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“Hey, Lark,” she answered, resting an elbow on the desktop.
“Hey! Are you busy?”
“Never too busy to talk to you.”
“In that case, what are you doing tomorrow night?” Lark asked.
“I’m not sure how to answer that question,” Marissa hedged. Leaning back in the chair, she crossed her legs and bit off a piece of another Twizzler.
“So, nothing?” her friend asked.
She smiled. “What did you have in mind?”
She and Lark had been best friends for years and both worked for a similar cause. While Marissa helped people looking for love, Lark’s company helped people find their lost loves.
Lark had an outgoing personality and was naturally a social butterfly. Marissa had a similar personality, which was a plus in their industry, but she had a young child at home, which meant she didn’t go out much. Theodore was eight years old and kept her busy. Matter-of-fact, the older her son became, the less she went out. She had become… settled, she supposed.
His father, Chester—or Chet, as everyone called him—lived on the west end of town and Theo spent most weekends at his apartment. She took advantage of those weekends to schedule mixers, work from home, or do something equally unexciting such as have an all-night movie-watching marathon on the sofa.
“I want to check out that new lounge, NV Lounge. Everybody’s been talking about the place. I’m going there tomorrow night with a couple of friends, and you should join us.”
“I don’t know. I need to organize mixers for two clients, plus my to-do list is ten miles long.” Marissa scanned the electronic task list on her computer as she spoke.
“And you’ll take care of most, if not all of that before you go out with me and my friends tomorrow. Come on, it’s been a while since we’ve hung out, and this place will be the perfect location for you to find potential women for your clients. The clientele is made up of twenty and thirty-something professionals. And did I mention everybody is talking about it? Celebrities are coming through there all the time. Two weeks ago, a famous actor was there with his entourage. I forget his name right now, but that’s typical of this place. Who knows who might show up tomorrow night?”
“That’s not enough to convince me to go,” Marissa mumbled.
“Okay, I’m about to pull out the big guns. You need to get out and meet new people, and not only for work-related reasons. There, I said what I said. When was the last time you went on a date?”
“Don’t start,” Marissa said with a groan.
“You haven’t been in a serious relationship since you and Chet broke up eight years ago. You need to blow the dust off your coochie.”
Marissa busted out laughing. “There’s no dust on my coochie,” she said, her words broken up with laughter.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I know way more about my lady parts than you do, thank you very much.” Marissa continued smiling as she ate the final piece of the candy.
“The last time I heard you talk about a man, you mentioned a coffee date, and you didn’t give the poor bastard much of a chance.”
Marissa used a pen to draw circles on a blank piece of paper. “I did give him a chance. He was boring.”
“No, you didn’t give him a chance, and I hope the reason is not because you’re hung up on your ex.”
“I’m not.”
They’d had this conversation before, but her friend had her doubts, and who could blame her. She knew Chet was the first and only man she had ever slept with. What she didn’t know was that Marissa had slept with Chet three years ago in a moment of weakness, which made him think they still had a chance of being together, while she had simply been horny.
“Then come out with us and have some fun. Open yourself up to the possibility of meeting someone new,” Lark said.
Marissa bit the corner of her bottom lip as she considered the idea. She wouldn’t need a babysitter because Chet was picking up Theo for the weekend, and she didn’t have any mixers planned. “What did you say the name of this place was?”
“NV Lounge.”
“That sounds familiar.” Marissa pulled up the website on her laptop.
The venue had recently opened in an up-and-coming part of town and catered to young Black professionals with disposable income.
