“Hey, thanks for the message,” I replied to her. “Are you free sometime this weekend? It’s my treat.”
I slid my phone back into my pocket. I could read her reply when I got home. Right now, I just wanted to slump in a corner and cry. I lost Gary, my life was changing and it was all happening too suddenly and too quickly.
3
Noelle
“Are you going to meet up with him?” My best friend asked. We were out in the mall on a rainy Saturday. I needed to buy a new pair of sneakers and Hannah just wanted to kill some time.
I looked at her and shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe, I guess. I haven’t spoken to him in years. It’ll be so awkward but in a way, I guess I see why he’d ask me. He just lost his brother and there’s probably a lot of pressure on him right now.”
“Didn’t you see the news?” Hannah poked at me as we headed for the mall’s lower food court. We were going for chocolate sundaes. “It’s like all over Facebook.”
I had no idea what Hannah was talking about. “Elaborate, please. My head’s all over the place right now. My credit loan got rejected because I need to pay that stupid credit I took to fix my car.”
Hannah just rattled on, “You know he has a sister, right? Sonya? Well, she’s older but she declined the offer when the parents wanted to name her their inheritor. She nominated Daxter instead. However, the parents don’t trust him with the company and want to name the company’s vice president instead.”
“That’s kind of a dick move,” I commented. That was just so strange. Even though I wasn’t particularly close to my parents, I couldn’t imagine them betraying me like that or vice versa. Family was family, regardless of being poor or rich.
I then pointed to the ice cream stall, “What’ll you have?”
“Chocolate with lots of candy topping,” Hannah told me.
We ordered ice cream and sat down by one of the food court tables. There weren’t a lot of people today. Most of the time, however, we had to deal with perverts who kept on trying to peek at us or get our number. One time we even encountered a guy who flat out said we could take turns having fun with his cock.
“Well, do you think I should go?” I asked as I took a bite out of my sundae. Mine was just three vanilla scoops with banana slices and chocolate syrup. “I mean, it’s not like it’s a date or anything. He just wants someone to talk to.”
Hannah grinned and I could see a wicked thought glimmering in her eyes, “Noelle, you do know Daxter is a playboy right? All he does is screw around with girls.”
“I’m not going to be one of those girls,” I told her. “I can’t even deal with a hookup right now. I got no time for all that shit. I want to work more nights but the club has a three-nights-a-week policy.”
“Yeah, I’m not saying you’re going to let him fuck you,” Hannah tried to reason. “I’m just saying a lot of people might mistake your date as him trying to get into your pants.”
I ate a spoonful of ice cream, swallowed and pointed my spoon at my friend, “He’ll fail at that.”
“You keep waiting for Prince Charming, you know he’ll never come,” Hannah tried to be realistic, and those were words I didn’t want to hear right now. “You’re dreaming of a guy who’ll marry you before he fucks you. You’re looking for a man who’ll save you from all your problems but also love you. Guys like that exist but they don’t go for strippers.”
Maybe Hannah was right, but I wasn’t going to let that dampen my mood, “Who the fuck cares? I’m not hoping Daxter will change overnight and become my Prince Charming anyway. I’m just going to go out, let him grieve and see if we can have a good time.”
Hannah smiled at that, “You’re cute.”
I laughed and shook my head.
I just focused on enjoying our snack and soon enough we were back to strolling down the mall looking at clothes. In the end, I did buy a brand new black dress. It was a mini-dress with a low back, big space for my cleavage and a slit on one side. It was probably too sexy for most girls but for me it was just another cute piece for me to wear out of work.
When we were done, Hannah went off for work at the club and I headed home.
A few hours later, I found myself just resting on my bed – a mattress on the floor since I didn’t have a bed frame – when I saw Daxter was online. I had nothing else to do and no one else to talk to and was simply waiting for the pizza I ordered for dinner.
“Hey,” I started typing a message for him. “I’m okay with meeting up. When and where do you want to hang out? I got work this Friday night but I’m clear for Saturday.”
It didn’t take him long to reply. “Saturday’s cool with me. Where do you live? I’ll just drive by and pick you up.”
I suddenly felt my heartbeat sink and I panicked as I tried to think of a way for him to ditch that idea. I didn’t want him to see where I lived. My apartment was a piece of junk. It was one step away from being in the projects. All of my neighbors were drug addicts, thugs, strippers and whores. It wasn’t the place for some rich pretty boy like Daxter.
“Oh, uh how about we just meet up at the Old Velvet Café? You know, the one near the mall, close to the main central train station?”
Daxter was busy typing but the door suddenly knocked. I left my phone on the bed, hurriedly put on a shirt big enough to hide the fact I only had my panties on and no bra, and then opened the door.