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“I’m thinking I may have had a mini stroke before I said yes,” I muttered, looking around at my surroundings. Totaled car, hopefully competent firefighters wielding the Jaws of Life and other ridiculously sharp and pneumatic-driven power tools. “If I say no to career day, will you still get me out of here?” I yelled, then tossed the blanket over me. I wasn’t sure if he was an asshole or really fucking devious.
Make new friends,Jeff had said. Right.
14
MALLORY
“I got arrested.”
I was sitting, awkwardly in my dress–the one that I thought was sexy when I put it on the night before–on the Las Vegas courthouse steps. I had the worst case of walk of shame ever. The dark green halter dress and strappy heels only looked slutty and sad in the bright morning desert sun.
Bridget laughed in my ear. “What was it? You felt up a Chippendales dancer? Stole chips off a whale at a baccarat table?”
I didn’t know what a whale was, but I didn’t really care. I didn’t care about much of anything right now. I was hungry, dehydrated, broke, and humiliated.
“I know! You were counting cards,” she continued, enjoying her own jokes. She knew very well she was the one who could count cards.
“Prostitution,” I muttered.
She laughed even more. “You? Prostitution? Good one.”
I frowned at a crack in the cement step. “Good enough to be handcuffed on the casino floor, put in the back of a squad car, fingerprinted, had that fun photo taken, and put in a holding cell with a few others arrested for solicitation who I’m now social media friends with until my appointed time in front of the judge and was told my case would be bound over and had to pay bail for my release.” I said that in one long rush, the worst run-on sentence ever.
She was quiet.
“You’re serious.”
I sighed. “I’m serious.”
“You were arrested. For prostitution. Your friends, too?”
I raised my face to the sun. The past two days, the warm weather had been amazing. Now, all I wanted to do was cry. This was the worst tripever.
Lindy had been here back in August, returning married to Dex without remembering it, broke up with him and lived on my couch for a week. That had turned into a happily ever after, but I didn’t think this was going to have the same outcome.
“No, just me.” Alana, Megan, and Lia had been at the craps table with some cute guys from Georgia and I’d gone to the bathroom. And never came back.
This morning, they were already gone. Their flights home had left first thing. I hadn’t even been able to say goodbye in person. I’d been able to send Alana a text before the fingerprinting and they took my things away. I’d only just learned they’d left my suitcase at the hotel concierge for me because she’d left a freaked-out voicemail in response.
“You didn’t really do it, though, right? I mean, I know you wanted to have sex with a guy and all, but this is–”
“Sh–sugar, Bridge. Of course not!” I sighed.
“Then how–”
I realized something and my eyes flew open. Panic shot through me, and I cut her off. “Please tell me Mav isn’t right there. You can’t tell him about this. He can never,everknow.”
“What? No, he took Scout for a hike.”
Meaning they were back in Hunter Valley. I wanted to ask what the outcome was with her dick professor, but I didn’t have it in me.
I sighed. “Good. But promise me. You can’t tell.”
“Mal.”
“I didn’t tell anyone when you stole those tampons at the drug store by sticking them up your hooha.”
“I was twelve, had my period and it was epic and I thought I needed three at once and I went back and left five dollars on the counter later that week. There’s a big difference in vagina stories here.”
