โLet me be brutally honest, he was an absolute douche.โ Lola
vented into the phone. โThere are
special places in Hell for men like him.โ It was true, she
was certain of it. There had to be. That
manโฆthere were no words.
โSorry you had such a rough day,โ Amy said, offering what
little condolence she could. She was
hardly new to the stories. Lola had a boss from hell. She
was thankful she didnโt have to put up
with the nonsense her friend went through. No thank you.
โPower hungry beast,โ she grunted. โAnyway, how was your
day? Want to grab something to eat
this weekend, maybe hit Spice?โ The weekends never held too
much excitement, but she could
always count on Amy to liven things up.
โMy dayโฆโ Amy paused to exaggerate, โwas interesting.โ Her
voice went up an octave. โI may
have a date. I donโt want to make plans yet. I think heโs
working up the courage to ask me out
for the weekend.โ He better be working up the courage. Sheโd
waited long enough and patience
wasnโt her strong point.
โFine, Iโll just be the lonely, pathetic old woman at the
bar without you. You know, the forty-
something year old, trying desperately to fit in with the
younger kids. The kids who still fit into
skinny jeans; the ones who make me look like their
chaperone.โ She never felt old until she was
dating again. Well, trying to date. โThere has to be
somewhere the older crowd hangs out. Itโs
like Spice for the under thirty set and Buckyโs for the over
sixty set. Whereโs my age bracket?โ
Itโs like forty and fifty year old people were hiding out in
some secret cave, unable to come out
and play.
โNobody has time to go out. Responsibility is a bitch,โ Amy
responded.
โMaybe I should try one of those online dating sites,โ Lola
started. โWho knows, maybe thatโs
where the fishing pond for the middle aged people is.โ She
sighed. It sounded like too much
work. โEh, Iโll just go hang at Spice and watch the younger
kids hook up. Itโs not as much fun
alone. I canโt be catty without you.โ Well, she could, but
it was more fun to be snarky with her
pal, picking out who would be drunk by her second drink, who
would hook up with who in the
bathroom, and which person would have lost half of their
clothes as the night wore on. Drunk,
sloppy, children. She had no idea how kids in their twenties
became children in her eyes, but the
older she got, the younger they seemed.
โIf he doesnโt come through and ask me out, Iโll be there,โ
Amy reassured. โYouโre right though,
we should probably find a new place. Spice feels a littleโฆโ
she trailed off.
โYoung?โ She hated that her ex-husbandโs words rang in her
head. Youโre no spring chicken.
Asshole.
โIโll get back to you, promise. And I donโt think the idea
of online dating is all that freaky
anymore. More people are doing it. Maybe Iโll join you.โ Amy
hardly needed online dating. She
had a long list of men waiting for a turn to date her. She
was a goddess; the problem was she was
a picky goddess.
โItโs not like you have any lack of dates, your standards
are just too stringent. Youโll never
settle,โ Lola pointed out.
โCome on, thatโs not true. I almost got married.โ She almost
got married a few times and then
pulled out. Maybe Lola had a point, but a girl has to have
standards.
They said their good-byes and hung up the phone. Lola
rummaged through the cabinets for
grub. She sighed. Food was the last thing she needed right
now. Her size 20 jeans were already
getting snug and there were 22โs in her very near future if
she didnโt watch it. Thank goodness
for elastic, at least she still had some comfy pants she
could stretch out a bit more before giving
in to her growing tummy and hips. Sheโd be damned if she was
going up yet another size. Okay,
call it what you will, she could probably wear the 22โs, but
she wasnโt calling it that yet. As long
as she could stretch more life out of her 20โs, sheโd remain
a 20 in her eyes.
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