Page 37 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

“A diet where you consume only wine?” She pulled the glass out of my hand and set it on the counter.

“No, a dick diet. And there are no cheat days on dick diets.”

Kristen laughed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m giving up men. All of them. Not just the ones that act like dicks. I’m talking anyone who has a dick. Even women who have dicks…because that’s a thing now right? Dick diet. No dicks for me.”

“I’ve never heard the word dick so much in one rant.”

“Touché.”

“That isn’t really an appropriate use of touché. But I’ll forgive you. Because you’re on a new diet and you’re a little grumpy.”

“You get me.” I lifted my glass back up.

“I’m guessing things didn’t go well with J.J. today?”

“What gave it away?”

“There were a lot of signs. Do you want to talk about it or…”

“No.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “So what are we doing with this dough? And how can I help?”

I loved her for not forcing me to talk about today. I never wanted to think about today ever again. I just wanted to stick to my new diet and forget about ever dating again. Ever. “We’re making homemade pizza. And I need you to flatten out this dough somehow because we don’t have a rolling pin.”

“So...how should I do that exactly?”

I lifted up the dough and started stretching it between my hands. But every time I let it go, it shrunk back to its original size.

“You know what…I’m going to order us a backup pizza just in case.”

I tossed the dough back on the counter. “Good idea. This dough is cursed.” Just like me. “But not from Grottos. Grottos reminds me of J.J. and J.J. has a dick and I don’t want to ruin my new diet.”

She nodded like she understood what I was talking about, even though I wasn’t sure I understood it.

“I’m so sorry, Kristen, I’m going on and on about my diet and I didn’t even ask you how it’s going with the lifeguard you’re dating. How is that going?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. “We’re going to talk about that some other time. Tonight we’re just going to focus on you, okay?”

“That means it’s good. I’m so happy that you’re happy.” For some reason I started to cry.

“Mila.”

“And I can’t even make a pizza. I’ve made it so many times, and now I suddenly suck at it. Just like I suck at relationships.” I abandoned the dough and sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Kristen sat down on the floor beside me. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. If it makes you feel better, my love life isn’t going any better than yours. The other day when I was looking up J.J. on Facebook I ended up searching for the guy I’ve been seeing too. Apparently he’s in a relationship. Which was news to me. I didn’t say anything because I was embarrassed. And I know you’ve been on the other side of that, and I didn’t want you to be mad at me. But I had no idea he was seeing someone. I feel like such an idiot.”

I rested my head on her shoulder. “So…maybe you should give that dick diet a try too.”

Kristen laughed. “Probably. But I’m liking this wine diet in the meantime.” She clinked her glass against mine.

“Touché.”

“You’re still using that word wrong.”

I laughed. “I know what it means. It’s just hard to use it when you’ve had all the wine.”

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