Free Secret Shopper by Tanya Taimanglo Page A

to, Rachel breaking hearts and pissing off girlfriends. The pixie look was doing her well. Her lean body was well earned by all the hours at the gym and this audience appreciated it. She was definitely unique from the batch of pale women here. Her chocolate brown skin was inviting.
    Someone yelled a marriage proposal, which Rachel took in stride .
    “Sorry boys, I’m with her!” And she pointed to our booth. Rachel brought the cordless mic to me. I was definitely not drunk enough for this. She sat down and sipped her drink. She pushed me towards the stage, but I knew the song by heart and I didn’t need to see the lyrics. I held my position at the comfy seat of our booth. This was short and sweet, like all oldies. Taking direction from Betty White’s doppelganger, I sang with feeling and twang.
    By the end of the song, the entire bar was singing along . Then I saw Thomas. He stood by the jukebox, far enough away, but too close for comfort. He stared in my direction with a sexy half smile on his face. His eyes did that thing to me again and I panicked. How long had he been standing there? I sank deep into my seat. I slunk to the floor and landed with a thud. Rachel shook her head at me. As the audience’s cheering died down, I began my G.I. Jane crawl to the restroom. When I was safely shielded in the hallway, I stood and made my escape to the ladies restroom for the second time in fifteen minutes. Rachel laughed so hard, I heard her snort. She called out to me. “Don’t ruin that dress!”
    Miraculously, Rach el concocted a story of me being sick from major stage fright. Thomas said he was compelled to return to the bar when he heard the first few notes of one of his favorite songs. Rachel entertained him for a few minutes even telling Thomas how reminiscent he was of the beloved Twilight character. Rachel explained this as she drove us back to the condo. He had asked for my name and Rachel told him “Monica”. Hopefully, Thomas was not into Friends . He had to leave because the Bag It gang called him. Rachel told Thomas that I left in a taxi to our hotel room because she had more partying to do and he bought it.
    “He said you sounded like Lisa Ronstadt .” Rachel said excitedly.
    “You mean, Linda?” Linda Ronstadt was an awesome singer from my dad’s era. I appreciated her, but I didn’t know if she sang a version of that song. Rachel didn’t really care about oldies, her earliest music history being New Kids on the Block and, well The Doors, since she thought Jim Morrison was hot because Val Kilmer played him in an old biopic.
    “Linda, Lisa, whatever, Thomas thought you sounded hot . He apparently has an appreciation for the dinosaur music like you.” Rachel took direction well as she safely got us home.
    “Sounded hot doesn’t really mean I’m hot. Did he say anything else?” I was curious.
    “He had a lot of questions about Guam, since I told him you and I were vacationing from there.” There was no way Thomas would connect the brunette me from almost twelve hours ago to the blonde me of now, so I wasn’t too worried. “He spent a month there in the summer, loving the culture, he said.”
    “Really? Wow, I wonder what brought him there.”
    “He’s definitely hot and intriguing . I see you two making beautiful half-vampire babies.” Rachel joked.
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
    Becoming a Golden Girl
     
    Walking into the condo with Rachel, I imagined for a moment that I owned it, all alone. I was just a single working girl having her best friend over for a slumber party. I suggested a classic movie and a fter some cold showers, separate--not together, despite the fantasies many of the men from the karaoke bar might be having, Rachel grabbed one of my oversized Bruce Lee t-shirts, comfortable in her nakedness.
    “You still have this! May I?” S he pulled the enormous black t-shirt over her damp hair before I could answer. I wrapped my new caramel hair in a wet knot and pulled on my white Bruce