Boy meets girl, girl falls in love, blah-blah-blah.
Let me be clear with you from the beginning. This is not that kind of story.
My name is Cait, and I live in the great city of New York. Okay, so maybe I've only lived here for a week and a half...
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"Nope."
Val tried to push me off the spot I glued myself to on the sidewalk outside Gran Eléctrica, and she was thus far unsuccessful at convincing me to move. The only reason she managed to get me out of the cab was by guilt tripping me for making the cabbie lose time in finding a new customer along with poking my side until I scrambled off the seat and out of the cab. She may have won that battle, but I wasn't about to let her win the war.
"Come on," she whined. "Why not? You were okay with it five minutes ago."
"I changed my mind," I said, shaking my head. "I'm allowed to do that. Free country and all."
She rolled her eyes, linking our arms together, and tugging me toward the door, "Cait, come on. We're going inside. I paid for the cab here, and I will buy you a drink if you're worried about money."
"I'm not worried about money," I mumbled, dragging my feet as she forced me forward. "I just..."
"Just what?!" She demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "You're against having fun? Meeting up with friends?"
I shook my head, "No."
"Unless you give me a valid reason not to go inside, we're going inside," Val said firmly. "No excuses."
Damn. I didn't want to tell her about Andrew because 1) she'd flip out and 2) I didn't really tell her the whole truth. If, however, he was still inside, the chances of her finding out were still high. As much as I wanted to, it didn't seem like I could really avoid this situation without blatantly lying to my best friend.
"Fine," I sighed, caving. "One drink, then I'm leaving."
She grinned, "If you say so."
"And you're buying," I added, allowing Val to loop her arm with mine and drag me toward the door.
The lights were dim inside the brick building, and there was a surprising number of people lining the bar. I didn't think it would be this busy, given it was a Tuesday evening, but we could barely squeeze through the line of people ordering at the bar. I wanted to scan the room for Andrew and get a visual on him before Val began her assault, but I was too nervous to lift my gaze. Hopefully the fact that my hair was up in a ponytail would mask my appearance, because the last thing I needed was for him to recognize me first.
"Where are Roxanne and Anastasia?" I asked, talking loudly over the noise.
"In the back," Val gestured toward the door that led out into the back patio.
The garden was gorgeous, and - where the inside was packed with standing people - the vibe out back relaxed significantly. String lights draped overhead, and if you looked up, you noticed the Brooklyn bridge well above the patio. A massive brick wall draped with ivy crawling up the sides marked the back of the patio, and a small covered bar was pressed up against the door where we stepped out of the bar and down the steps to the patio.
