“And what type is that?” Adelle asked.
“Flaky,” I supplied. Adelle glared at me. “Ninety percent of the guys I've seen you date were either hipsters who were right at home in a coffehouse poetry read or frat guys with more brawn than brains. Basically, whoever you think is going to be good in bed.”
“That's not true.”
I sighed. “One name, Adelle. Tad Boffer.”
“What was wrong with Tad?”
“He was a twenty-one year-old poet who wrote about meat,” I said.
She grinned at me. “But you should've seen what he was packing.”
I groaned. “Seriously, Adelle?” I shook my head again. “And you wonder why I don't trust your taste in men most of the time.”
“How about this?” Mindy interrupted.
I turned toward Mindy, hoping Adelle would take the hint and not press the issue.
“There's a guy from my building who would be absolutely perfect for you,” Mindy said. “He's cute. White blond hair, sea-green eyes.” She fanned herself to try to break the tension with a laugh. “Over six feet and muscles... oh my.”
I chuckled and she looked relieved.
“Seriously, Bree,” she said. “He's a great guy. When I met him, my first thought was that if you hadn't been with that creep, Ronald, I would've introduced the two of you. He's so your type.”
It was funny she said that since I didn't even know what my type was. I didn't ask though. I didn't want to give Adelle another reason to suggest I try new things.
“I'm not sure,” I said. I didn't want to hurt Mindy's feelings, especially since she'd saved me from having to tell Adelle no, but I didn't think this was a good idea. “It's only been two weeks.”
“Drinks,” Mindy said. She glanced at Adelle. “I'm not saying sleep with him. Just meet him for drinks tomorrow night.”
My eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why's he free on a Saturday night at short notice, if he's so great?”
Mindy flushed. “I may have told him that I had someone I wanted him to meet.”
“Mindy!”
“I didn't make any promises,” she quickly said. “I didn't tell him anything for sure, but I wanted to make sure he was available if the opportunity came up.”
I scowled at her but she just looked at me, hope filling her eyes. I sighed, one drink couldn’t hurt. Plus, it appeared I didn't really have much of a choice, not unless I wanted to make Mindy look bad to this guy. I closed my eyes for a moment. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, I told myself. It might be nice to have a civilized conversation over drinks. Get to know someone. Laugh, flirt a little. I opened my eyes and saw Mindy watching me anxiously.
I nodded. “All right,” I said. “Drinks tomorrow night at O'Mallys. I'm taking a cab so I can get plastered if this guy's a ‘just my type’ prick.”
“Deal,” she said, beaming. “I'll go call him right now and tell him the good news.”
I glanced at Adelle as Mindy pulled out her phone.
“I still think you need a good lay more than a date,” Adelle said.
I shook my head. Casual sex just wasn't my thing. I'd never tried, but I didn't think I could do 'no strings.' Even with a fling, there'd have to be some sort of connection. I was just wired that way.
Chapter 3
What had I been thinking? Agreeing to go on a blind date with this guy from Mindy's apartment building had to be one of the dumbest things I'd ever done. It was impulsive, rash and completely out of character. Then again, I reasoned, considering the way my life had gone this past month, maybe doing something against my natural instincts was exactly what I needed right now. If taking my time, thinking things through nice and slow when it came to my relationship with Ronald had led me to this point, maybe it was time to reconsider the way I looked at things.
Not that I was desperate or crazy enough to go with Adelle's suggestion of hiring a hooker. No, a blind date was as adventurous as I was going to get.
If I could figure out what to wear.
How pathetic was that? I’m twenty-five years-old and had no idea what I should wear on a first date. It wasn't surprising, really. After all, it had been seven years since I'd last had one.
Damn it, why did everything remind me of Ronald!
I'd been a college freshman at the University of Illinois when I'd met him, a teacher's assistant for my general psychology course. He'd asked me out after just a couple weeks and that had been that. We'd kept it quiet until the end of the semester, but we'd been a couple from that point until the day he'd walked out before our wedding. And it hadn't been like our first date had been anything I'd really needed to dress up for. We'd had a picnic on the quad with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a thermos of Ramon noodles, some Saltines and two slightly warm beers we’d had to sneak and pour into red plastic cups. I'd found out later that Ronald had cleaned out his cupboards and fridge for the meal. His roommate had been pissed. At the time, it had seemed romantic.
I shook my head, trying to banish the memories. I didn't want to think about Ronald or anything we'd done together. The problem with that line of thinking was that if I disregarded that part of my life, there wasn't much in the past seven years I could think about then. He was there through all of it, intricately woven into almost every memory.
A knock at my door startled me.
“Cavalry's here!”
I sighed in relief as I heard Mindy's muffled voice. I hurried down the hall and through my tiny living room. When I threw open the door, she grinned at me, most likely because I was still wearing my ratty cotton robe with dancing bananas. She and Adelle had constantly told me to get rid of it and buy something sleek and sexy. I refused. My banana robe was comforting, and during times like this, I needed as much comfort as I could get.
“Oh, sweetie, I knew you'd need some help, but I had no idea it'd be this bad.” She gestured at my robe, rolled her eyes and then headed straight for my bedroom.
I was so glad to see her that I couldn't even pretend to be annoyed. I just followed her into the bedroom, ready for whatever advice she could give me.
“Did you realize it's been almost a decade since you've gone on a date with someone? Like a real getting-to-know-you date?” She put her hands on her hips as she looked at the clothes strewn across my bed. “Things have changed.”
“No, Mindy,” I said sarcastically. “I thought it was still the custom to bring a chaperone to make sure that we kept a respectable distance for each other as we took an evening stroll home from the barn-raising.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Always with the sarcasm, Bree.” She gave me a sideways look. “You know, it's a good thing your students can't hear how you talk outside the classroom.”
I picked up a pillow, threw it at her and whined, “Just help me figure out what to wear.”
She laughed as she caught the pillow and then tossed it back onto the bed. I was glad it was her and not Adelle who'd come over. I loved my best friend to death and we'd both grown up in working class families, but she sometimes forgot that I wasn't in the same financial situation as she was now that we were grown.
Case in point, my entire apartment was smaller than the first floor of her townhouse. And my clothing selection was much more limited, even though it usually filled my tiny closet to overflowing. Most of my clothes were for work, new ones bought over the last year with the belief that finances would soon be a little less restrictive. Ronald and I had worked hard on our budget so that we could afford a place in a nicer neighborhood, but I'd managed to figure out how I'd have enough for a couple new outfits for school, ones that made me look more like a teacher and less like a student. Now, I had clothes I probably could've done without and the same crappy apartment I'd had for the past year instead of the cute little place Ronald and his new girlfriend, Sami, were renting in Lincoln Park.