Free How to Liv by Megan Keith

interested in Eric and he’s not interested in me either.”  She didn’t look convinced.  I really didn’t want to get involved, but I guess I was in the middle of it now.  I let out a sigh of frustration.  “We were talking about you.”
    “Yeah, right.”
    She leant against the wall, folding her arms across her chest, looking down.  I moved to stand in front of her and dipped my head so that she was looking me in the eye.
    “Jess, come on, it’s me.  You know I’m telling the truth.”  She dropped her arms and pushed off the wall, standing up straight.  “Eric’s upset because you rejected him.”
    “Seriously?  He could get any girl he wanted.”  She sounded crestfallen.
    “He wants you.”
    “He wants a root,” she huffed.
    “I don’t think you’re right about that.”  She looked deep in thought, staring off into space.  “How do you feel about him?”
    “I really like him Olivia, I do, I just couldn’t be with someone like that.”  She shrugged turning to the basins and we looked at each other in the mirror.
    “Like what?”
    “I can’t date someone, have casual sex and get tossed to the side.  It’s not my style.”
    “I had a really honest conversation with him tonight Jess.  I just think he’s misunderstood.  He really is a nice guy and I think he wants more than casual sex.”
    “And there’s nothing going on between you and him?”
    “Absolutely not.”   I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder.  “You should talk to him.  You know he only left because he was jealous of the way you were talking to Daniel and Scott.  You were doing that on purpose, weren’t you?”
    “Maybe.”   She gave me a devilish smile.
    “You naughty girl!” I laughed, then cringed when I remembered how full my bladder was.  “Okay now I’m really busting!”  I quickly went into one of the toilet stalls.

    An hour later, I was more than a little tipsy and having a really good time, when Joel placed a bowl of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce in between us.  My eyes lit up.
    “How did you know?” I joked.
    “Well you practically finished the bowl all by yourself last Friday.”
    “I did, didn’t’ I?” Surprisingly though, I was not embarrassed by that.
    “Plus you’ve had a lot to drink and you haven’t eaten.”
    “Thank you, that is very thoughtful of you,” I gushed, leaning towards him, grabbing a big fat wedge, and promptly taking a bite.  “Mmm.”
    “What are you doing tomorrow?”
    “Housework?”  I shrugged.  That’s what I normally did on a Saturday if I wasn’t working.
    “Not anymore.”  He stared at me like he was gauging my reaction.
    “Is that so?” I teased, absolutely loving our interaction.
    “Yep.   Let me take you out.”
    “Okay.  Where do you want to go?”
    “It’s a surprise.  I’ll pick you up about midday.”
    “Ooh I love surprises!” I practically yelled, in a childish voice, suddenly realising that I was slurring my words.
    “Will you be well enough though?  If you keep going at this rate, you’re going to be rocking one hell of a hangover.”  He laughed and nodded to the bowl in front of me.  “I think you should keep eating.”
    “Maybe you’re right,” I said, reaching for another wedge.
    The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur.  I know there was a lot of laughing and drinking, but I slowed down on those after I finished off the wedges.  I liked to party as much as the next girl, but as I have gotten older I’ve found that the hangovers are getting harder and harder to handle.  I was really looking forward to my date with Joel tomorrow.  I would be kicking myself if I had to endure a headache through it.
    Karen left fairly early to pick up her kids from her parents’ place and Jess left pretty soon after.  I wasn’t sure if I had gotten through to her on the whole Eric thing, but she promised she would think about talking to him at least.  After the kitchen at the pub closed,