Dirty by H.J. Bellus Read Free Book Online Page A

around the bathroom mirror. We hoist our girls in unison.
    “To Chloe,” we all sing in unison.
    Three honks break up the selfie session and we all rush down to the long front sidewalk to the bright yellow mini-van taxi.
    “Ava, come here.” Darby grabs my elbow, pulling me back.
    “Look at this.” She opens her purse and a pool of bills spills over, ranging from ten dollars to one hundred dollars.
    “Jesus fuck, Darby, you must be wanting to be bathed in baby batter tonight.”
    “Chloe is going to shit herself. We need to get her real liquored up before we hit the strip club.”
    “You aren’t kidding.” I’m the last to climb in the taxi and end up riding bitch.
    The clatter and screams are deafening along with a very strong smell of Fireball.
    “Here, Ava.” Darby hands me a flask with “Co-Maid of Honor” bedazzled on it with pink and baby blue stones.
    “To Chloe and her lifetime of fucking the same guy night after night. Sucking the same dick and tasting the…”
    “Enough,” the whole gang hollers in unison.
    The shot of Fireball from my honorary flask goes down smoothly, relaxing all of my worries and tensions. It’s not until this moment that I realize how stressed I’ve been. My parents wanting me to hook up with a powerful son of the Tennessee house to this wedding and what I really want.
    Streetlights whiz past my view and the chatter streaming from the back of the mini-van provide the perfect opportunity to take a few toasts to myself. The first one for graduating with a Journalism Degree and not succumbing to my parents’ dreams and the second, well who the fuck cares. The liquid goes down smooth and quite tasty. A third shot goes down with a toast to Ava, my soul, and what I dream of.
    The taxi ride comes to an abrupt stop in front of a steady stream of blinking lights. An entire street is lit up with the same hue of flashing lights. They’re hypnotizing and when I study them, I become dizzy and feel my stomach somersault even though I’m standing on a solid sidewalk.
    Darby tossed her credit card into the taxi and gave him strict orders to wait and when to expect us. She’s always been the planner and pit bitch of us all. When going out with Darby, you don’t ask questions and just drink when she tells you to. In the entire four years, she’s hauled our drunken asses home from downtown to our dorms and later on, our apartment.
    Chloe’s face has her hesitation and question plastered all over her features. It’s quite cute really. She’s been this way since our freshman year until she fell head over heels for her lover.
    “C’mon, I’m here with you.” Our arms entangle into each other.
    “You’re already drunk, Ava.” Chloe’s high heels click in unison on the pavement with the heels of my boots.
    “Nope, I’m on the feel good section of my drunk-o-meter.”
    “We’re getting old, Ava, one shot and we’re toast.”
    I remain silent listening to Darby harass the ongoers passing us on the street. She indulges all their catcalls and honks, responding to some with her middle finger and others with a slap to her ass.
    “I took like four shots on the way here.”
    “Ava, you lush.” Chloe slaps my arm.
    “You know me.” I shrug.
    “Everything okay?”
    Chloe worries too much for her own good, so I decide to omit part of the truth. “Just a bit concerned about finding a job, you know?”
    No, she doesn’t know. I love my Chloe Bug to death, but she’s marrying into the rich, prominent blood and doesn’t have to worry about putting her college degree to use. Hell, she majored in Political Science only to help her future spouse out if he ever runs for Congress. It’s a game I’ve been drowned in and I’m sick of it.
    “Yeah, it’s crazy to think we are no longer college party animals and now have to really go out in the real world.”
    “Yeah.” I roll my eyes in the darkness of the night, hoping none of the neon lights catch the reflection.
    “Pit stop