Indecent by Corinne Sullivan

Author:Corinne Sullivan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

ELEVEN

Meggy and Maggie would turn 23 that Wednesday and so, with repeated encouragement from ReeAnn, I joined her and the other apprentices out for a birthday dinner that Tuesday night. The Woods twins chose a Mexican restaurant in downtown Scarsdale, a loud, obtrusive place with bright sugary drinks and plastic tablecloths and complimentary bowls of chips and salsa on every table. Mariachi droned through the speakers, and my head ached.

Chapin wasn’t present—not that her absence ever necessitated remark—but everyone else, even the usually sour Babs, was in high spirits. ReeAnn sat to my right, with Babs beside her, and Raj was sandwiched between the twins across the table. ReeAnn took out her phone for a picture, and Raj slung his arms around the Woods’s skinny bodies, their three faces pressed tight together. “Dude, cilantro in your teeth,” Babs said, pointing. Raj bared his teeth and leaned over the table. “Lick it out for me?” They all howled. ReeAnn turned to me still laughing, welcoming me to join in on the fun. I hated that I could tell she felt sorry for me.

Six goblets filled to the brim with Pepto-pink frozen margarita appeared. “Drink!” Maggie commanded. Their five heads bowed to meet their colorful straws, even Babs, who apparently no longer abstained from drinking. I followed suit, and the icy thickness shot a painful blast to my temples. When I raised my head again, everyone was smiling at me, though whether their smiles were friendly or wary, I couldn’t decide. If they were willing to pretend I hadn’t spent the past two weeks shut up in my bedroom, then I was, too.

Conversation floated between grad apps, midterm exam grading, and a drunken night the five of them had shared at a bar the weekend before. I sucked up my drink and did my best to play my role. “Yeah, just about done.” “Yeah, totally a pain.” “Yeah, too bad I missed out. I’ll be there next time.” I was working on my second drink when Raj materialized at my elbow, having dragged over a chair from an unoccupied table nearby.

“Rajy,” Meggy pouted. “Where are you going?”

He pointed at me. “Going to catch up with Imogene for a sec.”

“Okay,” I said, realizing as I did that a response wasn’t expected of me.

He turned to me. “Hello.” He still had a bit of cilantro in his teeth; I caught a flash of green as he spoke. I gave a furtive look around the table to make sure nobody was still paying attention to this unexpected seat rearrangement. He noticed. “Don’t worry, it’s cool,” he said.

“Okay.” I tried to look cool.

“So.” He leaned back in his seat. “What’s up?”

A simple question that could spawn a million answers. “Not much.”

He smiled past me for an unseen TV audience. These girls liked him, his being male a fun anomaly, and their attention made him cocky. I had a strange desire to see him taken down a peg, by cooler girls, or better yet by cooler guys,

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