Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series (3 page)

Chapter 3

          
The week flew by uneventfully, which was nice. I had been
so busy the past few weeks with catering events, birthday parties, and summer
cook-outs, so I was happy to have a slow week. Michelle had contacted me with
rave reviews on my spread at the art gallery, and we negotiated our contract
for a couple other events in the upcoming months.

          
I hadn’t heard from Dillon all week, which surprised me a
bit. I mean, I heard his speech loud and clear. But things were just starting
to get serious, so I thought he would still come back around after being apart
from me for a few days. Apparently I didn’t understand men too well.

          
I was so relieved when Thursday morning rolled around,
because my best friend Addie finally returned from her romantic getaway. She
called me as soon as her plane landed, gushing about her vacation. I told her
all about the art gallery event and how we had picked up some additional events
from it. I knew she wasn’t coming into the bakery right away so she had some
time to recuperate from her trip, but we made plans to hang out that night with
the rest of our friends.

          
As the evening rolled around we all met up at a tapas restaurant
we loved. Addie and Griffin were there, looking extremely tan from their trip.
Megan showed up with Steve, good friends I had known since school. Our friend
Johnny showed up with a new girl he recently started dating, but the jury was
still out on her. We were a really close-knit group of friends, so it was hard
not to scrutinize whatever new person they were dating at the time. Megan knew
this well, which was likely why she never brought any dates around when we all
got together.

          
“So, before we start eating,” Addie said, grabbing our
attention, “Griffin and I have something to tell you.” The table fell silent.
Addie stuck out her left hand and the entire group gasped at the sparkling
diamond on her ring finger.

          
“You guys got engaged?” Megan squealed, covering her
mouth. It had only been a few months since Addie and Griffin started dating,
but they were inseparable. We all knew they were perfect for each other.

          
“I know. I had no idea,” Addie gushed. “We were just
taking a stroll on the beach one night. The moon was bright and the stars were
gorgeous. I thought we were going to see some newly hatched baby turtles on the
beach, but instead there was a giant heart drawn in the sand and there was a
note in the middle of it held down by a small shell.” Addie’s face radiated as
she spoke, and my eyes felt a little misty.

          
“What did the note say?” I asked. I was still in shock
that two of my best friends were getting married.

          
“It just said ‘How about forever?’ That was it. It was
perfect. And then I noticed the ring inside the shell,” Addie said, staring at
her new jewelry.

          
“It was my Grandma’s ring, originally. But I had a friend
of mine update it a little bit. He added the smaller diamonds around the center
one. I’m just glad she said yes to me. I’ve been worried about that since day
one,” Griffin said, staring lustfully at Addie. They kissed and the entire
group congratulated them and started firing off tons of questions.

          
“It’s actually only been a few days, so we haven’t decided
on much,” Addie said, still beaming. “But I can’t wait. I thought maybe us
girls could go out tomorrow night for a girls night to celebrate?” Megan and I
agreed, happy for the great news.

          
Dinner was fabulous, and we heard more about Addie and
Griffin’s vacation. They went snorkeling, zip lining, and even parasailing. I
wished for a brief moment that I had someone to take on a vacation, but I guess
that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. I explained to everyone what happened
last weekend with Dillon.

          
“I’ll find you someone new, Mal,” Megan said as we ate
dessert.

          
“Yeah right Meg, your relationships expire faster than a
gallon of milk,” I chimed in as the others laughed. “I’m so busy with the
bakery right now anyway. Who has time for a guy? Except for you, apparently,” I
said, squeezing Addie’s arm. I was truly happy for her.

          
“I can’t wait to go out tomorrow night to celebrate! I’ll
see you at the bakery in the morning. What time? Seven a.m.?” Addie asked,
sounding eager to get back to work.

          
“Seven sounds great. See you then,” I replied, giving
everyone a quick hug.

          
I spent the rest of the night soaking in a hot bath with a
bottle of red wine. This wasn’t so bad. Even though everyone else was out for
the night, I didn’t mind spending a quiet night alone. It was relaxing at
least.

          
The next day Addie and I spent nine hours at the bakery.
It was a pretty busy day; Fridays usually were. We had quite a few birthday
orders on the weekends, so we tried to prepare anything we could in advance.
Addie came up to my apartment after we were done so we could get dressed up for
the night. She was a bit fashion-challenged, so I loved helping her pick out
some adventurous clothes for a night out on the town.

          
“What about this one, Addie?” I asked, holding up a green
dress. I thought it would go well with her long blonde hair and her striking
blue eyes.

          
“It looks a little loud, don’t you think?” she responded,
crinkling her nose up at me. “What about this plain black one?”

          
“I wore that one to the art gallery last week. It’s a
little boring, but I have some great jewelry you can wear. I’ll wear the green
one then. I guess I feel like a loud outfit,” I said smiling.

          
We both got dressed and put on our make-up, applying a
little more than we usually did since we were going out for a girls night.
Megan swung by the apartment to meet up with us, and she was dressed to the
hilt. She had on a short black sparkly miniskirt, which made her legs look even
longer and skinnier than they already were. Her low-cut form-fitting magenta
blouse wasn’t leaving much to the imagination either. It was no wonder guys
flocked to Megan every time we went out.

          
I pinned back a few short dark curls away from my face.
The green dress really made my hazel eyes sparkle. Unfortunately my summer tan
brought out the freckles I had under my eyes. They always bothered me, even
though guys always told me they were ‘cute.’ Not exactly the greatest
compliment though. That word better applies to puppies or homemade cards.
Surely no guy would ever call a girl like Megan just ‘cute.’

          
We grabbed our purses and called a cab. It was a short
ride to the clubs downtown, but just far enough of a distance that it would
kill Megan to walk that far in her stilettos.

          
We headed first to a sushi bar called Fire. I wasn’t a big
fan of raw fish, but they had some other good things on the menu. Addie just
recently discovered her love of sushi, so we humored her by agreeing it would
be a great place to eat dinner to start our night. After all, this girls night
out was to celebrate her and her engagement. Megan of course agreed to the
sushi bar because she liked the sake bombs and a few of the bartenders.

          
After the sushi bar we headed to a nightclub called Flash.
It was one of our favorite places to dance. The music was always good and we
always knew some other people there as well. We did a few shots, which I knew I
would regret tomorrow morning. Otherwise we laughed, we danced, and we people
watched. As much as I loved having our guy friends out with us most nights,
Johnny, Steve, and Griffin, it was nice to be out with just the girls on
occasion. We mocked other peoples outfits and made up signals for each other so
we would know to cut in if one of us was dancing with a guy we didn’t want to
dance with. So much for the direct route of just telling a guy you weren’t
interested in him.

          
Addie was the most reserved, for sure. I suppose now that
she was engaged she felt uncomfortable when guys approached her. As for me,
well, I just wasn’t interested. After the Dillon saga, I figured I needed a
relationship break anyway. Some time to myself to work on my business far
outweighed my need for a boyfriend. Especially a boyfriend who found me
unlovable. Damn that was harsh.

          
Megan on the other hand, she disappeared twice for
extended periods of time. She did that a lot. She was probably off flirting
with her next three-day fling. Every year our group of friends got together for
an annual camping trip. We would all blindly draw a name out of a box and we
had to dare that person to do something, usually something beneficial or
helpful for themselves. I was dared to start my own bakery, and then to open it
up full-time into an actual career. Megan’s dare this past camping trip was not
to sleep around for a consecutive three month period of time. It’s a good thing
she had a full year to complete her dare, because so far she didn’t seem to
even be attempting celibacy. Especially not tonight in that skirt.

          
“So this is Eric,” Megan said, her arm draped around the
shoulders of a handsome guy with thick dark hair and dark eyes. “He’s meeting
some buddies over at Mister’s Tavern. I thought maybe we could all head over
there as well?” Megan’s eyes suggested she eagerly wanted Addie and me to
agree.

          
“Sorry guys, I don’t feel so hot,” Addie said, looking a
little pale. “I told you I should’ve never done those shots, Meg,” she said
shaking her head. “I think I might have Griffin come and pick me up. I know
it’s only eleven-thirty. I feel so bad for ducking out early, but I just don’t
think I’ll make it much longer. I definitely can’t drink anymore.”

          
I honestly would have preferred to go home as well, but
Megan’s eyes pleaded with me to stay out with her.

          
“Come on Mal, his other friends will be there. He’s a
baseball player. There’s this other guy on his team he was telling me about,
his name is Mitchell. I think you’d really like him,” Megan said
enthusiastically.

          
“Sure. Why not? But a baseball player named Mitchell, is
that his first name? I’m not going to be set up Meg, so don’t bother,” I
responded, knowing she would be thrilled I agreed to stay out. She was one of
my best friends, so it was hard not to want to make her happy.

          
Griffin came to pick up Addie and we said our goodbyes. Megan
and I got into a cab with Eric for the five minute drive to Mister’s Tavern. I
may have gone there back in college once or twice, but otherwise it definitely
wasn’t our type of hangout. It was in an older section of downtown, a little
bit outside of the glitter and lights of the casinos directly on the downtown
strip. They tried to rehab the tavern to make it a little more trendy, but I
imagined it was still full of townie college-aged kids or groups of bikers. Not
exactly our crowd.

          
I sure wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone tonight, whether
it was this tool Mitchell I heard all about in the cab or some forty year old
motorcycle dude, but I figured a little more face time around this Eric guy
Megan was into would help ease my mind a bit if Megan ended up going home with
him.

          
The tavern wasn’t very crowded. Not nearly as crowded as
the nightclubs were on a Saturday night anyway. There were a few guys sitting
up against the large wooden bar area, probably some young townies who were ‘too
cool’ to be seen in one of the trendy downtown bars. Other various couples and
groups were sprinkled at tables and booths around the large, dimly lit room. As
I suspected, a middle-aged group of men wearing leather vests were gathered
around the dart boards in the back of the tavern. This definitely wasn’t my
scene.

          
Megan of course looked ridiculously out of place in her
short sparkly miniskirt, but I don’t think she cared. I doubt she even noticed
that there weren’t a lot of mid-twenty-somethings in this place, aside from the
guys at the bar and a few around the pool tables. Megan clung to Eric as we took
some seats near a shuffleboard table in the back.

          
“So this is Mitchell,” Eric said, introducing me to his
friend. Mitchell was at least two inches shorter than me and looked like he
would be bald within the next year or two. He also had strange patchy facial
hair, and I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or if he was just lazy. I was
sure, however, that he was far from my type. I glared at Megan, and she
shrugged in apology.

          
“I guess I’ll go get us some drinks,” I muttered, hoping I
could sip on something for a few minutes and then come up with a good excuse to
leave. I was relived Mitchell didn’t follow me to the bar.
Megan really owes
me for this.

          
I walked up to an open chair at the bar and waited for a
moment, hoping to get the bartenders attention down at the other end. He
appeared to be flirting with a girl sitting at the bar, so it didn’t look like
I was going to get his attention any time soon.