Page 64 of Red Snow
Brandi:Did you miss me last night?
Me:I suppose I did. How was your night at work?
Brandi:Boring. My boss is prepping for trial, so it may be a lot of long nights coming up. How was your night?
Me:Interesting. I had some homework of my own to do. I was hoping you could come over, but I found the pics you sent me very interesting.
Brandi:Did you now? You’re a bad boy, Jarrod.
Me:You know I am. It was a nice surprise. It was also funny.
Brandi:You think my tits and pussy are funny?
Me:Lol. Not like that. I’ve just never sent anyone a picture of my cock before.
Brandi:Aww, so I’m the first? Well now I feel special! Your past girlfriends didn’t send you naughty pictures?
Me:Umm . . . Nah. Not her style.
Brandi:Too bad. Well, I’m not saying I want to be your girlfriend or anything, but I’ll be more fun than your others.
Brandi:Hey, why’d you stop responding? You ignoring me?
Me:Nah, I’m just busy getting ready. Big day at work today.
Brandi:Oh yeah? What’s going on?
Me:About to go arrest somebody.
Brandi:Oh shit! It really is a big day.
Me:Yeah. We’re about to go make this happen, so I gotta go. Talk later?
Brandi:Absolutely! Have a great day arresting people.
“I’M NOT SUREhow I feel about this shit with Brandi,” I tell Marcus as we drive up to Eagle River for what I hope is the last time. It’s me who’s behind the wheel of the cruiser this time, so I keep my eyes on the recently-plowed roads while Marcus rubs his bald head and looks out the window.
“What’s wrong with her? She’s a fun girl,” he replies.
“Nothing’s wrong with her. I don’t even know what it is, really. You’re right, she is a fun girl, and I love fucking her senseless, but there’s just this little thing inside of me that keeps me from wanting to get anywhere near anything that looks like commitment. She mentioned something about girlfriends when we were texting before I came to work this morning, and when I saw it, it just fucked with me. I don’t even like her mentioning girlfriends.”
“Oh, I see what this is about. So, it’s less about Brandi, and more about Stacey.”
“What? Who said anything about Stacey? I’m saying she mentioned the worldgirlfriend, and I didn’t like it.”
“She didn’t ask to be your girlfriend, right?” Marcus asks. I can tell from his tone that he’s about to be all on my case about my feelings towards Stacey, and I’m not even ready for this kind of conversation. It’s too early, and this drive is too long.
“No, but she mentioned it,” I reply, frowning. “I don’t like that she mentioned it.”
“I think you should chill about it. I also think this is about how you feel about your ex.”
And there it is.
“Ugh, I knew you were going to say that,” I admit, shaking my head at is predictability.
“That’s because you know it’s true,” he shoots back. “You don’t like that Brandi mentioned girlfriends because your last and only serious girlfriend was Stacey. What exactly did Brandi say?”
I exhale in frustration. “She said some crap about my last girlfriends not sending naked pictures of themselves like she did last night. She said she’d be more fun than them.”
