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“Yeah.” Looks like I’m Josh’s one-night stand. And looks like he was mine.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Whatcha mean?”
“You. The moping. You’ve had something seriously wrong with you since Thanksgiving.”
I shake my head. I’m not in the mood to talk about it. I’ll probably cry if I do. “No. Let’s just go.”
She holds up her Christmas present. Probably her only one this year, if I know her mother. “I’ll wear this. And I have the sexiest little top to wear with it. God, I’m glad we’re not having a cold winter this year.” She rises from our beat-up old sofa, with cat claw streaks on its side. And no, we’ve never had a cat. But it was a hand-me-down. We couldn’t turn that away. “What are you going to wear?” She looks at my ripped jeans and old tee pointedly.
I raise a brow. “This?” I do the game show hostess thing with my hands, like I’m showing off some wonderful ensemble.
“Seriously.” She draws the word out, making it last far longer than it should. “You can’t wear that.” Disgust drips from her words.
“We’re talking about the oldBarnyard, right?” I name the bar—at least, the name I know it used to have and wonder if that’s changed—then look to her for an answer, though I know I’m right. I’m not that out of touch. “The piece of shit place that has wood floors mostly covered with dirt?”
“Yeah, but—”
I cut her off. “Then I’m probably overdressed.”
“It’s New Year’s Eve, Cassie.” She comes my way and plucks at my top, pulling it out and shaking the hem. “Dress for it.” Then she gives her head a coquettish tilt. “Or do it for the cute bartender.”
“Fuck no.” That slips out before I planned it to. “I’m not going to pick up some guy.”
“Fine. Then dress up a little bit, so you don’t scare everyone away. I’d at least like to visit with one.” She winks. “Maybe two.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine.” I make for the bedroom I share with Riley. Kara heads toward the one she shares with Cherise.
A few minutes later, I’m in front of the mirror in the bathroom I share with Riley, putting a coat of gloss on my lips when Kara walks in behind me.
“Oh, hell no.” She snaps her fingers. “Hell to the no. You ain’t wearing that.” She’s grimacing at me in the mirror.
“Kara. Really. Really!” I’m irritated with her, but not so much that I can’t appreciate the lengths she’s gone to tonight. Her hair’s shiny and straightened to a glossy black sheet. Her lips are a ruby red, setting off eyes the color of a Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss. A shimmering red top matches her lips, and a skirt that’s waaaaay above the knee makes her long legs even longer. Guess she decided against the jeans.
I’m almost tempted to laugh out loud. I could never compete withthat. She’s a bombshell. An Italian bombshell. And she has no clue.
“Really.” A headshake from her. “Cassie. Please don’t dress like that.” Concern is mirrored in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Now she’s got me worried. I turn around, hike my skirt up a little and sit on the counter, legs tucked under me, shoving make-up bottles and brushes out of the way.
“I don’t know. It’s you.” She shrugs her Old-World type of shrug. “I have never seen such sadness in the depth of your eyes, in the set of your lips. Since Thanksgiving—”
“I don’t feel like talking about it right now, Kara. Okay? Maybe some other time? Can we just go have fun tonight? I promise I’ll flirt with a hunk or two and have a good time. Deal?”
I promise myself I’ll smile, though I’m not so sure about the whole flirting thing. I’m not feeling it. But her being this worried... Kara’s the closest thing I have to a sister. And I know she feels the same way. I’m close to all my roommates, but for some reason, Kara and I gravitate toward each other a little bit more than the others the last few months.
21
WASTED OR BARNYARD
CASSIE
“Now, was that so hard?” Kara’s shaking her head at me as we get into her car. She’s the designated one tonight.
Not that I plan to drink. Much. “It’s fine, it’s fine.” I’m in a short black skirt, boots, and a tight white sweater. Wayyyy too tight. It shows off the curves that some days I’d like to get rid of. A few on top, and a bit in the middle. I wince at the diet thing. That’s going to hell in a handbasket these days. What with the Josh on the brain and all that.
“So, does the place have a new name? Or is it still theBarnyard?” I make an icky face at that name. That place was always such a dump. But God, they had dime wings and dime beer on Wednesday nights. When you’re on a budget, that’s a heck of a deal.
