Page 43 of Broken Boundaries

“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, babe. Now you owe me a drink for all this frustration,” she says just as I find an empty parking spot by the bar.

“Yes, ma’am.”

We link arms as we walk to the bar. It’s packed tonight. Packed and loud. It feels like everyone is yelling to talk over the loud music booming from the speakers. I follow Jazz to the bar, and she gets the bartender’s attention.

“The usual, Jazz?” he asks her with a little smirk.

“Yes, and my friend will have a…?” She looks at me.

“Gin and tonic, please.”

He nods and winks at Jazz. “Coming right up, ladies.”

“Thanks, Owen.”

He gets to work on making our drinks, and I look at Jazz. “So… Owen?”

She rolls her eyes and waves me off. “We hook up occasionally. Nothing serious.”

“He’s cute! Why not something more serious?”

She shrugs. “I’m not looking for serious.”

I laugh and shake my head at her, but before I can ask any follow-up questions, Owen is back, sliding our drinks across the bar.

“Start a tab for us, babe!” Jazz calls out to him as she grabs her glass and walks off to find a table.

She sees a group of her friends and leads us over there.

“Guys, this is my new friend, Aspen. Aspen, this is everyone!” Jazz announces.

There must be at least ten people standing around this table, and they all smile and wave at me.

“She’s here to have a good time tonight. Can we give her that?”

“Hell yeah!” someone calls out.

“Hell yeah,” Jazz repeats and clinks our glasses together. We both take a big sip of our drink, and then I’m whisked into conversation with everyone here. A lot of these people Jazz has known her whole life. Unfortunately, while I haven’t met them yet, most of them have heard of me through the grapevine. It seems it was news that Zach Calloway was back in town with a new girl, and then it was news again when Zach was no longer seen around town with said new girl.

“You dodged a bullet if you ask me,” a girl named Misty says. “I like Zach, but he was always immature. And Melinda? Let’s just say she made it easy for the boys, if you know what I mean.”

“The two of them were so on and off in high school. One minute they were all lovey dovey, and the next she’d have her tongue down another guy’s throat,” Isla adds. “And he usually would string another girl along until Melinda came crawling back.”

“I didn’t know all this. I guess I saw a different version of him.”

“It’s not on you. He showed you what he wanted you to see. Now you know his true colors. At least you got out before it was too late,” Hope says.

“Thanks, guys. It’s just crazy how you think you know someone until you see a whole other side and your world comes crumbling down.”

“Well, we’re gonna help you build it back up!” Misty says.

“Yeah, no more sad talk about that loser tonight. Let’s dance!” Jazz grabs my hand, and five of us head out to the dance floor. The music is turned up so loud tonight that it almost rivals being in a club in Atlanta.

I have no idea how many songs we dance to, but at one point, I see Isla’s eyebrows raise as she turns and smiles at Hope. Then Hope smiles. I wonder what’s going on when I feel someone touch my arm. I look over and see a man standing next to me.

“Hey, what’s your name?” he asks.

I glance at my new friends to get their approval before I tell him. All four of them nod in encouragement, so I take it to mean they know this man and he must be ok.