“I don’t know…what we are.” I take a sip of my beer. “We’re new.”
“Hard to know what you are with any of these assholes unless you get winged,” she sighs. She glances at my cup. “You’re out. Let’s get another one.”
I never used to drink, not like this. I blame the new men in my life and the nerves associated with them. She nods toward the guy minding the keg as we walk the few steps to get to him and hand him our cups.
“I’m Alicia.”
“Cecelia.” She’s taller than me by a few inches, definitely not a girl any male eye would pass over. She sizes me up just as carefully. “Did you come with anyone?”
“My brother,” she supplies. “We’re Virginia.”
“Oh.” Not from Virginia, no, she claimed a whole state.
“Dominic’s never brought…neither of them have ever brought a girl here. I thought you came with Dom, so I wasn’t sure which one you were with?”
I fumble with my reply because I don’t know exactly how to answer. And I decide I’m not going to. She smiles and does me a solid by taking the question off the table, so I do her one back, even with the lingering sting of jealousy.
“Sean is kind, considerate, smart, so smart, caring, sexy, funny, protective.” And mine.
“I thought as much,” she blows out a breath, pushing her waist-length dark hair away from her shoulder. The woman has the most beautiful head of hair I’ve ever seen.
“So, you’ve got a thing for him, huh?”
I’m graced with an apologetic grin. “He used to come to Virginia a lot when I was younger. I never said a word to him, but yeah, I guess you could say I do. Hope that doesn’t piss you off.”
It does, to a degree. But she’s being honest.
“He’s also bluntly honest, like you.”
“Yeah?” She smiles.
“But, I am with him.”
She nods. “I’ll back off. I just…he’s perfect, but you know that. Dominic too. But he scares the shit out of me.”
Me too. But in the way I can’t get enough of him.
“Yeah, they’re…hard to describe.”
“So, come on, girl,” she nudges me with her elbow, “what exactly did you do to get in that car?”
Fucked them both on a float. I cringe at my vulgar thought and burst out laughing despite it.
Who in the hell am I? Alicia gives me an odd look.
“Sorry, it’s been an interesting week. I met Sean at work and we all just started hanging out.”
“If my brother wasn’t such a dick, I could too.”
“Overprotective, eh?”
“Yeah, to the point I might kill him in his sleep.”
“Have you been to many of these?”
“This is my fourth.” She rolls her eyes. “Twenty years old and I still have to ask my brother to play with him and his friends.”
“So, what is the meetup about?”