Chapter 13 The Women’s Wednesday #2
“Oh, no honey, it’s fine. It’s been nearly a decade. We had good times together. I’m just single now, but simply saying I’m single felt a little deceitful.” Vicky pats Sonya on the head in a good girl motion, and I choke on my sip of wine they had waiting for me.
“Okay, I’ll go next since I’m second oldest. I am single.” I catch Vicky’s raised brow and scowl. “But, keeping with Vicky’s open door policy, I very recently ended an engagement.”
“Oh, man. Maybe this is a bad idea.” Sonya looks even sadder now, so I throw Paige under the bus.
“Paige is with her high school sweetheart!”
Sonya’s eyes grow wide with excitement, and we all turn to Paige. Who looks like she just ate something rotten.
“Uh, yes.” She throws on a fake as hell smile and I watch in amazement as it transforms instantly into something soft and genuine. “Tell us about your man, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Okay, I can do that.” Sonya takes a long sip of her drink and puts it down, freeing her hands.
“He is the sweetest, loveliest, smartest guy I’ve met, and I think you all—well, of course you all know him.
Mr. Dawson. Erm, Zach. Zach Dawson.” Somehow, she has made every word into an equal hand movement, and I’m enthralled, until I’m worried.
“Zach, the computer lab—”
“Yes!” A massive smile takes over her face, revealing two deep dimples in her cheeks. She covers them with her hands and wiggles in her seat.
“Are you kicking your feet?” Paige sounds amused, and I think we all are, to be honest.
“Yes?” The strange rocking stops. Her face looks a combination of embarrassed and giddy, and I burst into laughter, the others quickly following suit.
“Tell us everything, love.” Vicky leans in with a small smile.
“Vicky, no you did not.” I almost snort my drink out my nose at Vicky’s story.
It’s been a fabulous evening so far, and I am having the time of my life.
These girls I’m with are special, and I’m so damn happy I lucked out and got to meet them.
There’s a full bar for WWW, Wasted Women’s Wednesday, or just Women’s Wednesday as I like to call it.
Everybody wants a humpday break, and Joe’s is literally the only place to be.
“Oh I most certainly did.” Vicky responds, poised with her damn cosmopolitan in her decorated hand.
Her many rings glint in the neon lights of the bar.
Paige returns to the table after leaving for the second time in the last hour, this time looking a bit pale.
I raise my eyebrow at her in question, but she just shakes her head and takes a seat.
I look back at Vicky and smile despite my concern for Paige.
Apparently, Jill had been dogging on Vicky to stop hogging the printer. Vicky never prints her student work, so this was a ridiculous statement as is. But, instead of responding verbally, Vicky makes one thousand copies of a blank piece of paper.
“There was no reason to waste ink to make a point.” She says, no inflection in her voice. I laugh again and hear Sonya giggle snort into her drink, again, adorable. Paige just gives a small confused smile, having missed the first part of the story.
I try to focus closely on her. Paige is not being herself.
She’s not exactly a chatty Kathy, but she hasn’t even touched her burger where she usually has a huge appetite after chasing little, tiny humans all day, and she refuses to order a drink like a spoil sport.
The rest of the table is a graveyard of devoured french fries and too many drinks.
Paige and I have always tore the place up on WWW nights. Trevor and…Carter would always go a little crazy keeping us contained. Okay, Trevor would go a little crazy. Carter would laugh his ass off. I smile at a particular memory when my observations hit me.
Oh shit. Pale, weird appetite, no drink?
I miraculously hold in my suspicion and instead lean in and ask quietly, “Paige, are you okay?” Then, the usually calm, collected Paige bursts into tears.
Whoa. We all freeze. Vicky and Sonya stare wide-eyed at Paige.
Her bright, curly, blond hair is all I can see with her face buried in her hands, but her shaking shoulders are obvious indications of what’s happening.
I manage to focus my slightly frazzled mind, gather her up, and hustle her out the door and around to the alleyway.
I am well aware that she absolutely despises making a scene, so I hope this is the right move.
I’m also tipsy, possibly very tipsy, so I can’t do much other than hide her and pat her on the back. I’m awkward as hell, and pull off some there, theres and a few it’s okays.
Paige slows down and blinks her wet, brown eyes at me. She looks so lost.
Do I look like this when I cry at night?
“Uh, yeah, So, um…I cannot drive you home, but I shall try my darndest to get you safely back to your abode.”
She smiles at me through her tears. “That’s not where I’ll be going tonight.” She looks so sad, I feel myself get sad too. I think she’s saying something else to me, but I’ve gotten a brilliant idea, and I need to navigate my phone.
“I can help you get a ride!” I tell her, my face inches from my phonescreen, enthused by the idea of helping. I pull up Trevor’s contact and send a quick message with clumsy fingers.
Me
sad paige wants a ride from Joe!
Trevor
Shit, what?
Me
Yup
Trevor
You’re at Joe’s?
Me
I said yup
Trevor
Okay, stay there. I’ll come get her. Are you okay?
Me
Yup
Good deed done, I put down my phone to tell Paige the good news and see that she’s gone now. I step out of the alley and look around until I think I see her in her Subaru.
Oh, she didn’t need a ride. Oh well.
I pull my phone out again to make a different call, when the Subaru is suddenly right by me. I scream because it scared me, then I laugh because it’s Paige. She gets out of the car and comes over to me. A sad smile on her face.
Her smile is precious with her cheeks all smushed up like I’m holding them now, so I let her know. “Your smile is precious with your cheeks all smushed up like this.”
She tells me something about it’s time to go and that she’ll drive me.
“It’s alone there though Paige.” I tell her, sad now.
She gives me a gentle smile and takes my hand. “I know honey. You’ll be fine, though. I’ve got ya.”
“You’re the best.” I think I say.