Jack instantly starts bobbing his head in the chair. Josh is singing right along with him, and Char is recording it all on her phone. I guess this will be hilarious when he’s older.
He sits up straight right before the words start and then follows right along with MGK.
They finish the rest of the song. I’ll give it to him—for a five-year-old boy, he killed it. Just got to get a few more of the words down, and he’ll be set.
After I put Jack down and say good night, I can’t help thinking of my mom. If she were awake, she would’ve laughed so hard at his concert in the car. She was always strict with me as a kid about cursing. But she would pay Jack to run up to me and cuss, just to laugh.
I really miss how she brightens everyone’s day.
She’s going to pull out of this, right? She has to.
Knock, knock.
“Yeah?”
Char comes in and plops into bed next to me. “Shall we get ready for our night?” She lays her head on my shoulder, nudging me every two seconds, reminding me of Jack.
“Yeah. I don’t have a dress though.” Anxiety settles into my chest, and I just want to cancel all of tonight’s plans if I can’t find something I feel confident in.
I suddenly remember that the one club dress I do own, I lent out to a classmate of mine. She got drunk and puked all over it. And I definitely didn’t want that back.
She rolls over, propping her chin in her hand. “Oh, don’t you worry. You know I own too many.” She hops out of the bed and offers me her hand.
She leads the way to her room and informs me that she will be doing my hair and makeup tonight. Just to make sure I look my best. It’s a blow to the ego because, apparently, I can’t do that myself.
Although she’s not wrong.
We pass Jack’s room, and I decide to sneak a peek at my sleeping angel. I crack his door open and laugh silently. His mouth is wide open, and there is a river of drool running down his hand.
Having him so young was definitely challenging, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I take one last look at my baby boy and close the door.
Then, I let Charlotte pull me to her room to get ready.
She whips a bottle of vodka out of God knows where and pours two shots. “Here’s to a night of fun, hot guys, and no regrets!”
Hot guysandno regretsdon’t usually go in the same sentence.
2
Char slaps my hand away from my hair as we inch forward in the never-ending line. “You look great. Stop fussing!”
I can’t resist pulling my dress down once more, feeling like my ass cheeks are about to make an appearance every five seconds.
Charlotte took the pleasure of selecting our dresses. For herself, she picked out a black body-con and stiletto Calvin Klein heels. She paired it with a dark smoky eye and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail.
For me, she chose a gold satin slip dress that feels like luxury. Thank goodness I had my own pair of black heels to wear tonight, or I would have been stuck wearing the same worn-out Converse I wear almost every day. She did my makeup—a little too dark for my preference, but I let her have her fun with a dark brown smoky eye and bright red lips. My soft brown locks are loosely curled down my shoulders.
The line moves forward a little, and we continue to scoot closer to the entrance. Fireflies is packed tonight, as always. There’s at least twenty people ahead of us, and we’ve already been waiting for over thirty minutes.
The music is getting louder as we approach. It’s crazy how you just get accustomed to the music once you’re inside. While outside though, I feel like I should cover my ears at times because it’s so loud.
Char is rapidly typing into her phone, and she’s biting down on one intense smile.
“What’sall thatfor?” I circle the air in front of her face.
Her eyes shoot to me so fast that I worry she might strain those muscles.
She clutches her phone tight to her chest, which is rapidly rising and falling. “Um, so you remember Cam?”
