Page 241 of Hot Mess
The night I met Danica.
“Toast?” I asked her, handing it over.
She smiled and gave it a curious little sniff. “Yum.” She held it up and said, “To your private paradise. Thank you for sharing it with me.” She took a swig, her eyes widening. “Ash… that’s delicious.”
Ash.
I was pretty fucking sure that was the first time she’d ever called me Ash and not Ashley.
Most people called me Ash. At least, people who knew me personally. It definitely turned me on when a gorgeous girl like Danica called me Ashley, though, so I was never gonna ask her to do different.
But something about her calling me Ash, just now, told me we’d reached some new level in our relationship.
She was getting less and less formal with me, which meant more comfortable, and I liked that.
“Roni made it,” I told her, as she handed the vodka back to me. “Jude’s girlfriend. You’ll meet them sometime.” I held the flask up and added, “I’m glad you’re here with me, birthday girl.” She gave me a big, bright smile. Then I took a swig. Itwasdelicious. Thick, tangy and sweet.
“Jude…” she said. “That’s the security guy, right?”
“Yeah. Dirty’s head of security. Good guy. Really tight with the band. He’s the one who hooked me up with Haz.”
“Right. I’ll have it all memorized soon, I promise. You’ve got a lot of friends.”
“No worries. I wouldn’t expect you to remember. You haven’t even meant them yet.”
“Well, I’ve met Xander. And I’d love to meet the rest,” she added tentatively, sitting down on a ledge on the uneven rock, a few feet away from me.
“You will,” I told her. Because I was sure of that.
I really didn’t know if she was gonna be my girlfriend for any length of time, because who could know a thing like that? I’d banked on certain people being in my life in certain ways in the past, and I’d definitely been wrong before.
But for whatever reason, I was sure Danica would be around to meet more of my friends.
“I can’t say I have as many friends as you, from the sound of things,” she said. “But the ones I do have are special. I’m pretty choosy about friends. Like I prefer having a few deep relationships than a bunch of casual acquaintances, you know? My best friend, Taylor…” She looked up at me hopefully. “I’d love for you to meet her.”
“Wanna make sure I pass the best friend test, huh?”
She laughed. “I mean, maybe that’s part of it. I always like to get her take on things. But I would genuinely like for you to meet her. I think you two would get along.”
“If she’s anything like you, it won’t be a problem.”
“Actually,” she mused, “she’s not a lot like me.”
“Yeah, I can’t say my best friend is a lot like me either. You’ll have to meet him, and you can tell me what you think.”
“I’d love that, Ashley.”
Yeah, I would too. I liked the idea of introducing her to Dylan.
Dylan wasn’t usually all that impressed with the women I brought around. He was usually pretty neutral about them, actually.
Even the ones we’d taken to bed together.
Maybe because he knew they wouldn’t be around long.
But I knew he’d be impressed with Danica Vola.
I took another deep swig of the blackberry vodka. And manned up to do the thing I’d been thinking I might do, ever since she asked me to teach her to sing Panic! At the Disco.
