Page 1 of Things We Fake
Chapter One
Sue
“A blind date? Not today, of all days! Have all four of you gone nuts?” I shrieked, glaring at my girlfriends.
Heads turned to frown at the crazy woman that was disturbing the otherwise pleasant atmosphere at Rumors, the bar where my friends and I met up for drinks occasionally.
“Actually, it’s tomorrow. Do you have anything better to do?” Ange raised one elegant eyebrow, taking a sip of her dirty martini. Even on a late Friday evening, her dress was perfectly pressed and her makeup flawless.
“Touché,” Jesse said from her spot next to Ange. Her short, spiky red hair and red lipstick stood out in the crowd, in contrast with her tomboy appearance.
“You shouldn’t dismiss a man you haven’t met, Sue,” Nikki spoke from behind me.
I swiveled on the ridiculously small bar stool to look at my other two friends. If, by some miracle, I actually managed to be the first to arrive at the bar someday, I would select a table with proper chairs instead of these precarious perches. But since all my friends had legs as long as my entire body, getting up on one of these things was no sweat for them. I might as well sit on top of a skyscraper.
Nikki raised her Bloody Mary to her mouth, reminding me of a vampire having a snack. She was dressed in unrelievedblack, her blond hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
“Nikki’s right, you might actually like this man. You two might be compatible.” Lily gave me a smile as neat as her perfect chignon.
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t go all psychologist on me.”
Lily’s smile widened. “Why not? It’s free therapy.”
“What can I get you, Sue?” Lou, the middle-aged man with a fringe of gray hair, owned the bar and worked the late afternoon shift on Fridays. He liked ‘looking after the ladies’ and knew each one of us by name.
“How about a double vodka and soda?”
“Sure thing. Double lime, too?”
I winked. “You know me. It’s the fruit that keeps me healthy.”
He laughed. “Sure it is. I’ll be right back.”
Lou had been a backup musician for Bon Jovi, and he’d opened Rumors in 1996. Although the girls and I lived in Greenwich Village—a place we’d lovingly dubbed Singleville, to reflect all of our current relationship statuses—we loved Rumors because it was close to our workplaces and Wall Street. Rumors drew the doctors, lawyers, and stockbrokers who worked in the gilded skyscrapers of Manhattan—not the penniless free spirits, artists, and musicians we ran into in our neighborhood.
“What happened today that’s so bad?” Lily asked me.
“You mean other than my friends setting me up with a stranger?” I glared left and right. “You guys know I hate that kind of thing. You might as well put up an ad on a billboard:Single and desperate woman looking for hot hunk.”
“Hmm, that could work.” Jesse sipped her beer thoughtfully. “Not desperate, but we could start withSingle, blonde, attractive…”
“Short and slightly chubby,” I supplied dryly.
“Curvy,” Lily corrected.
Nikki grinned. “Curvy, blonde, bilingual, Italian-American, teacher by day…”
“Promising freak by night,” Ange finished.
We all burst into laughter, the tension of the week relieved by humor and alcohol.
After a few moments, I blew out a sigh. “The way things are going, I wouldn’t have time to date anyway, even if I met the man of my dreams.”
“Why?” Lily asked.
I shrugged. “Mrs. West dusted off her favorite target today, and guess who that is?”
“You.” Jesse stated.
