Chapter 6
With Rory gone, there is nothing else to do in the apartment except eat. I didn’t want to go explore because somehow, that is something I now want to do with him. I heavily smother my fourth piece of toast with butter as I think of what to do with my time.
In another first in my week of ‘firsts,’ as I now fondly think of it, I have free time. I would have to thank Mandy for prescribing the sex-athon because it had been a while, and it will be longer after treatment.
Going back to the bar to pick out another hookup doesn’t appeal. Plus, I doubt anyone would measure up to Rory and his enthusiastic fucking. And if that wasn’t enough of a deterrent, I couldn’t go to the same bar without risking bringing home another doctor from the hospital where my treatment will take place.
Mandy calls at three in the afternoon, and I am glad for the distraction from my boredom.
“I’m having drinks at a friend’s tonight, and you are coming with,” she says before so much as a ‘hello.’
“Hi Mandy, I’m fine, thanks for asking. Sure, thanks for inviting me.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t look as good on you as it does on me,” she says dryly.
“What time? And where do I meet you?”
Mandy sighs into the phone. “Do you even have a car?”
“I didn’t really have to drive in the City, so . . .”
“Oh, my, god. Don’t tell me you don’t know how to drive!”
I laugh. “I’m joking. I have a car.”
“Forget it. I’ll pick you up at seven,” she says and hangs up.
I’m ready by seven, but Mandy doesn’t show up until seven forty-five. I’m sitting on the stoop in front of my building when she shows up in an old, beat-up clunker of a car. When she rolls down her window, a litany of apologies trail out.
“It’s really okay,” I tell her once I’m in the passenger side. “Honestly, I wanted to enjoy the nice night out.”
“Okay,” she bites her lip, looking guilty as she drives. “I have a hard time getting to places on time.”
“No worries. So? We’re going to a friend’s house?”
“Yeah. They work at the hospital with me, but don’t worry, they’re discreet, and you don’t have to tell them anything you don’t want to. I know I could use a girls’ night, and I figured you might as well.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t really have any girlfriends,” I admit, and I’m not sure why that makes me feel embarrassed.
“Not even one?”
“Does my sister count?”
Mandy shakes her head, and her laughter fills the car. “No. Your sister definitely doesn’t count.”
I shrug, unsure what else to say to that.
“Don’t tell me you are one of those girls who is too cool for other girls? You only hang out with men because you ‘identify’ better with them?”
I laugh. “No. When you’re trying to be a pro athlete, it’s hard to have time for friends at all. I didn’t really go anywhere, so it was hard to meet people, and yeah, fighting gyms are filled ninety-nine percent with men. I mostly have male friends because of convenience, not because I think I’m superior to other women or anything.”
“Okay, girl. I get you. I get you.”
“Also, my resting bitch face doesn’t help.”
Mandy laughs again. “Yeah, you do have one of those, though I would never have pointed it out.”
“It’s helpful in the fighting cage, but I think people find it hard to approach me in everyday life. Except for you. You are kind of fearless, aren’t you?”