Chapter 22
Scarlett
It’s been five days since my encounter with Matt, and I haven’t heard from him. Not even a text from the gigantic dick-a-saurus.
I sent him a text the day after we hooked up:
Hey, Matt, thanks for the other night.
Hope to see you soon.
xo
He never responded. I didn’t think much about him not reaching out after day one, but I had a scheduled training session with him and he didn’t show or call to cancel.
He left me hanging and he never followed through with his promise of canceling his sessions.
There’s either something wrong or he ghosted me.
My past experience is making me lean towards the latter option.
I pace around my living room with my thoughts spiraling. It was just another Tuesday for him. It makes me want to throw up. I slept with a guy I was attracted to, trusting him to at least date me, and then he doesn’t call. This is why I don’t do sex without knowing the guy first.
Fuck!
Now, he’s just out there, not thinking about me. I wipe the entry table with vigor to get it clean. It’s also helping me not want to find Matt and punch him.
There’s not much else I can do. It’s his turn to respond. If I were to call, I’d look desperate. I’m not.
But I am an idiot.
My friends, being the best women I know, are going out with me for operation “get back on the horse,” as Paige called it.
By horse, she means a sexy guy. I’ve never been this kind of girl, so I’m not sure where her head is at.
I might bail on the operation, but there’s no way I’m staying in tonight.
If anything, it’ll be another girls’ night. No big deal.
I’m not going to think about Matt anymore.
I hope he’s back in Texas so I never have to see his stupid face again.
~
Lana and Paige are at my house, and we’re getting ready to go out.
“I brought this over for you.” Paige hands over a red dress on a hanger. It’s the size of a napkin.
“Um, thanks. I like the color.” I go to put the dress on in the bathroom. It’s a little more revealing than I would normally want, reaching right below my ass, but it does make my legs look good.
When I emerge from the bathroom, Paige is arguing with Lana. “A beautiful purple dress needs more than a messy bun.” Her hands are on her hips, staring Lana down.
“I’m not the one trying to get laid. You told me to wear this dress. I’m in it.” Lana has her hands out towards the evidence.
“Scarlett, tell our friend here, a messy bun is not going to work for going out. I’m rocking the little black dress, you’re killing it in the red one, Lana has on a color no one wears.
We could be the group everyone wants to hang with until.
..” she goes to Lana and points her hands at her head, “Lana’s hair is seen. ”
“My hair is fine. Leave me alone, Paige.”
“I think we’re in need of some shots,” I announce, and leave to the kitchen before they pull me in the middle.
I look over my options in the cabinet. Hmmm, tequila or rum? I’ve got pineapple juice, so I’m going with rum. I prepare three shots and three cups of juice. I’d better get back before they try to fight each other.
“To taking the edge off,” I announce, handing over their glasses.
“Yeesss!” Paige stops trying to fix Lana’s hair and grabs a shot.
“Thank god,” Lana sighs.
An hour later, we’re at our usual spot. We’re not early tonight, so the club is busy and full of people. We head to the bar to wait in line for another drink.
“I see a big horse,” Paige announces. “Be back in a bit.” Her grin scares me.
I watch Paige make her way over to a group of three guys at the other end of the bar. She stands near them for a minute before turning to them, putting on her confident charm. Paige can pick up anyone, anytime. She’s got game.
A couple minutes later, she gives them a small wave and walks away while Lana orders shots. I’m too focused on Paige’s tactics to look away. She saunters over to us, sporting an accomplished smirk.
I hand Paige a rum and coke. “How did it go?”
“I guess we’ll see.” She shrugs.
We go to the dance floor, sipping our drinks, and start moving to the beat. Coming out was worth it for the dancing.
“Lana, anyone catching your eye?” I ask. One day she’s going to pull herself out of this rut.
“I’m just here for you,” she says as she sways. At least she decided to leave her house. The woman works from home and won’t go out unless Paige or I pull her along.
“I myself have seen some pretty cute guys I wouldn’t mind pouncing on,” Paige throws out.
“I don’t think anyone was worried about you!” I giggle.
She smiles while moving to the beat.
After a few minutes, the group of guys Paige talked to comes over to us. Looks like her pickup tactic worked.
“You found me,” Paige greets them. “I’m Paige.” She pulls me over. “This is Scarlett. I think you two,” she says, pointing between me and the tallest one of the group, “will hit it off.”
He reaches out his hand to me. I smile at Paige for a quick minute.
He’s attractive with short, dirty blond hair, defined forearms, and brown eyes.
Not a tattoo in sight. I think Paige picked him because he’s tall, but it seems my type has changed since Matt.
Now I want a clean-shaven, muscular guy. Weird.
“Liam,” he replies, as he grabs hold of my hand. “I like a chick with smooth moves.”
Chick? For some reason the comment seems immature. Not only that, but I can tell now there’s no spark between us. Maybe this isn’t the best idea.
Whatever, it’s still fun to be out, and Paige was trying. Nothing needs to happen between us.
He signals to his friends standing behind him. “These are my friends, Luke and Brett.” I forgot they were there.
Paige already has Luke dancing with her. She looks like she might ride him out of here.
Brett is standing, patting his thigh to the beat. He has his own look going on; tall and lanky, with glasses and short, buzzed hair, reminding me of a hipster playing a guitar.
I point to the girls. “You’ve met Paige, and this is Lana.” Lana keeps dancing, looking all around except at the guys in front of us. I pull Liam to come dance with me, since he’s here. “Let’s see what kind of moves you’ve got.”
His dancing doesn’t disappoint. He has a hold on my hips, pulling me closer. I’m just not vibing on a romantic level with him.
The night carries on with drinks and more dancing. I haven’t thought about Matt once.
Who am I kidding, I can’t stop thinking about the guy. The alcohol is making me think about him more. My mind is constantly comparing him to Liam. Plus, I’m wondering where he is, what he’s doing, and who he’s with. I would say this operation is failing.
Liam and his friends have gone to the bar. Lana, Paige and I are hanging at a table. I’m going to call Matt. I can’t take this anymore. I’m angry he’s not who I’m hanging out with right now. Besides, drunk dialing is underrated.
After a few rings it goes to voicemail.
“Hello. You’ve reached Matt from Reding and Green . Please leave me a message and I’ll get back to you.”
“Hi, Matt, it’s Scarlett. You know, the girl you said you wanted to see where it goes with.”
“Oh my gosh! Who are you calling?” Paige asks.
I shrug and continue with my phone call. “I haven’t heard from you, which is ridiculous because we had an amazing fucking time.”
“Don’t pull a drunk dial, Scarlett!” Paige is coming towards me. I turn away from her so I can finish saying what’s on my mind.
“I know it wasn’t just me, so you should pull your head out of your ass and give a gal a call!” I shout.
Paige is behind me, trying to grab my phone. “Give me the phone!”
“Anyway,” I yell while moving away from Paige’s grasp, “stop being a dick and call me.” I pause. “Unless you never want to see me again and that was your goal.”
“End the call!” Paige shouts, still trying to get my phone. It’s good I’m seven inches taller than her—competitive little thing.
“If that’s what this is, then fuck you, Matt!” I hang up and toss my phone to the side.
Paige looks at me, out of breath. “I can’t believe you called him! What are you doing?”
“He should know he’s acting like an ass.”
“You’re supposed to not give a fuck. Let him chase you.”
“Well maybe he needs a kick in the balls to get the message. Telling him to fuck off helped anyway.”
“That’s my girl!” Lana says.
I grab Paige’s shoulder. “Listen, thank you for bringing us out tonight and trying with the guys, but I’m not feeling Liam.”
“Yeah, I could tell you were over Liam in the first two minutes. You do friend zone every guy you meet.” She pauses. “Except Matt.”
I hug Paige. “Thanks for trying to save me from drunk dialing, but it needed to happen.”
Paige nods. “Luke had potential, but his kissing sucked. You guys ready to get out of here?”
“Yes!” Lana screams.
I agree with a chuckle and pull away from Paige. “Paige, weren’t you making out with Luke for half the night?”
“I was hoping he’d get better.” Paige sighs .
“Let’s say goodbye then go get something to eat—mac and cheese!”
“Oh geeze,” Lana huffs.
A smile creeps up on my face even though the girls don’t sound as excited as I am.
New plan. It’s always good to have a plan.