All The Single Ladies

Jeff conveniently came down with the flu for the rest of the week, so after Monday there were no more uncomfortable encounters between him and Elena. I wasn't sure if he really was sick or not, but I wasn't about to show up with soup to find out. 

"So, I blocked his number," Elena stated as we were getting ready at my apartment on Friday night.

"That seems...bold," I answered. "How do you even do that? Is it like that app that Charlie invents when he doesn't want to hear from Marnie?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

I stared at her blankly. "You don't watch Girls?" That is like saying you didn't drink wine! 

"No," she replied shrugging. "I just went to Verizon's website, put in his phone number and voila! His calls and texts now go to a lovely virtual box that I cannot view." 

"Interesting," I replied, while applying bronzer to my cheekbones. "But back to you not watching Girls, that needs to be remedied immediately."

"Whatever you say," she said, heading into my kitchen. She came back with two glasses of wine and handed me one before plopping onto my bed. "So when is Ash coming over?" 

I glanced at my phone, "Should be here any minute, she said 8:00." 

"Does she know that I know about her and Steve?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. 

"Probably not, so don't bring it up. I definitely broke the girl code sharing that with you," I sighed.

"Well lucky for you, I don't typically point out people's infidelities in everyday conversation. So we're good," she smiled. 

"Speak of the devil!" I said, as I heard the buzzer blare from my living room. I walked over and pressed the button to let her into the building. 

"Helloooo," I heard Ashley's greeting as she walked into my apartment. 

"Back here!" I hollered, as if it would be hard for her to find us in my tiny studio. 

"Hey!" she came sweeping in, carrying a bottle of vodka and wearing a very tight black dress. "Elena! It's been forever," she said giving her a hug. 

"I know," Elena responded giddily, "God you look great." 

"Thanks," Ash said, coming over and giving me a hug. 

I grabbed her wrists and held her at arm's length in front of me. "In the flesh, I can't believe it.." I joked.

"I know, I know," she said waving me off. "I've come out from hiding now so you can cool it with your incessant calls and texts to me."

I laughed, "I'm needy out of sheer love for you, that's all!" 

Ash sat down next to Elena and sunk into the pillows. "Tell me things! I'm so disconnected."

"Yes, you get very bad service in yours and Steve's love nest," I joked. 

Elena filled her in on the terrible wedding with Jeff, to which Ashley was appropriately appalled. After she had called him half a dozen bad names, Ashley turned to me. "Where are you with Nick? The last you told me was him showing up at the train station last weekend."

I sighed. "Just a few texts this week, but I haven't seen him. We're getting dinner next week though."

"So you're giving him a chance?" Ash asked.

"I don't know if it's a chance, but I want to try being friends first. Then, we'll see." 

Ash smirked. "You two have hung out maybe twice without hooking up. In what world do you see friendship as a plausible outcome?" 

I tossed the shirt that I was holding at her. "Have faith in me!" 

"Alright, alright," she replied, laughing. "What about Bray?" 

"Ugh I've been so consumed in my Jeff drama I haven't even asked you about Bray," Elena interrupted. 

"Jeff drama was very warranted," I answered. "And I don't know. I feel so..used or something. I just keep blowing him off. And by keep, I mean I've turned him down twice to hangout, so it's not like he's really trying that hard anyway."

"You should at least ask him about that girl," Elena said. "Won't it be weird if you two just never hang out again? I feel like that's taking the easy way out."

"That's me giving him the easy way out," I said. "Shouldn't he prefer that?"

"I think you should see him and ask," Elena replied, shrugging. I looked over to Ash.

"I only met the guy once, but I think that he's hot enough to get a second chance," she grinned. 

I rolled my eyes, "Let's just go out, have fun, and keep Bray, Jeff and Nick out of the conversation for the rest of the night." 

"Hear hear!" Ash said. We gathered our things and headed out the door. 

We headed downtown to Stoudts where we were meeting up with Haley. Even though we were running late, she was no where to be found in the dimly-lit bar. We managed to snag a table near the back and dragged over a fourth barstool for whenever Haley arrived. 

"Liquor or beer?" I asked Ash and Elena before heading to the bar.

"Girls night out equals liquor," Ash quipped.

I sidled up to the bar, squeezing in between two girls. "Three vodka tonics, splash of pineapple," I said, reciting Ashley's favorite drink. 

I juggled the three glasses and navigated the crowd back to our table, where Haley was standing along with two guys I didn't recognize.

"Hi!" I greeted Haley, eyeing up the two dudes next to her. They both looked like frat bros, but the one to her right was definitely hot. 

"Hey babe!" she squealed loudly in typical Haley fashion. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought some men along. She grabbed one by the arm and presented him to me like a prize. "This is my boyfriend, Joshua. And this is Joshua's friend, Keith," she said gesturing to the one I thought was hot. I did a mental fist pump that Keith was not her boyfriend.

"Dani," I said extending my hand to each of them. "Should we grab a bigger table?" I asked, scanning the room. 

"I think everything is taken," Keith replied. "I'll rustle up some extra stools," he smiled - good god, he's hot - and disappeared into the crowd. 

"So," I said turning my attention to Haley and Joshua, "How did you two meet?" When Haley and I were up at Penn State just a few weeks ago, she had made no mention of a boyfriend. 

Haley grinned hugely, "On the subway, can you believe it! We just made eye contact, started talking and bam! Love at first sight." 

"Yeah, she was the prettiest person on the 1," he smiled back at her. I saw Ash make a gagging motion out of the corner of my eye, and I bit back a laugh. 

"That's great! So what do you do, Josh?" I asked. 

"Keith and I actually are in business together, we work for a tech start up," he answered. Just then, Keith appeared carrying two bar stools. 

"Here we go," he said, setting them down. "Just don't tell on me, I snuck them away from a table when two guys got up for drinks," he smiled and I felt my stomach do the tell-tale warning sign. 

We spent the next hour drinking, laughing and talking. I kept forcing myself to not stare at Keith like a drooling dog. During our first girl pilgrimage to the bathroom, I approached Elena to see if there was any competition in the Keith department. 

"So, Keith is pretty goodlooking," I said while reapplying lip stain.

"I'll say!" Ash replied. I looked over at Elena to judge her reaction.

"Not really my type," she answered casually. 

"He's single!" Haley chimed in. This was working out entirely too well. 

"Ohmygosh, you should totally date him. Then we could hang out all of the time," Haley added.

"Woah there," I said with a laugh. "I just want to get his number! I don't think I'm mentally stable enough to date anyone right now." 

When we headed back to the table, I saw Haley whisper something to Joshua. I kicked her lightly under the table, hoping she wasn't trying to get Joshua in on the plan. She smiled guiltily at me. 

After a few more drinks, we all decided to head downstairs to dance. The alcohol was making me courageous and I managed to coax Keith out on the dance floor. We started off fooling around, doing terrible salsa moves and twirling each other to the point where I was laughing so hard that I was almost crying. After two songs, he pulled me closer to him and turned me around so that I was facing away from him. His hands were on my waist and his face close to my neck. It was the worst kind of teasing, feeling his whole body against mine. It took everything in me to keep some shreds of dignity and not start making out with him on the dance floor.

After two more songs, we all gathered and decided it was time to head out. We spilled out into the warm night, still laughing at some of Joshua's dance moves. I was suddenly so glad that Haley had ruined girl's night by bringing along these guys. 

"Anyone want to come back to our place for some drinks?" Joshua asked, placing his arm around Haley.

"I should get back.." Ashley said, "Steve will probably be waiting." 

"I'm in," I said, trying not to look at Keith. 

"Me too," Elena agreed. I hugged Ashley goodbye, making her promise to text me when she got back. 

It turned out that Joshua and Keith's place was just a few blocks from the bar. We walked into their building and up to the second floor. Their place was surprisingly clean and well decorated for a boy's apartment.

"Isn't is nice?" Haley whispered to me as we set our bags down. 

I nodded my head. She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the kitchen. 

"So, you and Keith.." she said, wiggling her eyebrows as she reached for a bottle of whiskey from on top of the fridge.

"Stop," I said giving her a small shove. She twisted off the cap and handed me the bottle.

I took a swig and then followed her into the living room, where the boys were playing music. I extended my hands to Elena and pulled her off of the couch to dance with me. We took turns passing around the whiskey while belting out Journey songs. I felt like I was in college again, but I didn't hate it. 

Eventually I ended up sitting on Keith's lap in an armchair. We were laughing about Haley's need to spend two full hours on her hair before she goes out. 

"She's a nut, but she's the nicest nut I know," I said. 

"That's a tongue twister," he laughed. 

Every nerve in my body was telling me to kiss him, but I held firm wanting him to make the first move. 

"Dani, we should go," Elena interrupted. "It's 3:30." 

"Okay," I said reluctantly, lifting myself off of Keith's lap. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down.

"Stay," he asked. 

I shook my head, "No thanks," I smiled. "I should head back with Elena." 

He frowned but stood up with me. "At least let me walk you girls out," he offered.

The three of us headed towards the door, and Elena quickly sped up and slipped out before us. I stifled a laugh at her obvious-ness. 

"Well it was great meeting you," I said, turning around to give him a hug goodbye. 

He leaned down and gave me a muscle-melting kiss, reaching his arms around my back and pulling me close. His hands moved down to my ass and pulled me firmly into him. After a minute the door swung open and an impatient Elena interuppted. 

"Hey slutty mc slut, let's go!" she laughed. I extracted myself from Keith, looking sheepish.

"Bye," I said before slipping out the door. Once we were in the hallway, I gave Elena a little shove. "I didn't even get his number!" 

"Sorry! But I was getting bored alone out here," she laughed. I hooked my arm through hers and headed towards the stairs. 

"Well, I would call girl's night a success!" I said triumphantly. 

"Well.." Elena started, handing me her phone. It was an outgoing text to an unsaved number. 

I think we need to talk

"Who is thi-- NO," I said, my eyes widening. Even in my drunken haze, I could put two and two together. "I thought you blocked his number?" 

"Yeah, that only prevents him from contacting me," she replied. "But I logged in and undid it anyway. Apparently, whiskey washes away my self control." She dropped her face into her hands and groaned.

I took a deep breath, "Well I think that we need pizza, we need sleep and then we can re-evaluate. Wanna sleep over?" I offered.

She nodded her head as we stepped out onto the street. I started to hail a cab uptown. Although I knew that Elena texting Jeff was not a good move, all I wanted at that moment was my bed. And it was too bad that Keith wouldn't be waiting in it when I got home.