The Lineup(10)

“Let me guess,” Emory says, sitting in a chair across from me, “you forgot about our dinner again.”

“Things have been crazy around here.”

“Same story, different day.” Lindsay takes the other seat across from me, moves her satchel to her lap and gives it a good pat. “Don’t worry, I brought papers for Emory and me to grade while you do your work. We can call it a working friend-inner.”

“I never agreed to helping you grade papers. And what could you possibly grade? They’re third graders.”

Chin stuck up in the air, Lindsay says, “I’ll have you know, I run a tight ship in my classroom. I make those kids work. I have spelling tests, math tests, and stories about what they want to be when they grow up to grade.”

Emory waves her hand at Lindsay. “Throw a smiley face sticker on them and call it a day. It’s not like you’re actually going to fail any of these kids.”

Chuckling, I say, “Look at the librarian being lazy.”

“I’m not lazy, I just don’t want to have to decipher third grade handwriting all night. I had a second grader spit in my face today, so I’m done with children for now.”

“You’re cranky,” I say, which is abnormal for my usually very positive friend.

She sighs heavily. “Knox has been holding out on me lately. We got in a disagreement and now he said he’s going to withhold the goods until I agree with him.”

“Still wants you to get rid of the lease on your apartment?”

“Yeah. He said keeping it is insulting to him, as if I don’t think we’ll be together forever. What he doesn’t realize is that the apartment meant something to me before he came back into my life. It was my place of solace during the rough times.”

Growing serious, I say, “But don’t you think it’s time you build a new place where you can find peace? Knox means everything to you. I don’t think you need an apartment to remind you of what you went through. You need a place that will remind you of where you’re going.”

Lindsay touches her heart. “Good God, Dottie, that was really fucking touching.”

“It was,” Emory agrees, tearing up.

“Are you okay?” I ask, motioning to her eyes. “It looks like you’re going to cry.”

Emory waves her hand in front of her eyes. “I think I’m just hard up. All these pent-up orgasms are really getting to me.”

“If that’s the case, Dottie and I should be bawling every day of our lives from lack of sex.”

Jessica takes that moment to walk into my office, two to-go bags in hand from one of our favorite Greek restaurants.

“I seem to have bad timing every time you guys have dinner here,” she says with a blush.

“Oh, we’re besties by now.” Lindsay motions to another seat. “Please, Jessica, sit down, talk about our sex lives with us.”

“That’s not necessary,” I say. “Don’t really want to get HR involved.”

“You’re such a tight-ass,” Lindsay says. “It’s not like you’re hitting on Jessica; we’re just gabbing like good friends.”

Jessica pushes her glasses on her nose and folds her hands together. “With all due respect, I think I should leave the gabbing to you ladies. I don’t want to make Miss Domico uncomfortable.”

“Why?” Lindsay asks, leaning in like a rabid beast, looking for nourishment. “Is your sex life insane? You’re a fresh twenty-three, right? What’s it like to be young?”

“You’re young, you idiot,” I say to Lindsay. “Twenty-nine is not old.”

“It’s not twenty-three,” she mutters.

Before Lindsay can get into the fine details of Jessica’s personal life, I say, “Jessica, before you take off, can you please look at this charge? I have no idea what it’s for. It’s a ten-thousand-dollar charge.”

Emory’s mouth falls open. “You don’t know about a ten-thousand-dollar charge on your credit card? I’m pretty sure I’d know what I was wearing, what I smelled like, and the exact time I charged ten thousand dollars to my credit card.”

Smelled like? Eww.

Lindsay nods her thumb in my direction with a smart-ass smile. “Rich girl problems.”

Ignoring them, I point to the charge with my mouse when Jessica rounds my desk. “The Lineup, what is that?”

Lindsay and Emory both snort at the same time, covering their faces in tandem.

Uh, am I missing something? Oh shit, is it some weird porn website? I’m not an avid watcher, but after a few glasses of wine, sometimes I like to jump online and have a little fun. Did I buy some baller subscription without remembering?

Immediately a trickle of sweat starts to stream down my back from the thought of Jessica knowing about my “extracurricular activities” outside of work.

“Uh, you know what, never mind, I think I remember.”

“Do you?” Lindsay asks, a full-on grin spread across her face.

“Ten thousand dollars? Damn, Dottie, I didn’t know you were that adamant about winning a date.”

“Winning a date? What are you talking about?”

Please don’t say it’s a dating website, a dating website I spent ten thousand dollars on. If that doesn’t read desperately single, I don’t know what does.