After the weekend I’d had, it was nice to get my weekly roses. It felt good to know someone admired me, except this note made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Just when I thought I knew all about you, you surprised me.” What did that mean? The thought of some random person sending me flowers each week was now starting to feel weird, though I was sure actors, models, and authors received gifts from fans all the time. Didn’t mean anything, right?

The week passed, and you’d think that each day would get easier, but I caught myself thinking about the one-time Corey told me he loved me.

The warm wind whipped through my blonde hair as Corey held my hand, leading me to Navy Pier for dinner. I was starting to feel things for him. I loved spending time with him, and I looked forward to Saturday morning when I could wake up next to him. I knew I loved him. I wanted to tell him, but I was waiting for him to tell me first because I wasn’t sure how he felt. We’d only been dating for five months, but I knew we could last forever. I could envision myself walking down the aisle in a white dress I’d pinned on Pinterest with all of our friends and family there. I wanted that. I wanted that with Corey.

“Where are we going to dinner?”

“Riva Crab House.”

I smiled. Crab was one of my favorite things to eat.

We had a view of the water as we ate, and afterward, we decided to take a walk to the end of the pier. “I had my prom there.” I pointed to the glass windows that housed a giant ballroom at the end of the pier.

“Me too.” Corey chuckled. We went to different high schools, and were four years apart, but I knew it was a common location for proms. “I was Prom King.”

“You were not.” I slapped his arm playfully and chuckled.

“I was.”

“Why have you never told me that?”

“That was nineteen years ago.”

“You make us sound so old.” I groaned. I wasn’t far behind him in age, but it had been fifteen years since my senior prom. Just then there was a loud boom, and when I looked up, glittery silver showered the sky. After some time I said, “I love fireworks. They’re so beautiful.” I looked over to see Corey watching me.

“So are you, Ashtyn.”

“You don’t have to woo me. I’m already yours.” I leaned into him, still looking up at the show.

Corey wrapped his arm around my waist and chuckled. “I’m not trying to woo you. I’m stating facts.”

I looked at him. “Well, thank you.”

He smiled. “And, I love you.”

How was I so stupid? Everything had seemed perfect that night. Granted, Corey never uttered those three words again, and I should have taken that as a sign, but I never expected him to be such a good actor.

Saturday morning as I read the morning newspaper, my phone buzzed next to me.

Jamie: Girl’s night tonight?

Usually, I’d spend my Saturday evenings with Corey like we had the night we went to see the fireworks, but now I was free in a sense, and I needed my friends to keep my mind off my breakup.

Me: Judy’s?

Jamie: I’ll meet you at your place at nine.

At nine o’clock sharp, there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, Jaime and our friends Kylie and Colleen were standing there with huge smiles on their faces. The more the merrier. Now I could answer their burning questions and be done with it.

When the four of us got together, we looked like we’d stepped out of an episode of Sex and the City. Kylie had her dark brown hair up in a high ponytail, her bangs perfect across her forehead. Her brown eyes sparkled as she held up a bottle of Patrón. Colleen’s red hair was cut into a pixie cut, and her petite frame was opposite of her big green eyes, but they worked for her face. And Jaime had her blonde hair loosely curled.

“We brought tequila!” Jaime squealed, and Kylie thrust the bottle toward me. It was then I noticed Colleen had a bag of limes, chips, and salsa.

“We’re having girl’s night here?” I thought we were going to the bar.

All three of them moved around me and into my condo. “It’s the pre-party,” Kylie confirmed.

“This way we only need to have one or two drinks at Judy’s.”

“Or for you three to stall and quiz me about Corey,” I commented, following them to the open kitchen.

Jaime grinned. “We also want to know about Rhys.” Even though I’d told her all there was to know already about Rhys, a week had passed and apparently, she thought we were more of a thing. We weren’t. I hadn’t heard from him since.

“Rhys?” I questioned, sliding onto a barstool while they got to work with the shots and snacks.

“We haven’t heard from you since your breakup,” Kylie stated.

That was true. I hadn’t responded to their texts either. The Sunday after my breakup, I’d stayed home all day. I didn’t want to talk to people, and I was still confused about the whole situation. One minute I was getting my heart broken, and then the next I was kissing a new guy. A guy I hadn’t heard from and was probably using me to get in my pants, but I wasn’t the type to have a booty call on speed dial. Though the thought of it being Rhys did things deep in my belly.

“Basically, I spent almost a year of my life dating a guy for nothing.”

Jaime came over to me with a shot of the tequila. “But how are you really feeling?”

“Alcohol has been my new best friend this week.” Most night after I got home from work, I would drink a glass of wine and then take a hot shower before drinking another glass before bed. It was the only way for me to sleep because every time I tried to do it without any wine, I would crawl into my king-sized bed and reach my hand over into the cold, empty space and then cry before I’d get up in search of wine.

“Well, here’s some more.” Jaime handed me the shot, and I snatched a lime from the counter in front of me where Kylie was cutting slices.

“But really,” Colleen said, opening the tortilla chips, “you’re moving onto Rhys Cole?”

“Just because I took one picture with a fellow anchor doesn’t mean I’m dating the guy.”

Jaime sat next to me with a shot of Patrón in front of her. “It wasn’t because you took a picture. It was because we’d never seen you smile like that before. You were fucking glowing, and you’d just broken up with Corey.”

“I wasn’t glowing,” I muttered. “It was from all the wine. And maybe the shot of Fireball.” And because he’d kissed my bare shoulder and caused goosebumps to rise on my skin. I left that part out. I also left out the part where we’d kissed—three times. I downed my shot. “Let’s just drop it. I don’t want to talk about boys.”

“That’s the whole point of a girl’s night.” Kylie laughed.

“Well, let’s talk about all of your love lives.”

“We’re all married.” Colleen laughed. “We have boring pre-scheduled sex.”

I sighed. “I’m not having sex anymore. Or getting married for that matter.”

“I’m sure Rhys Cole would be up for sex. He told you to use him, so fucking use him.” Jaime slid her shot to me.

“He didn’t mean for me to use him like that,” I lied. “He meant he’d be my fake boyfriend if I needed rescuing from some guy again.”

Kylie poured me another shot and handed it to me. I noticed I was the only one to take a shot, and now I was the only one getting another. “Fine. So tonight you find a guy to go home with and have hot sex. It won’t kill you to have a little fun. Just remember we get to go home to snoring and farting, but you can go home and have hot stranger sex.”

“Hot stranger sex?”

Colleen sighed. “Sex where you give up control and just feel. You don’t need to worry about how your boobs look while you lie on your back, or if your belly is sticking out some. You just go have sweaty sex and be done with it.”

Maybe the girls were on to something. And maybe Rhys was right. Maybe I needed to get under someone to forget about Corey. It was worth a try. “I’m not getting any by having you three grill me. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Two more shots later, chips and salsa in our bellies, we were out the door and walking to Judy’s. I was still two shots ahead of them, and I was feeling it. Corey who? Why shouldn’t I try to meet someone else? I could have stayed home, eaten an entire gallon of ice cream and drunk an entire bottle of wine, but I wouldn’t have been happy, so I chose to go out with my friends and seriously consider this stranger sex thing.

“Hi,” I greeted the bartender as my girls and I maneuvered between people. It was the same guy from a week ago.

“What will it be?”

“Four red wines. House is fine.” Girl’s night wasn’t about drinking for taste.

“No,” Jaime cut it. “Four shots of Patrón and …” she thought for a moment. “Four seven and sevens.” I smiled, remembering that was what Rhys was drinking the other night. It wasn’t a drink I’d normally order, but tasting it on Rhys’s lips wasn’t bad. Jaime turned to me after the bartender moved away to make our drinks. “No wine tonight. You don’t have to work tomorrow, you have no boyfriend tying you down, and the girls and I are Ubering home. You can let loose. The looser you are—”

“Are you done?” I laughed. “I wasn’t going to object, Mom.” We were already doing tequila shots. One more, and a seven and seven, was going to put me over the edge and I was going to let loose. I knew it. I also knew I needed that to actually go through with stranger sex.

“Good. Now down your shot and let’s grab a table.” Jamie handed her credit card to the bartender and told him to keep it open. The four of us clinked our glasses together and then downed the agave goodness.

We made it to a high top table diagonal from the bar. If we had been ten or fifteen minutes longer, the bar would have been packed. After eleven was when things really heated up. I knew that much about going to the bars. In fact, I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol flowing through my veins or what, but the music seemed to get louder even though there were more bodies in the small space.

The song switched to Strip That Down by Liam Payne, and it was as though my hips had a mind of their own. I slid off the stool and started swaying to the beat next to the table. Kylie joined me, and before I knew it, all of us were singing and laughing as the music continued to play from the speakers above. I was letting loose, not caring if anyone was watching or if anyone knew or recognized me. It wasn’t as though I was a huge celebrity in this town, but sometimes I was recognized by older people who watched the news before bed. That was part of the gig.

Colleen nudged her head, indicating for me to look behind me. My heart stopped as I saw the man I’d met a week ago. Rhys was leaning against the bar, a pint of beer in his hand and a huge you’re-making-me-hard-by-dancing-like-that grin on his face. I smiled back and then turned back to my friends as the song switched. I could no longer focus on the words that were being sung or even the beat because my thoughts were solely on the man behind me. Was he going to come dance with me? Was he hard like I assumed he was? Did he get back together with his girlfriend? Did he come here a lot or just on Saturdays? Would sex with him be considered stranger sex?

It didn’t take long for me to get at least one of my answers.

Make that two.

Before I knew it, a hard—and I mean hard—body was pressed against my backside. All of my friend’s eyes widened, and I smiled, feeling busted. I didn’t know why. Rhys and I weren’t a thing, but it felt as though I was keeping a secret from them. Of course, the only secret was the three kisses that had meant nothing.

Rhys stepped around me and stuck out his hand, introducing himself to the girls. Then he turned back around and whispered into my ear, “We should take this back to my place.”

I was lucky that alcohol made me red because I was certain I was blushing. Rhys, in such a short amount of time, seemed to have a way of making my heart smile even when I was sad and lonely. Maybe he was the key to making my heart whole again? Even if we were just fake boyfriend and girlfriend. His words were like a drug that had an instant effect on my body, and laughing with this man seemed to be a way for me to heal.

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I mean, I wanted to say yes, but I was with my friends. Then my gaze darted past Rhys, and I saw three other guys walking toward us.

“Ladies,” one of the guys said with a nod.

Rhys remembered my friend’s names as he introduced them and myself to Kenny, Jett, and Clark. I recognized Jett as Rhys’s co-anchor, but the others weren’t sports broadcasters. Rhys mentioned they were journalists for his station, so I assumed they helped get stats and other sports-related things.

“Another round?” Rhys asked twirling his finger around to all of us.

“Are you buying?” Kylie asked.

Rhys smiled as the ladies and I returned to our seats. “Of course.”

“I’m okay,” I stated. “If I have another, you’ll have to carry me home.”

“Not like I’m not going that way, Cupcake.” Rhys winked and then left to the bar. His friends followed.

Once they were out of earshot, all three of my friends hissed, “Cupcake?”

I shrugged. “He wants to lick and eat me.”

They were speechless as their mouths hung open.

I shrugged again. “He was joking.”

“He wasn’t joking,” Jaime whispered, low. “If you don’t get with him, we aren’t friends anymore,” she continued.

I laughed. “You’ll disown me as a friend for not spreading my legs for a guy?”

“No,” she corrected. “For not spreading your legs for that guy.”

I followed the way her finger was pointing toward the bar. The guys were grabbing our drinks, two each, and then they started to make their way over to us. “I’ll see what happens.”

“And we want details,” Colleen stated.

A lot could happen in an hour, but it was what could happen after last call that excited me.