“You’re kidding me, right? Isn’t the Wine guy enough?”

“It’s not my fault,” I shrug, smiling sheepishly at Lana. I know she’s right; I should be satisfied with one hot guy, but what can I do? It’s not like I can turn down a hot guy just because! “And we’re calling him Wine Bar. Or WineBar.”

“Kirk, right?” Lana asks.

“Yup. And Marshall is Freeway,” I say. “And it’s not my fault they both like me.”

“Uh-uh, yeah… It’s not your fault at all,” Lana sighs, casually picking up a teddy from the rack in front of her. She dangles it in front of her face, then wrinkles her nose and puts it back. I follow after her down the aisle, barely looking at the never ending piles of bras and panties. Usually I’m always in the mood for some shopping, but it seems that today my mind has decided to focus on men, not clothes.

You’d think that window shopping and splurging on fancy (and expensive) lingerie would help me take my mind off guys, but you’d be wrong. Every single piece of clothing I look at has a weird effect on me… I just can’t help but imagine big hands (maybe WineBar’s or Freeway’s) ripping the fabric off me in a frenzy, their cocks hardening as — ahem, sorry. Once I get going, there’s no stopping me.

Trailing after Lana as she giggles like a schoolgirl, casually giving me a wicked look, I fold my arms over my chest and return her amused gaze.

“Don’t laugh, this is serious. I can’t date two guys at once… or can I?”

“Girl, you can do whatever you want,” she laughs, turning on her heels to face me. Moving fast, she grabs my left hand and looks straight down at it. “I don’t see any ring on your finger, so I’d say you’re good to go. Besides, it isn’t like you gave Freeway your number yet, so you still have some time to think it over.”

“Well…” I start, looking down at the floor while I shift my weight from foot to foot.

“Oh my God! You called him?” she asks me, completely unable of hiding the excitement in her voice. Since she has been married for quite some time now, Lana has fallen into the habit of living the single life through me. Which, of course, involves having me giving her a complete rundown of all my escapades. It’s been like this ever since we met, and I doubt that’s going to change in the near future. Yeah, if you’re wondering, I already told her all about Kirk’s prowess in the bedroom.

“I sent him a text,” I smile, feeling warm blood rushing to my cheeks. “And then he called me.”

“And?”

“And we’re going out,” I admit, blushing some more. Usually I’m not this shy about the men I’m seeing, but two hot guys at once is… well, it’s something different, isn’t it?

“Way to go,” she whistles, looking at me with an approving nod. “You sure don’t waste any time, girl,” she continues, laughing as she picks another bra from the rack. This time, she doesn’t return it; instead, she holds on to it. “First that wine bar guy, and now a guy straight from the freeway… Seems like you can’t get out of the house without having a guy throw himself at your feet.”

“It’s not like that.”

“It sure seems exactly like that. Besides, what’s the problem? This Wine Bar guy wants to take things casually, right? So that means you can see other guys. No problem there. In fact, I’d say that it’s exactly the opposite; you’ve won the lottery of men, Em!”

“Yeah… I guess,” I nod, but then my mind starts working fast, analysing every single word that Kirk ever said to me. “It’s just that… there’s something about Kirk.”

“Something? Something besides his huge —”

“Oh, come on!” I hush her, slapping her arm as she snorts loudly, a teasing grin on her face. God, I almost regret telling her all about what Kirk and I did. If I knew she’d give me hell for it, I would've kept my mouth shut. But, then again, maybe not; after being with Kirk, I had to tell someone!

“Don’t tell me he’s some kind of weirdo. That’d be a shame, such a good looking guy…” she muses wistfully, and I have to snap my fingers in front of her face to grab her attention.

“He’s not a weirdo,” I protest then, biting on my lower lip as I try to put my thoughts into words. “It’s just that… Kirk doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that’s willing to commit,” I say. Even though I agreed with him to take things casually, I can’t stop thinking about it.

“And why is that a problem? Last time I checked you weren’t looking for a commitment,” she says, slightly surprised. Then, her eyes widen and her jaw hangs open. God, I can almost see the gears turning inside her head as she decodes what I just told her. “Oh. My. God. Are you falling for him? Is Emily, the queen of all commitment-phobes, actually looking for a relationship?”

“No, no… It’s not like that,” I try to shoot back at her, but I know that I just dug myself into a hole. “I’m just keeping my options open, you know? Maybe I’d like a relationship sometime, but I’m not saying it’s with him.”

“Actually,” Lana chuckles, taking the clothes she picked out of her bag and handing them to the cashier, “that’s exactly what you’re saying.”

“You’re really enjoying torturing me, aren’t you?” I sigh as I follow her out of the store, merging with the crowd ambling up and down the shopping mall corridor.

“Just a lil’ bit,” she admits with a shrug. “I knew you’d want to settle down sooner or later, Em. It’s just fun watching you go through all these growing pains.” Then, turning to me, she places both her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look straight into her eyes. She has that motherly expression on her face, and I know that she’s ready to hand down some much appreciated Lana wisdom.

“Okay, listen,” she starts, “you might be thinking of commitment, but that’s not a reason to limit yourself. Just like you said, WineBar doesn’t seem to want to commit, and you have a date lined up with that Freeway guy… Just do what you always told me to do: play the field, Em. Just play the field.”

“That I can do,” I reply, a confident smile dawning on my lips. “I was born to play the field.”