Page 47 of Tattoo My Heart
“Yeah,” James interjects. “They wish the only problem they had was the hots for their stepbrother.”
“James,” Carrie chastises him, but she also sounds like she’s about to laugh her ass off. “That wasn’t nice.”
“I hate you. Both of you,” I make sure to clarify.
I go back to staring at my screen, trying to come up with a good message. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I focus on my strength to get through this. Because Iamstrong. I am smart. I can do anything I put my mind to…
“Oh my god!”
My eyes snap open when I scream that out loud. Carry is watching me with an indulgent smile on her face. She knows my process. James is looking at me like I have lost my mind.
“I messed up,” I blurt out right before slapping a hand over my mouth.
“Now what?” James shakes his head at me. It’s like I am his annoying little sister.
Refusing to meet his eyes, I lean forward toward Carrie, wishing she wasn’t holding the baby in her arms.
“When I woke up this morning, there was blood on the sheets. I panicked and grabbed a wet washcloth. I tried cleaning it, but I only made it worse.”
I said all that so fast, my head is spinning. Once I’m done unloading on my best friend, I promptly burst into tears.
The hiccups escaping my chest come one after another. I am hysterical, and I can’t control myself.
“Honey,” Carrie drops her head to the side. “It’s okay. Cal wouldn’t care.”
“That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard of,” James declares at the same time. His statement only serves to get me crying harder yet.
“James!” Carrie yells at him. “Behave!”
“Babe,” he points at me. “Are we listening to the same thing here? Because this is a little funny now.”
They stare at each other for the longest time right before they both burst into laughter at the same time, like they have some telepathic conversation. And I sure as hell am not part of it.
“You guys are terrible people,” I sniffle when I say. Snot is now running down my nose and onto my upper lip. I bring my arm up and wipe with the sleeve of my shirt, not caring how disgusting this might look to others.
Carrie is laughing so hard, she is holding the baby to her chest a little too tight. The little one is now in distress when he throws his head back and starts crying. Carrie is laughing harder yet, and so is James. I am fully prepared to strangle them both, even at the risk of leaving their son an orphan.
“I have to pee,” Carrie wheezes out. “James, take him, hurry!”
James jumps into action and grabs his son from her. He is still laughing but not as passionately as my soon to be former best friend.
I shake my head when she about loses her footing and runs into the wall on her way to the bathroom. James starts walking around the kitchen table with the baby, in an effort to soothe him.
“Had you not been laughing your heads off at me…” My voice sounds a bit congested from crying. “You wouldn’t have a screaming baby right now. He’s probably traumatized.” And good, so am I.
“He’ll be fine,” James assures me. “And it was worth it.”
I roll my eyes and throw myself against the back of the chair I’m sitting in. With a sigh, I then blow all the air out, moving the messy hair from out of my face. I grab the cell phone and unlock it. It takes me straight to where I left it all off before these two clowns decided to gang up on me. They’re meant for each other, I swear.
This time, I don’t bother asking what I should say to my potentialHolidatesdate. Feeling inspired, my thumbs fly over the keyboard when I type up a message to this Khail character.
I decide that embarrassment has no room here, so I just get straight to the point. I explain that I still need his services, and I agree to the terms he set forth in his original email to me. I read the message a few times before hittingSend.
With that part out of the way, there is nothing to do but wait for him to get back to me.
“So you’re now seeing my buddy, but you’re still going to show up at this party with a different date?” James asks for clarification. He doesn’t sound as amused as he was before.
I shrug, making every effort to look like I don’t care what he thinks.
