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Chapter 1
Peyton
“Oh my god, I’m so glad this week is finally over!” I dropped down in the seat across from my best friend with a loud grunt, leaning my elbows on the table between us, as I looked around the dimly lit bar. “Sorry I’m late, but it doesn’t look like I’ve missed much.”
“Nah, no one interesting in here,” Lisa said with a roll of her brown eyes, flicking a wrist to indicate the half-empty bar dismissively. Her chocolate hair was slicked up in a long ponytail today. “Might have to find a new joint.”
“Aw, but I just got here!” I sat up and glanced around for a server. If she wanted to run us off, I’d be damned if I didn’t get a drink in me first.
“Not my fault you’re late.”
“Not my fault, either!”
“Ooh,” Lisa smirked, her dark eyes sparkling with humor as she leaned forward. “Tell me.”
I looked back at her and scrunched my nose. “Huh? Tell you what?”
“Oh, don’t even try that shit with me. What’s the latest in the roommate from hell saga that made you,” she glanced down at her watch, “exactly twenty-two minutes late for Friday night drinks?”
I let out an exhausted sigh and pushed back a mass of red curls from my face in frustration, because it wasn’t just my roommate from hell saga that had worn me out this week. “I need a drink or three, first,” I declared, and flagged down a passing server. “What are you drinking?”
Lisa held up her glass and smiled. “Whiskey. Neat.”
My eyes widen. “I guess I’m not the only one who had a tough week.”
“No shit,” she said, and knocked back the rest of her drink just as the server arrived. “Another neat whiskey for me and a Jack and Coke for her,” she said, before she turned her gaze back to me. “Alright now spill, what happened with Chloe this time?”
“You mean Chloe who was raised in a fucking barn?” I slumped back in my seat again. “Chloe who cuts her toenails at the kitchen table? Chloe who left a used pad open on top of the trash can in the bathroom today?”
Lisa’s lips curled in disgust. “Um, all of the above?”
“Yep. And you know what she said about the pad? ‘Why are you trippin’ when we both have periods?’ Like, are you fucking seriously asking me why I don’t want to see your dirty period pads?” I shuddered just thinking about it. “Like I’m the one who’s crazy for wanting her to act like she’s a human and not some farm animal? And then she refused to clean it up, saying that it was on the trash can which is where it should be, and she’d throw it away tomorrow . I had to clean her shit and physically wash the trash can lid because that’s just nasty, and I didn’t want it festering there until morning. She’s so fucking gross. Thanks,” I huffed when the server returned with our drinks, and practically ripped mine away from her so I could take a desperate sip, I sure needed it.
“I think it’s time you find a new place.”
“Ya think? Look at me, I’m so pale from stress I’m translucent!”
“Pff, don’t start complaining about that,” she says with a good-natured eyeroll. “With your big blue eyes and gorgeous red curls, guys always think you’re super innocent or some shit and flock. If anything, it’ll get you more free drinks tonight.”
“I’d rather pay for my own drinks and have my roommate clean up her own period mess, thanks,” I mutter.”
“Hence, move out?”
“Finals are done and we graduate in a week, so I’ll finally have the time and energy to find a place of my own.”
“In seven days, we’ll be college graduates. Official members of the real world.” Lisa lifted her glass in the air. “A toast to us for working our asses off for the past four years and finally reaching our goals!”
“Cheers to that shit!” I tapped my glass to hers with a smile and took another long, fortifying sip. The caramel taste of the Jack was familiar and soothing, and slowly I felt my body start to relax. To calm down after the busiest week of my life. “I’m so happy you got a job in Vegas, by the way. I would’ve died if you left me here all alone.”
I’d been alone for most of my life. Even when I lived with my dysfunctional parents—an abusive dad and a terrified, codependent mother—I was still on my own. Once my dad finally beat the shit out of my mom so bad she needed to be hospitalized, I ended up in foster care until they tracked down my Aunt Myra in Chicago.
Until Aunt Myra, I was used to being alone. But because of Aunt Myra, I also learned that I didn’t have to be. Having someone close you could trust was one of life’s greatest gifts, and I was glad to have my bestie nearby.
“Yeah, well, the city has grown on me over the past three years,” Lisa said with a shrug.
“You mean it’s not a dusty hellhole full of degenerates and losers?” When she transferred from junior college, Lisa hated the desert.
She smirked. “Oh, it is definitely still all of that, but I think maybe that’s my speed. I like being surrounded by riffraff, as long as I’m not caught up in it.”
