CHAPTER5
Sadie
“You look like hell.”
“Gee thanks, come in.” I step aside to let my best friend, Karlie, into my apartment. She holds up a garment bag and I shake my head. “I’m not wearing that this year.”
“Excuse me? Like hell you aren’t! The ho-ho-ho girls is our tradition. We’ve been doing this for five years and it’s not stopping now.” She shoves the garment bag in my hand. I know it contains an identical little Santa outfit to the one she’s wearing. It’s basically a bright red bra top trimmed with white fur and embellished with black and gold buckles, a matching miniskirt, tall striped socks, and a pair of black high-heeled pumps.
“Ugh,” I groan, taking the bag from her and shutting the door. My head is still pounding from the night before. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to get drunk on cheap rum with basically no water or food in my system. Even the gallon of water and three Advil I took earlier haven’t touched it.
She eyes me suspiciously. “What happened to you last night?”
“Nothing.” I shrug, attempting to remain nonchalant, but based on the suspicious way she studies me, I’m unsuccessful.
“You didn’t return my texts for hou—oh my god! Did you finally dump that loser and find a hottie with a body to show you a good time?” She wiggles her eyebrows up and down, and it reminds me of Alex doing the same thing last night.
“Hottie with a body? What are we, seventeen?” I laugh. Tossing the garment bag on the couch, I reach for the burger and fries she brought me. I take a huge bite, stalling. I still haven’t told my friends about me and Tim. At first, it was because I thought for sure we would be back together by now. I figured there was no sense rousing the troops if he just needed a short-lived weeklong break. But it’s been almost a month, and I’m starting to think maybe he’s actually done with me.
“Caleb and Ariel are meeting us in thirty minutes, so you better get a move on. You need to take a shower. I think there might be something growing in your hair.” She grimaces, lifting a limp, matted lock of my hair. It always looks like crap when I go to sleep with it wet like I did the night before.
Karlie, Caleb, Ariel, and I have been best friends since our freshman year of college. I can’t even remember who met who first. It just feels like we’ve all been inseparable for the last six years.
“The thought of drinking tonight makes my stomach feel soupy.” I dip a fry into a pile of ketchup and shove it in my mouth.
“You went out drinking last night?” She arches her brow. “What’s going on?”
I shake my head. “Long story. I promise I’ll fill you guys in on everything at the bar. I just don’t want to have to go through it all multiple times.”
“Ohhhh, so something is going on? I hope it’s piping hot.”
I finish the burger in two more bites and stand up to toss my trash away before heading for the shower.
“Trust me,” I say, pausing in the doorway to look back at her. “It’s boiling.”
* * *
“Okay,okay! Before we get too deep into the holiday spirit, Sadie said she has some boiling hot tea to share, and I’m tired of waiting. So spill!” Karlie claps her hands and leans on the bar table we’re all sitting around.
Caleb throws his hands up. “Hold up. You ladies know the rule. As excited as I am for this hot goss, we start this party every year with a nog shot and rum chaser.”
“Ugh, not rum.” I drop my head into my hands and Ariel reaches over to rub my back.
“What am I missing?” she asks, looking around the table.
“Nothing. I just drank about a third of a bottle of cheap rum last night.”
“Ohhh, that explains things,” she says, studying my clearly exhausted-looking face.
A moment later, a waitress places eight shots on the table. I make the mistake of sniffing the rum, which causes my stomach to twist as saliva pools in my mouth.
“Okay bitches, here’s to another fantastic holiday season and another year of the ho-ho-ho girls shutting down the bar!” Caleb smiles as we all lift our shots and yell “cheers!”
To my surprise, I actually manage to take both shots and keep them down, but not without chugging half my Diet Coke after.
Ariel turns toward me. “So what’s the story with you and the rum?”
“Please tell me Tim didn’t hurt you again, or so help me god, I will march my ass over to your place right now and beat him into next week,” Caleb says, Karlie and Ariel nodding their agreement. “Unless of course you dumped him, in which ca—”