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Like a wall of muscles, the three bouncers advanced on us, grabbing my arm and then my sister’s. I tried to pull myself away but it was like fighting against a robot made of steel.
“You tech-bro fucker!” I shouted. “We rented the rooftop until midnight! You can’t just take it, youcunt-waffle!”
The guy chuckled as if that were funny, then turned to say something to the man with him. An Italian-looking guy with jet-black hair, and sharp eyes above a hawkish nose.
“Is this how you treat paying customers?” I shouted, loud enough to draw the attention of everyone inside. “Don’t ever rent the rooftop from this place, folks! They’ll snatch it away from you on a whim!”
What angered me most was that the T-shirt-wearing tech-bro wasn’t even paying attention to me anymore. He was chatting softly with the Italian guy. They both abruptly laughed and shook their heads.
“All the money in the world can’t buy class, you modern-day feudal fucks!” I yelled.
“Amber,please,” Michelle said while the other bouncer pulled her along.
“I’m trying to fix this,” I replied. “I won’t let some asshole tech-bro ruin your birthday just because—”
“No,” she hissed at me. “Please stop making a scene. It’s fine. We can go somewhere else.”
Then I saw it. The humiliation in her eyes and voice. Not at being asked to leave the rooftop patio, but humiliation at what I was doing. Making a scene was kind of my defense mechanism, but it was embarrassing for her. Especially in front of all her friends.
Some birthday I’ve given her.
I clenched my lower jaw to keep from saying anything more as we were escorted out of the bar, and all thoughts of Jude’s awkward-but-charming smile were gone.
4
Amber
I groaned and slapped at my phone alarm, silencing the blaring noise on my third swat. It took another ten seconds for me to roll over and open my eyes, which summoned my hangover up from the depths of my brain. I closed them shut, then opened them a tiny fraction of a slit.
Eight forty-five in the morning.
My first impulse was to close my eyes, cover my head with the pillow, and go back to sleep. But a trickle of a thought found it’s way up from the depths of my brain to my consciousness. I set my alarm because I had somewhere to be today.
ACS. Advanced Crypto Solutions.
Adrenaline surged through my body and forced me out of bed. I had to step over a sleeping couple on the floor to get to the bathroom; a quick glance around showed that the hotel room was filled with Michelle and her friends. Two on the other bed, three sleeping upright on the love seat, one in the computer chair, and the rest scattered on the floor.
My head was pounding as I teetered my way into the bathroom. Even though my bladder felt like it was going to burst, I forced myself to gulp down one glass of water from the sink, then a second.
While peeing, I checked Instagram. The photos on my sister’s feed helped me remember the rest of the night. After getting kicked out ofMarcello’s, we bar-hopped around The Mission. Drinking and dancing and walking to a new bar to do it all over again. I remember it being fun, despite the embarrassment of the rooftop deck.
Then I checked my credit card statement. There were a lot of pending charges. Two pages of them. So not only had I blown two thousand dollars on a rooftop deck we only enjoyed for an hour, but then I spent even more trying to salvage the night.
I groaned. Hopefully today went well.
I showered, chugged two more glasses of water, and then changed into the work clothes I had brought with me. A pencil skirt and blouse. Formal, but nottooformal for this city. That was always a tough line to walk, especially for a woman. There were some days where I would have loved for my options to be restricted to a shirt and tie. At least then, if you felt over-dressed you could remove the tie and unbutton your collar. Guys had it easy.
That thought brought back a flood of memories from last night—removing a necktie and rolling up shirt sleeves. After we got kicked out ofMarcello’s, my entire focus was on salvaging my sister’s birthday. I had forgotten all about Jude.
Flirting with a guy seemed like a small thing compared to my sister’s ruined birthday party, but thinking about Jude left me with a hollow sense of loss. I hadn’t even gotten his phone number. Or his full name. The ten minutes we spent together last night could hardly be called any sort of date, but it felt like the best first date I’d ever had.
I reached into my purse to get my lipstick… and came out with a bright blue tie. I had forgotten all about taking it from Jude. For a few moments, I felt like a reverse Cinderella. Too bad there was no way to use the tie to find my nerdy Prince Charming.
I glanced at the bathroom door to make sure none of my sister’s friends were awake, then raised the bundle of cloth to my nose. I breathed deeply, carrying Jude’s aromatic scent into my nostrils and brain. For a few seconds, it was like I was there again, drinking Roy Rogers and laughing as we discussed programming languages. The memory made me feel lighter than air.
I shook my head in the mirror, tossed the tie back into my purse, and began applying my eye-liner. There were millions of men in the city. It was stupid to worry about one guy I had missed out on. Especially since he had seen me at my absolute worst, shouting at the bar owner while getting dragged out by bouncers. As far as first impressions went, I doubted there was any possibility of coming back from that.
Even if there was a chance,I thought,I’m not sure my pride would let me recover.But despite that, thoughts of Jude lingered in my mind as I continued getting ready.
