Another Book Excerpt

I flinched and turned to see Erin standing at my table, a half-full glass of a dark amber liquid in one hand. She was leaning on her walker with the other hand. The faint light from the single candle on the table made it difficult to tell whether her hair was still streaked pink or something closer to purple. She wore a black T-shirt over a short denim skirt. There was some lettering made out of tiny beads stitched into the front of the T-shirt, but I couldn’t read it from where she was standing. “Oh, hey, Erin. Yeah, it’s pretty cool, huh?”
She nodded. “Must ‘e nice tuh-to ‘ave rich friends.” Erin gave me a quizzical look. “Why ah you suh-sitting here all ‘lone?”
I shrugged. “It’s been kind of a strange day. I think I wanted to be by myself for a little bit.”
“Oh,” said Erin. She pulled one of the chairs away from the table and sat across from me. The beading on her T-shirt sparkled and now I could read what it said: PORN STAR. “‘Ell, I need to suh-sit down. My ‘eet ‘urt. Jus’ pruh-pruh-pretend I’m n’uh here.”
I chuckled. “It’s okay. I could probably use the company. You having fun?”
The ice in Erin’s glass clinked softly as she raised it to her lips. “Sure,” she said. She set the glass down and she wiped away the few droplets that were running down her chin with the back of her hand. “‘Ots of cute guys here an’ even a fuh-few girls. Did you ‘ee that one guh-girl sitting ‘ith Vic’s parents at dinner?” I shook my head. “Fuckin’ guh-gorgeous,” she said with an emphatic tilt of her head. “‘Oo bad she’s n’uh bi.”
I pushed cake crumbs around my plate with my fork. “Yeah? How can you tell?”
“A girl nuh-knows these things, ‘Ames,” she said with the tone of a teacher lecturing a particularly dense pupil. Her eyes got all dreamy and unfocused. “Course, suh-sometimes all they nee’ is a li’l push in the right duh-direction.”
“And you’re the one to give that push. Is that what you’re saying?”
A coy smile flickered across her lips. “Neh-never hurts to try.” She folded her arms on the table and looked at me intently. “So tuh-tell me. Why ah you ‘aving a ‘range ‘ay?”
I glanced around to make sure Dad wasn’t in earshot and then I told her about the mess I had gotten myself into at Shifting Paradigms, culminating in me quitting/getting fired/whatever that morning. When I finished, Erin reached across the table and patted my hand. “I’m ‘orry, ‘Ames. But it suh-sounds ‘ike you di’n’t want to buh-be there anyway.”
I gave her hand a friendly squeeze and let it go. “I thought I did, at first. After graduation, I thought it would be really difficult to find a job, y’know? And I go in for my first interview and they seem to really like me.” I snorted in disgust. “Well, except for that prick Cy. I keep thinking I could have done something differently to get him to like me. I don’t what, but something.”
Erin frowned. “I ‘oubt it. I don’t th-think it ‘eally had anything to duh-do with you personally. He wanted someone el’ for the job an’ you were in the ‘ay.”
“Yeah, but I made it easier for him to get rid of me.” I rubbed my eyes wearily. “And now I have to start all over. It fucking sucks.”
Erin pushed her glass towards me. “‘Ere, want this? I’ve ‘ad enough tonight.” I didn’t bother to ask what it was. The ice in the glass had nearly melted and what I swallowed was mostly water laced with enough whiskey to warm the back of my throat.
“I ‘ink I saw a job puh-posting for something at Disability Suhvices at the U,” said Erin as I crunched a piece of ice between my teeth. “They ‘ot a new director who’s ruh-really cool. Want me ‘o e-mail it to ‘ou?”
“Sure, I guess.” It came out sounding less appreciative than I had intended and I got a funny look from Erin. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s just that the idea of going back there seems kind of depressing. I stuffed envelopes and answered the telephone in that place for almost six semesters in a row. Going back there to do the same thing as a full-time job would be, I don’t know, like saying I can’t make it anywhere else.”
Erin shook her head. “It’s nuh-not that kind of ‘ob. I ‘ink it ‘as suh-something to do with a grant they ‘ot. I’ll ‘end it ‘morrow.”
“Thanks,” I said. I looked back towards the people crowded around the bar. “You could probably find someone to hang out with who’s a lot more fun than me right now.”
Erin glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah, ‘robably.” She turned to look at me with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes to compliment the glitter on her shirt. “‘Ut it’s more fuh-fun to see ‘ou all ah-angsty and brooding. It’s ‘ind of sexy.”
“I’m brooding because you didn’t bring me a present,” I said with mock-seriousness. I turned my palms up on the table. “What’s up with that, huh? I thought you were my friend.”
Erin leaned forward and I noticed the outlines of her nipples pushing against the tight fabric of her T-shirt. I quickly looked up so it wouldn’t seem like I was gawking. An enigma of a smile touched the corners of her lips. “Ah-all you have ‘o do is ask for i’, Jay’s,” she said in a low voice. “Just ask.”