Continuity Editor: Rusty
Last One Through: Bud Ugly
Chapter 60
Milena
Milena was having lunch with her BFFs, Taylor and Crystal.
“I’ve been calling you for days,” Taylor complained.
“It’s been one day,” Milena corrected.
After she’d left David at breakfast, Milena had taken a mental health day and went to visit her aunt. She’d wanted to be away from everyone so she could gather her thoughts. To that end, she’d committed the cardinal sin of turning off her phone. When it was turned back on, she’d been ordered to meet her friends at lunch because they wanted details.
“Calm your tits,” Crystal said to Taylor and then turned to Milena. “So, when’s the wedding?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You said you would marry the first guy who rocked your world.”
“Crystal, you aren’t funny. Not even close,” Milena retorted.
“Really? I think she’s spot on,” Taylor chimed in.
“David was just looking for a booty call. He has, like, a list of women he goes through each night until one poor girl accepts. Right, Crystal?” Milena asked her friend.
She wanted Crystal to help slow Taylor down from getting overexcited. But Crystal was no help. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head at Taylor.
“Yeah, right,” Crystal said in agreement, but with her sarcasm meter set on ‘no way in hell.’
“It didn’t mean anything,” Milena feebly tried.
“That’s why you snuck off. Because spending time with David didn’t mean anything,” Crystal said, calling her on her bullshit.
Milena could see them both mulling over whether she meant what she just said about how she felt about David. Milena could also imagine them deciding to call the cops on her and ending her current unmedicated, psych-ward-free existence. Because if she did mean it, she should be put away.
’Mental note: sign up for a relationship class. Oh, and also get better at play-acting. Right, and since I’m making a list, learn to tell a believable story,’ Milena thought.
“Sometimes, we let things simmer for a long time without even realizing it. And we all need someone to come along and remind us to stir the pot. Hand-to-heart time: did he ‘stir your pot’?” Crystal asked.
Milena sank down into her chair, hoping that the earth would open and swallow her up. When she reluctantly concluded that she didn’t have the magic to pull that off, she let out a long sigh.
“He did,” she finally admitted.
Taylor sucked in her breath and fell quiet with wide eyes. Her mouth formed a silent oval, and she pressed a closed fist to it. Crystal and Milena watched because Taylor was something to marvel at, like a distant and wild storm about to explode. Then it came.
“I am so jealous of you. When he crawled off the bed, I was so excited, I might have peed a little. I wanted to reach out and touch his chest and arms. Those arms and his butt are like something you only see in movies or magazines.”
“He’s an actor and a model. Of course he looks nice,” Crystal pointed out.
“I would end up addicted to him. David would be as healthy for me as eating a bag of chips every night for dinner, but who cares about being healthy when he’s packing what we saw? He’s more than nice. He es muy caliente,” Taylor said, breaking out her high school Spanish.
“And that right there is why I’m perplexed. I think dating David would be a mistake. So I told him that we couldn’t be more than just a hookup,” Milena confessed.
“I bet he liked that,” Crystal shot.
“He didn’t. He wanted to be friends, too. I’m afraid if it was to be more than just a hookup, I would get ‘addicted,’ like Taylor said. He would have me so twisted up I wouldn’t know which way was up,” Milena moaned.
Milena knew she could easily fall hard and fast for David. What she was afraid of was that there would be nothing to break her fall when it all ended, which it would. Guys like David didn’t date ordinary girls like her. He would end up with someone like Fiona Beckham.
“Give me your phone,” Crystal said with her hand held out.
Milena figured that Crystal’s must have been dead, so she handed hers over. Crystal knew the password, so she was quickly sending a message. When she was done, she smiled.
“There. All sorted,” Crystal said.
Milena’s phone chimed to indicate she’d received a text. When Crystal saw it, she beamed with excitement. She showed it to Taylor first before showing Milena. Crystal had invited David to come over to the sorority tonight to hook up. He’d sent back a smiley and a thumbs-up emoji to accept.
“And you invited Matt!” Taylor sang out. “So much drama!”
“You need to get a life,” Crystal said to Taylor.
“I have a life,” Taylor said breathlessly. “Both of yours.”
Crystal and Milena each cracked a smile at their overexcited friend. They had to get to class. Milena went to the cash register to pay and saw they had a new charity today. The last one for the baby-dicked guy had cracked her up. They always had some quirky cause that was more joke than serious. Milena suspected they split the money up between the staff.
This time, it was for fixing some girl’s hair. The picture was of their waitress as she came to work one day. It looked like she’d combed her hair with a hand grenade. The funny part was that the jar was almost full. Baby dick might have raised five dollars if he was lucky.
On her way to class, Milena had to push away the dizzying storm of thoughts that had rushed into her head as a result of their conversation. She focused on the realization that she would have to go home right after class to clean her room. Milena didn’t intend to let her sorority sisters ‘help’ her again. When she’d opened her closet the next morning, it looked like a hundred raccoons had stormed through it.
Taylor and Milena sat on the front porch and waited for David to show up. He’d sent Milena a message that he was on his way. One of their favorite porch-sitting pastimes was to watch drunk assholes stumble past. The Alpha Mu house was on ‘Greek Row,’ so there were plenty of drunken asshats to comment on. They would guess stuff like, who would hook up with whom? Who would pass out on the grass? And their favorite, who would end up flunking out before the end of the semester?
Alpha Mu never held parties like the fraternities did. Their sisters could only invite guys who were dating one of them. That was why they all went to other places if they planned to find someone. It was also why they went in groups. Sometimes bad decisions were made when alcohol was involved.
Milena excused herself because she decided she needed some liquid courage before she faced David again. One of the freshmen was overseeing making screwdrivers, so Milena grabbed a glass. As she took her first sip, she determined that the freshman shouldn’t be in charge of making drinks because it was so strong that she almost gagged. With her second sip, she began to struggle with the odd sensation of being alone in a crowd. Maybe she shouldn’t be drinking.
Just as she made her way back outside, she saw Taylor all but leap off the porch as she held out her hand to David. She was a bundle of joy, and it was a wonder she hadn’t broken out in dance.
“Long time, no see. All I can say about the last time we met is wow. Just ... wow. I’m Taylor.”
“I have a thing for redheads,” David responded, making her year.
Milena decided to go save him before Taylor jumped the poor boy. When he spotted her, she could see all thoughts of her redheaded friend leave his mind. He came up the steps and pulled Milena into a sweet kiss.
Taylor bounded up the steps and bounced on her toes next to them. David looked over and raised one eyebrow.