Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
9
MALLORY
“Oh my God, what happened?” Dale asked as they reached me. “You left so long ago, we were about to leave without you!”
“Sorry,” I said. “I got tied up there for a minute.”
“Tied up?” Steven asked, suddenly very interested. “Please tell me that’s a euphemism. No, wait. Don’t. Tell me you are being literal. God, I don’t know. You are a perfect angel and I love you, but I also want to know if you did the nasty with the hot baseball man.”
“He was on the field most of the time I was gone,” I said.
Dale glanced at Steven very briefly and then rolled his eyes.
“Not all men need a long time, darling.”
“Excuse me?” Steven said, turning on Dale.
“Shut up, boys,” Tamara said. “She can’t tell us what happened if you two keep yakking.”
“Right. Correct. So,” Steven said, suddenly straightening himself up and pushing his glasses back up his nose. “What happened? Spare no details.”
“It was nothing, really,” I said. “No big deal.”
“Nope,” Dale said. “I refuse. That is not the story. Try again.”
“Really,” I said. “He just wanted to make sure it was me. We said hello, and we caught up for a minute.”
There was another stony silence as they all looked at me with expectant eyes. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Fine,” I said. “He looked amazing, and we’re getting together later tonight. Tamara, I love you and I am sorry, but I have to.”
The last bit came out as if it were one word, but the cheer the three of them let out nearly drowned it out anyway.
“Baby, I don’t care,” Tamara said. “We celebrated my birthday last night. Today was icing on the cake. You go see this boy and then tell us all about that tomorrow. The juicy details will be extra, extra icing.”
“I don’t have any firm plans yet,” I said. “He has my number and said he has to go do some team-related stuff and get showered and would either text or call me.”
“So no idea when?” Tamara asked.
“No, but I wouldn’t think it would be too long. He asked me not to go too far.”
“Then we are going to a bar to wait,” Tamara said. “Because hell if I am paying twenty dollars for a Bud when I can go to a bar and have a cute boy buy me a better beer for free.”
“On it,” Dale said, pulling out his phone.
A few moments later, we were walking out of the stadium, heading to a bar that Dale had pulled up on his GPS. There was a place near Gerard’s and 161st Street, and we ended up making our way there, filing into the crowded bar, and ordering beers while Dale found us a standing table to huddle around.
“So spill it. What was it like? What was he like?” Tamara said, her eyes sparkling as she sipped a fruity drink of various colors that I couldn’t identify.
“Well, I got some pictures of the place I was at. It had an open bar, but I was too afraid to make a drink," I said.
“What about Graham?” Dale asked.
“Well, he is absolutely every bit as gorgeous as he seems like he is. He was all hot and sweaty and grimy from the game.”
Dale and Steven had opposite reactions to this piece of news, which nearly made me spit my drink. Dale’s screwed-up face of distaste and Steven’s borderline-creepy smile were so polar opposite that I had trouble concentrating on the rest of it.
“What did he say?” Tamara asked, being a taskmaster for the story. I figured she was falling back on her journalism degree, but it was entirely possible she had just been deprived of gossip with Dale and Steven only ever bickering and then being wildly in love with one another.
“He said it was nice to see me and that I looked better than I had last time,” I said, eliciting sniggering and swoons from my three friends. “We shared a beer, and he saw that the team conference was going on and said he had to go. But he said he wanted to see me later, and I gave him my number. Then he said not to go too far.”
“Lord, woman,” Steven said. “How you maintained your composure in a time like that I will never know. It is so impressive.”
“Honestly, I don’t know how I did it either. The man is incredibly attractive. I’m not going to lie; I was tempted,” I said.
“Well, if you end up jumping his very large bones later tonight, I will need an update. Preferably before midnight. So get to it quickly, please,” Steven said.
“It’s not a date, guys,” I said. “We’re just going to go catch up. Two old friends. He’s not interested in me like that, I am sure of it. We’re just going to go get a drink together, swap some stories and reminisce for a while, and then I will be back at my apartment. Probably before midnight.”