Page 15 of Unravel Me

“I already did that eleven years ago at the Windsor Country Club.” I smirk and she shoves the rhinestone boots back towards me.

Penny slips on an equally flashy outfit. She pulled it off though, looking like she belonged in a country music video. I put on the outfit, standing in front of the mirror in Penny’s bedroom.

“Okay, the ride is about to pull up, you ready?” Penny asks, scooting up next to me, primping her hair.

“First night out as a single woman…since…junior year of college?” I ponder. Penny nudges my side.

“Yes, ma’am. Loud and proud! You are single and free. All our Pilates classes are paying off too, do you see your ass? You look like sex on a stick.”

“Penny!” I hit her shoulder with my clutch. I look like Barbie going to a honky-tonk. If Barbie had long brown hair and hazel eyes.

As we slide into the backseat of the cab, the driver gives us judgmental once-overs. Penny promptly pulls a flask out of her purse and takes a swig. The driver's eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror, and I internally cringe.

“What the hell is that?” I whisper. I never was good at breaking rules.

“Here, finish it.” She shoves it into my lap and fixes her gaze straight ahead. There was no use fighting it anymore because clearly as soon as I slipped this body suit and bedazzled cowgirl boots on, the night was going in a direction I had no control over.

My mind had been in overdrive, analyzing every minute of the past five years of my failed relationship all week. For just one night, I wanted it to all stop. I wanted to let loose and forget about the rules, and expectations, and just have fun.

My lips brush the metal tip, tasting vodka. I cough spastically as it rolls down my throat and cap the empty flask, shoving it back towards Penny.

“When did we get so old?” I ask, remembering all the fun times we had in our college days.

“We are not old! We simply got busy with life, and men, and careers.”

“I’ve missed you.” I look at my best friend, thinking about how eventually I’d need to tell her I was moving after this summer. But even the thought of the conversation crushed me.

“Don’t get sappy on me!” She grinned, pulling me into a hug in the backseat of the taxi.

“Where are we going? I think you can tell me now,” I whisper, and Penny hesitates as she pulls out her phone, glances at Google maps, and promptly shoves it back into her purse before I can see anything.

“We’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

I gape at Penny. “There is nothing but farms thirty minutes east of the city.”

“That’s not true. Because there is the Bourbon Barrel.”

“Elaborate,” I demand, and she does. Apparently, twenty miles east of the city is a new honky-tonk called the Bourbon Barrel.

She reassures me it will be fun, so I swallow the lump in my throat and take a deep breath.

“Hey, would next Friday be too soon to move in? It gives me a week to pack.”

“Of course not. I already cleared out the guest room.”

“Okay, thank you. Jackson offered to get me movers—”

Penny gesticulates wildly. “Oh, how heroic of him! Where does he get off? Man, he sickens me.” She pauses, her eyes narrowed at me. “Why aren’t you pissed off?”

I shrug. “I don’t want to waste any more energy on him.”

“Fine, but I still get to hate him, okay?”

“Be my guest.”

The car slows as we pull into a gravel parking lot in front of a large industrial building shaped like a barn. String lights illuminate the parking lot, full of groups of grinning people leaving their cars and walking into the oversized entrance doors. Even with the car windows shut, I can hear music blasting from inside.

We thank the driver, get out, and Penny grabs my hand, squealing.