Alice
“How was your first day?” Joanna asks me, sliding into the booth. She smiles and gives me a hug. “Was it everything you hoped it would be?”
My best friend, Joanna, has been with me through it all: my parents’ divorce, the crazy emotional fall-out, and the financial impact. I don’t like to admit just how much they supported me financially through college or even right after graduation. Even worse is the fact that I didn’t bother to save any of the money they threw at me. Now I’m struggling to pay bills and even to afford food. Getting this job at Blossom Falls wasn’t something I did just because I have a degree in marketing. It was a necessity, and it was my last shot. If I hadn’t gotten it, I was about to start applying at fast food places and move in with Joanna.
It was either that or ask one of my parents to let me crash at their new bachelor and bachelorette pads, respectively.
As it is, I get to stay in my apartment.
“It was…interesting,” I tell her. Our server appears and we each order a coffee: me because it’s the cheapest thing on the menu, and Joanna because she’s on some new diet that seems to be driven by caffeine. Once our waitress leaves, she turns to me again.
“Tell me everything.”
I fill her in on the Monday meetings, on filling out paperwork, on my cool little cubicle, and on the project I’ll be working on this week. I leave out the part about meeting Ben. I don’t tell her how he made me excited and nervous and anxious. I don’t tell her he made me want to jump his damn bones. I don’t like keeping things from Joanna, but I’m also not ready to talk about how he made me feel.
Ben seemed so self-assured. He was almost cocky, but not quite. He wasn’t over-the-top. He just seems like the type of person who doesn’t let life get to him. He seems comfortable, and there’s a part of me that wants to feel that way, too.
I don’t know if I can.
It would be nice.
“Your co-workers sound agreeable enough,” Joanna comments. The girls who sit near me in the marketing department are total sweethearts. They’re helpful and so far, no one seems to be particularly catty. It was only my first day, though.
“Not bad,” I agree. “Not like Tanya.”
Joanna shivers. “Don’t get me started on Tanya,” she says. “Did I tell you what she said to me at lunch yesterday?” Before I have a chance to answer, Joanna launches into a story about her super-evil coworker. While she’s talking about Tanya, I start thinking about Ben. I shouldn’t let my thoughts drift to him, but I do.
Ben.
He seems nicer and friendlier than he should. Then again, maybe it’s my naivety speaking. Before this, I had only worked on campus in the writing lab. That was mindless work that seemed to drag on forever and didn’t really pay very much. Then again, my parents were throwing money at me, so I didn’t need much. I just did it to fulfill a requirement for a class.
“Sounds like you’re going to be busy,” Joanna comments.
“You have no idea.”
“Sounds like you’ll really be able to use that night at Anchored on Saturday.”
“The sex club?” I raise an eyebrow. “You were serious about that?”
“Oh, come on!” She says. “It’s an open weekend and they never have those.”
“What does that even mean?” Joanna is into some kinky and weird stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s not. She’s all about threesomes and ménage and group sex and being tied up. Me? I’d be happy if I could just find a guy who could get me off. Somehow, everyone I end up in a relationship with seems to be a dud. I can’t tell if she’s actually having amazing sex or if I’m actually having terrible sex.
“Well, it’s a private club, which means each member is vetted and has to pay a shitload of money to be able to come.”
“Be able to come have sex?”
“More happens at a club like this than sex, Alice,” she admonishes me, shocked that I might get the details wrong. “There are classes and demonstrations on how to administer bondage and how to take care of your partner. There are theme nights and performances. Yeah, people have sex there, but that’s not all people do. And, like I said before, you don’t have to have sex when we go.”
“I don’t know if I want to go,” I tell her, whining. “It’s going to be a long week.”
“But you aren’t working Saturday,” she says. “And I already bought your ticket. Do you really want to see your poor, under-appreciated friend throw away $200?”
“The ticket was $200?” For fuck’s sake. That’s more than I spend on food in a month.
Joanna just waves her hands. “Don’t worry about it. Consider it an early birthday gift.”
“My birthday isn’t for six months.”
“Okay,” she shrugs. “A super early birthday gift.”