I rarely had that chance.
So skipping it wasn’t really on my list of things to do.
This wouldn’t be a normal online date—not that dating apps were ever normal—but when one of the guys at work had gone on and on about going to a bachelor party in LA a few weekends ago and hooking up with a few different girls around town, I’d begun to think it was worth some looking at.
Not for the hooking up.
Not for the dating at all, but for this.
For a proposition. I needed a date for this Valentine’s Day Ball. What would she get in return? Free drinks and food…a fancy dress as a gift from me? Maybe that part of the proposition was shaky, but I needed someone normal to snicker with at all of the overdressed, overpaid assholes I was forced to socialize with at those things.
I’d never done anything like this before. I was used to meeting women the old-fashioned way, at a bar or at work. But the deeper I’d gotten into my position at the hospital here, the less and less time I had for any social interaction at all. Finding a woman to put up with my crazy schedule was enough of a challenge as it was.