Page 1 of Flung
Chapter One
Emma
This was entirely too much.
Marilyn was my friend, for sure. And I knew this was what she did. She always had stories about the extravagant gifts she gave her friends.
I just never expected to be on the receiving end of one.
But here I was, sitting on my couch and staring at two plane tickets to Miami.
“Marilyn, I… I can’t accept this!”
Marilyn laughed, shaking her head. Her red curls flew around her. She always managed to look like a movie star, even with a simple action like that. “Emma, come on! You just got your masters! We need to do something big to celebrate, and this is it!”
I sighed heavily. She was right. I hadn’t celebrated getting my masters’ degree yet. It had been a few months since graduation in January, and I was just living my life like nothing had changed.
But still, this was too much.
“Marilyn, I… I really appreciate it, but…”
“Hush.” Marilyn grinned. “We need to go have some fun. You’re one of the most studious, hard-working people I’ve ever met, and I want to see you let loose a little! Okay? I’m not saying you have to go completely crazy, but let’s just go spend spring break on the beach. We’ll dance and drink, and if you want to hook up with a guy, well… go for it!”
I wasn’t the type for hook-ups. She knew that. She knew I went to class, came home, did my homework, and watched TV until it was time for bed. She knew I’d never called out of work unless I was really sick. She knew I’d never had a boyfriend, never gone clubbing, never gone to work hungover.
Marilyn knew I was boring.
And she was still trying to get me to go along with this.
“Emma.” She sounded almost disappointed this time. “Look… just… come down to Miami with me. Okay? We’ll go to the beach for one day, and if you hate it, we can go to… museums or libraries or whatever it is you like.”
I did like museums and libraries. Very much.
That’s why I’d gone to school to be a librarian.
“I just… I don’t know.” I sighed. “It’s a lot. It’s a lot of pressure to look and act a certain way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like… to be skinny and pretty and wear a lot of makeup. And look hot in a bikini. And I’m not any of those things.”
“Oh, my god, don’t start being self-deprecating now!” Marilyn laughed. “Emma, you’re gorgeous. And you can totally look hot in a bikini. A thick girl like you? Yes, please!”
God, how had she gotten so good at convincing people to do things?
I sighed. “All right, but… Seriously, if it’s awful, I don’t want to stay.”
“That’s fine. If it sucks, we’ll do something else.”
I smiled a little, biting my lower lip. “Maybe… maybe it’ll be fun, though. Maybe, like… we’ll have fun dancing.”
“And we’ll have fun drinking!” Marilyn laughed. “And I dunno about you, but I’m getting laid, like, every night that we’re down there!”
I laughed, shaking my head. That was just like her. Marilyn may have lived in a cheap apartment, but it was only so she could afford her over-the-top lifestyle. She partied hard, and she traveled often, and she loved coming over to my house with expensive bottles of wine and gushing about the new guys she’d met.
She was fun, in ways that I just wasn’t.
Maybe this trip would be good for me. Maybe she’d rub off on me a little.
Or maybe I’d at least have some fun before I started my new job. It was coming up fast. I’d managed to get hired on as a librarian in New York City—not at the central library with the lion statues, but a smaller branch, where I’d be running the teen department.
It was what I wanted to be doing.
And it was going to pay well, enough that I could make my stupid loan payments without too much worry.
That, at least, was a relief.
I put the envelope with the plane tickets on my coffee table and sighed, leaning back on the couch. “All right, so… if we’re going to spring break in Miami, then what do I need to pack?”
Marilyn grinned. “A lot of sexy swimsuits. C’mon, get your purse. I’m taking you shopping.”
