Truth or Beard(60)
But we both had brown eyes, though not at all the same color. I thought of my irises as plain brown. Whereas her eyes—with all the careful framing and highlighting—appeared to be the color of whiskey. The effect was dramatic. Beautiful. I wanted her to teach me how to do it.
The rest of her makeup was impeccable. She’d dyed her naturally light brown hair dark black, wore it lose in long shiny waves around her shoulders—which was basically a miracle since she’d just been on a motorcycle. Her hair paired with her sun-bronzed skin—another miracle since the sun had been hiding for two weeks—gave her a rather exotic look.
Of course, her clothes took everything to a completely new level of conspicuous hotness. She was in black leather pants, really sexy leather pants, and a white, low cut V-neck angora sweater. Both fit her like a second skin, which was fantastic for her since she was clearly in excellent shape.
Beverly, our server, came by almost immediately with two glasses of sweet tea and water, assuming correctly what we wanted to drink, and we both already knew what we were going to order.
Tina waited until Beverly was out of earshot before leaning forward and saying in a low, conspiratorial voice, “I was a little surprised you wanted to meet here.”
“What? Why?”
She blinked at me as though the answer were obvious. When I continued to stare at her with obliviousness, she laughed lightly and shook her head.
“You know what I do, for a living, right?”
I nodded and sipped my sweet tea. “Yes. I know.”
“I guess I’m just surprised you didn’t mind being seen with me so publically.”
I gave her a sideways glance. “Wait…I think I know what you do. You’re still dancing at the Pink Pony, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“You haven’t joined ISIS or anything, right?”
“What’s ISIS?”
“I mean, you’re not actively plotting to overthrow the government?”
She giggled and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m not even sure what that means.” Then Tina’s expression turned abruptly sober and she leaned forward, her eyes boring into mine. “But, listen, I have to talk to you about something important. It’s kind of why I wanted to get together.”
“Oh, okay. What’s up?”
Her gaze turned speculative as it released mine and moved over my black, fitted, cotton long-sleeved shirt, then darted to my hair. “I always envied your blonde hair. It’s so pretty, just like your momma’s.”
“You want to talk about my hair?”
“No, silly.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “So…you and Duane Winston, what’s going on there?”
I felt my lips part and my eyebrows lift in surprise. An involuntary ache squeezed my chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment. She stared at me while I struggled to find words.
Finally I managed to say, “Nothing. I mean, we went on one date. But nothing now.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You went on a date?”
“Yes.”
“When? Recently?”
“Uh, last Saturday.”
“So a week ago?”
“Almost, yes.”
“But no second date?”
“No. No second date.”
She nodded slowly, still glaring at me through narrowed eyes. “Why no second date?”
I glanced at the vinyl of the booth behind her, trying to figure out how to best explain the situation and be sensitive to the fact we were talking about her ex-boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend for which she might still have feelings.
“We decided that our priorities weren’t compatible.”
She huffed and it sounded impatient. “In English, please. This ain’t a parent teacher conference.”
“Um, I guess he wanted one thing out of a relationship, and I wanted something else.”
Tina pursed her lips, her eyes losing focus as she considered my words. While I waited for her to finish thinking her thoughts, I sipped my tea and glanced at the specials board; Daisy’s pie of the day was apple.
“I’m not jealous.”
I shifted my attention from the list of pies to Tina. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not jealous, of you and Duane. I don’t care who he sees. You’re welcome to him, if I’m the reason you decided to call things off.”
I lifted my chin in acknowledgement, but said nothing. Because I wasn’t sure what to say. Tina hadn’t been a consideration in my decision to date or not date Duane. I wondered if that made me unfeeling. But then I reminded myself that Tina and I hadn’t really spoken in over eight years, the first four of which she’d snubbed me for more popular kids at our school.