Look at us, Gator. We’re like officially friends now.
Grace
Friends, huh? When we don’t even know each other’s real names?
Alix
Wait… do you mean… your name is NOT Gator?
Grace chuckled despite her miserable mood. God, this was a new level of pathetic. The only time she’d laughed in weeks was sitting alone talking to a potential spree killer.
Alix
And you do know mine. It’s Alix.
Grace
You used your real name in your profile? Aren’t you afraid of putting personal details out there for anyone to see?
Alix
Chill, Gator. It’s not my social and blood type. McGruff the Crime Dog raised me right. No matter how many cute puppies are on offer, I’m not getting in your van.
Biting the inside of her cheek, Grace caught her laughter before it slipped out again. Alix, if that was her real name, wasn’t there to cheer her up. She was there to help her figure out how to stop thinking about Julie so she could move the hell on.
She considered making up an alias, but she’d lost her appetite for secrets and lies. She held her breath and typed out:I’m Grace.
Alix
Hi, Grace. The internets tell me you’re in Miami.
Eyes widening and heart dropping into her churning acidic pit of a stomach, Grace froze. She looked at the phone on her desk and debated calling building security.
Grace
What?
Alix
305? Unless you’re not there anymore. I kept my Colorado number when I moved to California.
Deflating with relief, blood returned to Grace’s limbs when she exhaled. A lifetime of her mother’s warnings that one wrong move would end with her floating in a canal crept up on her at the worst times.
Grace
No, that’s accurate. Miami born and bred.
She’d almost said that she’d been held captive since birth but stopped herself. Alix wasn’t gathering info for Grace’s wiki page. She was supposed to be talking about her breakup.
Alix
ohhh Miami. I’ve never been. Is it all that Will Smith led me to believe?
Unbeknownst to her, Alix had tripped onto the landmine of Grace’s pet peeve. There were few things she hated more than Hollywood’s misrepresentations of her city. Their love-hate relationship aside, the stylized image of a few blocks on South Beach did not represent Miami.
Grace
Do you mean is it a bunch of half-naked and hypersexualized gorgeous women, nightclubs, and drug dealers?
