Free The Manga Girl by Lorenzo Marks Page B

teeth.
          “I had a friend who was date-raped once,” she said.
          “Really?”
          “There’s this drug…”
          “Roofies?”
          “Uh-uh, this other one. It’s called scopolamine. It kind of turns you into a zombie. You lose all your will power and do whatever anyone asks you to. When it wears off, you can’t remember a thing. People have been known to assist in their own robberies, give away their money, cars. Ordinary decent women have been put to work as prostitutes.”
          “Scary. How do you know so much about it?”
          “Because it happened to my friend.”
          Lucy didn’t offer any details so Nick decided not to ask.
          “So apart from the Long Islands, did you have a good time?” he asked, changing the subject.
          “It was fun. Your friends are nice. How did you get to know each other?”
          “Sid knows Jason from the gym. Rob works at the same investment bank as Jason, and Andy is Rob’s brother,”
          “Oh, that’s right, they told me. Tanya thought Rob was really cute.”
          “I think he likes her too.”
          “Andy was a little boring.”
          “Well, he’s a bit serious. He’s training to be a pharmacologist. He told me you have a - what was it? - ‘shining radiance’,” Nick said.
          “Oh really? Well, he’s not that boring then.”
          Nick grinned. He’d sensed that she had been a bit cautious up until now. She knew she had upset him, and dinner was a make-up gesture. Now that she figured he had forgiven her, the mischievous imp was coming back out to play.
          “Sid’s very fond of you,” Lucy said.
          “That’s perceptive of you. He works with me. The others are just drinking buddies really.”
          “Is he a carpenter too?”
          “Yeah. It’s a small company, just six employees and old Bob, the boss.”
          “I remember. You restore old buildings. It sounds like satisfying work.”
          “When it goes right.”
          “It’s nice at the end of the day, when you can actually see the fruits of your labor.”   Lucy finished her glass and let out a little unladylike belch. “Sorry.”
          “Another one?”
          “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
          “It’s worth a try.”
          She held up her glass.
          “One more and that’s it. I don’t want to miss class tomorrow.”
          They toasted again, and Lucy got up and sat next to Nick.
          “You want to watch some TV?” he asked.
          Lucy shook her head and draped a leg over his lap.
          They sat in silence for a moment, Nick just happy to be sitting there, then Lucy said, “I’m sorry I danced with your friend.”
          Nick didn’t respond. It was a subject that he had wanted to raise, but now that Lucy had, it felt like an intrusion.
          “And I’m sorry you lost twenty bucks,” she went on. “He didn’t tell me until after.”
          Nick flushed with embarrassment. He would have expected her to be furious over that.
          “I was drunk,” she continued. “I know that’s not an excuse.”
          “Did he ask you to go home with him?”
          “Yeah.”
          Lucy was sliding her thigh up and down Nick’s lap, and he felt himself stirring.
          “Why didn’t you?”
          She sipped her wine and rested her head on his shoulder. “Because I don’t sleep with everybody that hits on me, that’s why.”
          “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
          “You were angry, weren’t you?”
          Nick kissed her on the top of her head.
          “Oh, yes.”
          Lucy turned her face towards him and put down her glass. “That’s why I danced with him.”
          “To make me angry?”
          Their faces were close, noses almost