Dropping my tablet, I picked up my bowl of gelato with both hands, and contemplated sinking my whole face into it. The spoon wasn’t working nearly fast enough to help me drown my feelings. The LED light that indicated I had a new message lit up as I was shoving a huge spoonful of caramel cookie crunch into my mouth, and I grimaced against the brain freeze I had given myself as I turned the screen back on.
ReNasty: “I get that, but… I don’t know, from what you told me about this Avery guy, it seems like there may be something a little more than just sexual chemistry there. And then finding out you guys are actually a match… this doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
That’s because it was a terrible idea. I passed ‘not a good idea’ back when I agreed to take Avery as a client, knowing I had slept with him.
T.K.Oh: “What do you mean more than sexual chemistry? There hasn’t been a chance for much of anything else.”
ReNasty: “…you told me you spent 6 or 7 hours with this man. Yeah, you screwed each other’s brains out, but are you trying to tell me that was all? You already said you talked for a while before you decided to hop on his dick, so you can’t convince me there wasn’t more.”
T.K.Oh “I mean, of course there was some pillow talk… maybe a bit of cuddling. He’s interesting, intelligent, charming, and he’s fine as hell. So yeah… we kicked it.”
ReNasty: “Kicked it? Let me find that ‘eye roll’ emoticon real quick.”
T.K.Oh: “I didn’t do nothin’ though.”
ReNasty: “Oh please. First, it was just that you had sex with him. Now, you’re naming off all of his good qualities, and you two cuddled, and ‘kicked it’. I don’t think you know how you feel, but I do know you were way madder about what he said to you at breakfast than you would have been if there weren’t more to it than a one night stand being a little rude to you.”
I sucked my teeth before tapping out a response on the screen.
T.K.Oh: “Come on, Renee, don’t act like my response was unreasonable. Anybody would have gotten mad about that.”
ReNasty: “Yeah, maybe ‘anybody’ would, but not you. Do you remember that time you video chatted with me during that crazy ass date you had a few years ago? You snuck your phone onto the table with me on the line because this guy was dumping you because you wouldn’t screw him again because the first time was a disaster. He was going through this long list of everything that was wrong with you, you were too introverted, but you talked too much. You didn’t dress sexy enough, but he didn’t like the way other men looked at you when you were out. Your boobs were too perky, ass wasn’t small enough, and I believe he said your hazel eyes were demonic. This guy was railing on you. Then, his drunk ass wife comes stumbling into the restaurant, and threw up all over you, and it was pure chaos after that. You remember that, right?”
Of course I remembered. I had to file a restraining order against that fool and his wife, but that ordeal had been a good source of laughs.
T.K.Oh: “Yeah.”
ReNasty: “And do you remember your response, Tori? You laughed at that! You sat there and let that man pick you apart because it was comedy to you, but Avery makes some — admittedly rude— comments about your business and stuff, and were ready to hire somebody to bring you his head! ”
T.K.Oh: “No, let’s be clear. It was funny to me that he was saying that crap because he wasn’t a catch himself. I didn’t even like him, and I wasn’t planning to see him again after that night anyway. Avery was different. He and I had this surreal connection, and it… damn. Okay. I’m making your point right now, aren’t I?”
ReNasty: “Yeah, you are.”
I eyed my empty bowl with contempt before shoving it onto my bedside table. I really, really wished Renee hadn’t pointed that out. It was just another complication for me to navigate.
T.K.Oh: “Well, claps for you. I’ll admit I was feeling him a little before he went all Incredible Hulk, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I promised Des I would help him, so I’m going to deliver on that.”
ReNasty: “I understand keeping your obligation, and I admire that about you. I would just hate for you to involve yourself in another situation that doesn’t feel right, and ends up out of control.”