Page 8 of Rosie
His mother didn’t even bother to excuse herself from the dinner table before she pulled out her phone and dialed Olivia. Damn it, he’d really put his foot in his mouth this time. Would Olivia still want to help him? The conversation started out with, “Why does Matt think you’re moving in with your boyfriend?” and went downhill from there. His face flushed as he quietly ate his dinner, shoveling the food in as fast as possible so he could get away from this awkward situation. Mom obviously didn’t care about manners tonight.
God, he’d fucked up so bad. Olivia was going to be pissed. Obviously, she’d wanted to tell their parents about this on her own. This was why he didn’t speak if he could help it.
He could hear Olivia giving as good as she got through the phone as he scarfed down his pot roast and potatoes. Escape was imminent.
His mom was still on the phone when he finished and stood up to leave. “Thanks for dinner, gonna go pack,” he said in a rush.
Then he ran like the coward he was.
Chapter 2
Mia’sfavoritesalonwaslocated on the ritzy end of Baltimore. Its blush pink walls and gold fixtures screamed luxury. Customers knew when they came here they’d be pampered, and the squad was no exception.
“My mom just lives to drive me crazy, I swear,” Olivia said, ending her tirade about her parents butting in about her moving in with her boyfriend, Jake. It made no sense to Rosie, either. First Mrs. Lundholm pestered Olivia about finding a man, then when she wants to move in with him, she gets an earful? Rosie might be old-fashioned, but even she could see that was the normal thing to do at their age.
“Matt’s lucky I love him.” Olivia relaxed against the massage chair as the nail technician worked on her pedicure.
“I’m sure he didn’tmeanto tell her. He wouldn’t want to jeopardize his chance at his internship,” Nadia added.
“That’s what he told me last night when he texted to apologize. He said it just slipped out. Apparently, he’s been apartment hunting for weeks but hadn’t found anything. I wish he’d said something earlier, then we wouldn’t be so pressed for time.”
Rosie let the mechanism of her massage chair do its job as her tech, Mary, painted her toes a pale, glittery blue. Everyone else was also getting manicures, but with her job she wasn’t allowed chipped nail polish. It posed a danger to her tiny patients in the NICU if it got into a tube or something. Plus, with as much as she washed her hands on a shift, it wouldn’t last long anyway.
“Are you sure you don’t want your nails done, too? You can take it off before you go to work next,” Mia said from her left.
“I don’t know, it feels like a waste.” Even if it wasn’t Rosie’s money. Mia was the one who insisted on paying for everyone. They knew Mia didn’t actually need to work, with her trust fund from her grandparents she had money to burn, but she lived in one of the cheap Mason Hollow Apartments with the rest of them so they could be close.
Mary looked up from her stool. “What if we just did everything but the polish? There’s a hand massage and lotion. And your hands look awfully dry.”
She wasn’t wrong. Between winter and all the washing at work, Rosie’s hands were terribly red and chapped. “That sounds amazing. Okay.”
Mary slipped the disposable flip-flops on her feet and helped her out of the pedicure chair.
She picked a lavender scented lotion and let Mary do her thing—a heating pad treatment and then the hand massage, where her skin soaked up the lotion like it was water in a desert. Mary pushed back her cuticles and gave her nails a uniform length and shape, which was of course very short and mostly round, but they looked good.
Rosie smiled in contentment. It was just nice getting to spend time with her friends.
The bass thumped in her chest as Rosie nursed her lukewarm vodka and cranberry juice. Mia had sprung for bottle service and a private table at this hot club in downtown Baltimore. Rosie felt incredibly out of place in her jeans and glittery tank top. Nadia was the only other girl in their group not wearing a dress, but she was at least wearing heels. They were all dancing up a storm while Rosie sat and stood guard over their purses and jackets at the table. Across the way, a group of six or so guys their age made their way over to her squad. They were loud and rowdy, but Mia was laughing it up, dancing with two of them at one time while Jade danced with one of the others. There were more guys than girls in that corner once Olivia and Nadia broke away to come back to the table.
“Go on, we’ll watch the table.” Nadia thumbed in the direction of the dance floor.
“I’m fine,” Rosie gulped and shook her head, flustered. “Go dance.”
“We don’t want to dance with guys who aren’t our boyfriends. Plus, you’ve been watching the table all night. Go mingle,” Olivia said, sitting next to her.
Rosie looked over at the two guys dancing by themselves, and one of them caught her staring. He was tall, husky, with a dark scruff around his jaw, and when he smiled at her and winked, her cheeks heated and she had to look away. It was good the club was so dark, because no one would be able to see her blush.
“I don’t think so.”
The dark-haired man’s attention hadn’t escaped Nadia. “He’s cute. Come on, Rosie. Live a little.”
Rosie was frozen to her seat. “I’m not here to find a man.” She hadnoexperience with the opposite sex, and a club wasn’t exactly her scene.
“But you’re here to have fun, right?”
Apparently, Rosie’s idea of fun was very different from her friends. Board games, video games, baking,thatwas fun. Grinding on a sweaty stranger sounded like torture.
“Iamhaving fun. I’m out with my friends,” she added. Olivia and Nadia just looked at each other. Crap, they didn’t buy it. They’d all come out to celebrate Mia, whose tiara and “Birthday Girl” sash had already gotten her so many free drinks she was clearly feeling no pain. More vodka for the rest of them.
