Chapter 24
CARMEN
My fingers fly across the keyboard. Black text flashes onto the white background of my Word document, line after line filling the screen at a pace I’ve never achieved before.
Triumph beats in my chest as my cursor drops onto a new page.
The fourth one I’ve filled since sitting at my computer chair this morning.
More than once, I’ve asked myself if I concocted the idea of this arrangement with Jamie just because I want to sleep with him. I mean, come on, the idea that some hot guy giving me orgasms could break my writer’s block?
But today has vindicated me.
Recalling the intensity of the sensations that raced through me as Jamie worked his hand between my legs lights my creative fire.
And knowing that more of that awaits me when Jamie returns keeps me from feeling frustrated and bitter about my own lack of a sex life while I try to give one to my characters.
When I reach the end of the scene that I’ve agonized over for weeks, I breathe a sigh of relief and sink down in my chair.
I’ve been so locked in that I haven’t even glanced at the time since I started writing. It’s almost noon. About time for lunch.
I pull on my jacket and head outside, feeling so confident about my writing that the sky looks extra blue.
I’m leaving the local diner where I had a grilled cheese and a bowl of tomato soup, when I hear a voice I don’t know call my name from a block away.
Four girls who I recognize from Jamie’s party are hurrying toward me.
“Hi,” I say, feeling a little blindsided as they all introduce themselves.
There’s Harper, who I know is Sebastian’s girlfriend; Maddie, who I think dates a former member of the team; Scarlett, who I’ve heard referred to as their old captain’s girlfriend; and another girl I’ve seen at Last Word plenty of times, Jasmine.
“We were just about to go try this new matcha place,” Scarlett says. “You should join us.”
“I should?” I cringe internally as the words leave my mouth. I sound like a jerk, but I’m really caught off guard here.
Maddie smiles. “Yeah, we saw you at the party the other night. You and Jamie are … friends.”
That was one loaded pause on her part.
“Right, that makes you practically part of the group now,” Harper says.
Part of the group? I’ve never really been part of a group before.
“That’s right. Any friend of Jamie’s is a friend of ours,” Jasmine says.
Unlike the other girls, I’m pretty sure she isn’t dating a hockey player.
That somehow makes me a little more comfortable with the idea of taking them up on their offer.
It’s not like I’m being inducted into a group composed entirely of hockey girlfriends.
Because that’s not what I am. As I’ve stressed repeatedly to Jamie, we’re not dating.
“New matcha place, huh?” I ask. I’m not used to groups of people inviting me to hang out. I’ve never been a social butterfly, even before I moved to Cedar Shade. But making some friends wouldn’t be a bad thing, I guess.
Maddie nods excitedly. “Right, it’s supposed to be really good.”
It’s not like I have any reason to say no. I’m off work today, and I’ve already blown past my writing quota.
“Sure,” I answer, “why not.”
Maddie and Harper are red-faced with laughter while my jaw almost scrapes the table. Jasmine’s recounting the worst date she’s had this month.
“So I was already on my knees, his pants were already off, when the phone buzzed in his pocket. He jumped up and ran to it. He kept tapping away at it for minutes without saying anything, I thought it must have been an emergency. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me …” She shakes her head, her face twisting in disgust even as she wears a smile.
“I can barely bring myself to say it. He told me something was very wrong, in a voice that had me so worried for him. But then he told me the problem was … the cryptocurrency coin he was trading was down thirty percent.” She shudders.
Maddie makes a sour face and shivers. “I’ve heard this story a dozen times, and it never gets any easier to hear.”
“In my defense, he was really tall,” Jasmine grumbles. I join the rest of the girls in laughter.
“Was he doing his crypto thing for the rest of the night?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“I left after he stared at charts on his phone for five minutes after that.”
“Thank gosh,” Harper says.
Jasmine takes a sip of her drink. “It’s a minefield out there, girls, trust me.”
“At least this one could read,” Scarlett says with a grin, like she’s referencing another story.
I frown. “You went out with a guy who couldn’t read?” I ask Jasmine.
“Don’t feel sympathetic toward him. It wasn’t some tragedy, like he had learning difficulties that went unaddressed. He literally didn’t want to know how to read. He told me his theory was that consuming someone else’s thoughts shuts off your own intuition about the world.”
“Is it really that bad out there on the dating scene?” Maddie asks.
“Single men are getting worse on a month-to-month basis, trust me,” Jasmine confirms.
“You’re not wrong,” Harper echoes. I’m pretty sure she and Sebastian only started dating a couple months ago.
Jasmine shrugs. “Playing the field is still fun, though. There are a couple of decent ones out there if you’re looking. And I’m not interested in settling down yet.”
The conversation turns to another topic for a while as we sip our drinks. When there’s another lull, Harper turns to me and asks, “You’re not studying at Brumehill, right? Just working at the café?”
“That’s right,” I answer. Even though I’m used to keeping things close to my chest, I feel unusually talkative today. Maybe I’m still riding high on the endorphins from my first good writing day in ages. Because I continue, “I’m working on a book, actually.”
Maddie’s eyes pop with excitement. “Like, writing a book?”
I nod.
The girls suck in gasps, all their attention on me.
“What kind of book?” Scarlett asks.
“A mystery-slash-thriller.”
Maddie squeals. “That’s so cool! Oh my gosh! I’ve never met a writer before.”
“How much have you written?” Harper asks.
“A little over fifty thousand words.”
They all look impressed. A twinge of embarrassment curls through me, but at the same time, their reaction feels good. Getting that far into writing an entire novel of my own is at least a little impressive, isn’t it? Maybe I should be proud of myself.
They pepper me with questions, and I answer most of them. I refuse Jasmine’s pleas to give up the big twist, though, telling her she’ll have to read it eventually if she wants to find out.
“I’m going to buy the paperback, the hardcover, the e-book, and the audiobook when it comes out,” Maddie says. “First day.”
I laugh. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I hope it does come out, somewhere. Right now, I just want to finish it. For myself.”
“It’ll get published,” Scarlett says with a decisive nod. “I guarantee it.”
I chuckle and roll my eyes. “Thank you for your confidence, even if it is unfounded.”
“You’re part of the group now,” Harper says with a coy nudge to my arm. “We manifest for each other.”
“Oh! You should come out to Starlite with us next weekend!” Maddie says.
“Right! It’ll be just the girls. We’re leaving the guys at home even though they’ll be here that weekend,” Harper says.
“They can sit around at their house doing whatever weird guy stuff they do while we look hot and cool and go dancing,” Scarlett says, drawing more laughter.
I’m about to sleep with Jamie, and I’m being inducted into a new friend group. It’s certainly an unexpected start to the year.