“So, what’s with Catie?” he asked, not giving up on it. “Where the hell did she go?”
“Not a fucking clue. She left the radio station and hasn’t been back, according to Sonny, and I haven’t seen her around. She’s got a new phone number too.”
“Ouch, cold dusted by the lady, huh?”
“Shut the fuck up, Ash. Let’s play some NBA 2K,” I said just as Sonny came back on the air.
“Okay, Haftees, let’s hear it. What the heck are you doing this Christmas, and don’t bother calling in if you’re heading to Aspen to chase some snow bunnies. We don’t want to talk to you.”
“He’s a train wreck,” Ashton said, pulling out the game controller.
“Sonny B. here. Who’s this?” Sonny’s radio voice echoed from the speakers.
“Hey, Sonny, it’s Jules in Southern B! I wish you were still single, and I’d stay and decorate with you.”
“Be still my beating heart. Miranda, are you listening to this? If so, cover your ears.” Sonny lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Me too, Jules. Me too.”
Stupid Sonny.
There was a click, and he went to another caller. “Sonny B. on the line, who’s there?”
“Hey, Sonny. I’m heading home, but I’m going to watch a ton of that new adult star, Ariel Stone. Have you seen her? She’s new on the scene, and fiiine.”
“Now, really? Let’s keep this discussion PG here, buddy. But e-mail me. Don’t forget.”
Click.
“I’m going to roll another tune. This one goes out to my guys about to get busy with their conference games and winning us a ’ship.”
Nelly’s “Air Force Ones” overtook the station, and Ashton clicked it off with his foot.
“God, it’s enough of that ass. Who you want to be on the game?”
“The Magic, of course.” They were my favorite team, and I had the game set to play all their superstars.
“Bullshit, you and the fucking Magic. I’m going old school. Lakers.”
A while later, as we began the second game of our virtual basketball war, Ashton said, “We should google that Ariel chick. Sounds like we both could use a release.”
“I don’t do porn anymore,” I said without thinking, and then winced. Big mistake.
“What?” Ashton threw his controller down and pounced on me. He had me pinned to the floor, his hand at my throat as he growled out, “You don’t do porn?”
“Not anymore,” I gurgled. “Can you let me go?”
“I’m outta here,” he said, and he scrambled off of me. “You might be fucking contagious. Don’t do porn, pfft.”
Catie
I handed the bar bouncer my brand-spanking-new fake ID, a little early Christmas present for myself. I’d gone home for two days for the holidays, and it had been forty hours too long. Thankfully, I couldn’t stay longer due to my new work demands.
As soon as I’d entered my childhood home, my sisters were on me about my failures.
“Thought you were going to be some big champion of women, Catie? And here you go getting the boot,” Grace had taunted me over the kitchen table.
Cedes cornered me in the bathroom, slapping my bare butt with her towel as I dried off. “Good thing you were sent packing. You look like you’ve been hitting the scones.”
“Shove off, Cedes,” I snarled. “And here I thought you were starting to be nice. You’re a bitch.”
My mom spent the first day glaring at me, pinching my waist as she chastised me for wasting my dad’s money on a “foolish education.” She’d continued to offer up the prospect of working with Grace as some sort of solace.
As usual, I ended up drowning my sorrows in rice pudding and cannoli at my dad’s restaurant while he ran around and filled the Christmas take-out orders.
With my head low, I’d walked down the snow-covered path to a waiting taxi, where I slumped in the backseat the whole way to the bus station. As the bus carried me back to campus, across Pennsylvania and parts of Ohio, I glanced wistfully at farmhouses decorated for Christmas and wished for a new family.
Now as I entered the Golden Goblet, a newish wine-and-beer bar at the edge of campus, I realized how much I yearned to be loved for myself.
I brushed the snowflakes off my coat and set it behind my bar stool, one that had seen the imprint of my ass all too frequently over the last week. At first thought, a wine-and-beer place seemed like a weird fit on a college campus, but after I’d been there once, I got it. They sold beer by the case and wine by the jug. It was the kind of place big groups of fun-loving people went to get their buzz on and have a good time.
I went by myself—mostly to relax—or to meet Sarina. She helped me with the ID and everything else I didn’t know jack about.