Page 36 of Time Served in New York
Sis laughed and then wobbled. She took a second to steady herself and then stopped in front of us. “This is harder than I thought it would be, butI like it.”
“Let’s go around again,” August suggested.
“Are we going out on the ice or not?” Blue asked as we watched August and Sis get farther away. “Fuck this. My feet already hurt. I’m changing back into my shoes.”
“We’ve gotta do something fun tonight!” Matalie argued. “Come on! This is basically her bachelorette party, you guys.”
“We’re having her bachelorette party at a skating rink in the freezing ass cold? That’s lame enough without adding injuries to that insult,” Paula said firmly as she turned around and walked back over to our shoes.
“We’ve got to do something thrilling. Something wild,” Brea suggested. “Something that doesn’t make me feel ancient and . . . brittle.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“If you say go to a club, I will have Blue punch you in the throat,” Maylee warned as she sat down to change into her shoes.
“Why the hell do I have to do it?” Blue asked.
Maylee retorted, “I got a manicure today.”
“So did I.”
“Yes, but you don’t really care what your nails look like,” Maylee said sweetly.
“If I’m punching anyone, it’s gonna be you.”
“Blue, we don’t hit our friends,” Pandora chided.
“Ugh,” Blue said with disgust in her voice. “Don’t mom voice me. I’ll punch you, too, just for that.”
Brea waded in with her vote, “Come on, you guys! Let’s go do something crazy. We’re in New York City, for Christ’s sake. We’ve got to have an adventure!”
“Well, the park was a dud. Not even one person tried to mug us,” Blue complained.
“You guys watch way too much television,” I complained. “I’ve never been mugged, and I grew up here.”
“Same,” Paula agreed with a nod.
“Because you walked around with security guards,” Matalie clarified.
“Just once, I want to look at a mugger and say,‘That’s not a knife.Thisis a knife.’and then watch them run away in fear,” Blue conceded. “Come on, ladies. Let’s live a little.”
“She needs to be committed for everyone’s safety,” I heard Bernadette mumble from somewhere beside me.
“I’m not crazy, I’m quirky. There’s a difference,” Blue argued, having heard Bernadette’s comment.
“That difference is so miniscule that it can’t be seen with the naked eye,” I said with a pointed look at Blue and then Brea, who was all but bouncing on her skates, ready for an adventure.
“Again I ask, do you really want to get married with a broken nose?”
I smiled at her and said, “Bring it.”
“No hitting!” Pandora snapped. “Cheese and rice, the two of you are like children!”
“Say it, Pandora. Just once. Come on,” Paula teased. “You can do it.”
“I will not stoop to your level,” Pandora said primly.
“And now she’s talking shit on the vertically challenged people,” Paula grumbled. “Fuck all of y’all. I hope when you do get mugged, his knife is bigger than yours.”
