CHAPTER SIX — STEPHANIE
I stare at my phone, waiting. I know he read my text, because it says Read underneath it. I wonder if he even knows he has his read receipts on? It wouldn't surprise me if he had no idea. Or didn't even know what they were. That's typical of Gen X, I find. My mom is the same way.
"Well?" the girls ask.
"Nothing," I say, slightly disappointed and also somewhat embarrassed.
"I mean, he knows we're all watching. He probably doesn't want to say anything," Mandy says.
I smile and nod, but I can tell she's just trying to be nice, trying to make this less embarrassing for me. Which I appreciate. Mandy is a real one.
"Whatever," I say. "Let's just keep playing."
Mandy suggests the next dare, but I'm too checked out to pay attention. It's hard to hide my disappointment. I don't think I realized how invested I was in whatever weird relationship David and I had going on until this moment, until I realized just how bad it feels to have him blow me off.
Whatever. Who needs men?
"Who needs men?" I say, verbalizing my misandry.
I grab a Smirnoff Ice that was stashed behind a potted plant. I don't know if it counts if you hid it yourself, but whatever. I'm going to get drunk and forget about this man.
"Hell yeah," Mandy says, and raises a Smirnoff Ice she just found.
"Fuck men," we all say, as we chug our drinks.