Page 47 of Pity Present
“No.” She turns her back on me to talk to Brian. Meanwhile, I stand there like an extra pair of shoes until Trina comes over.
“Come with me, Blake,” she says like she’s going to personallyescort me off the property. When we’re several yards away, she stops and asks me, “What are you doing here, Blake?”
Oh, no. Did she find out who I am?I open and close my mouth repeatedly before answering, “Looking for love?”
“Are you, though?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t sound very certain,” she says. “You also appear to have a hard time leaving Molly alone.”
“What if I’m interested in her?” I ask.
“Are you?”
Yes. “I like her.”
Trina’s eyes narrow. “Molly said you liked her as a friend and nothing else. And while I’m all for people making friends, that’s not what this event is about.”
“Are you telling me to stay away from Molly? Because I’m not sure that’s your place.” I sound like I’m gearing up for a fight.
Trina’s dark hair swings back and forth as she shakes her head. “I’m not telling you to stay away from her. I’m suggesting that you let me introduce you to some nice women whom you might be interested in being more than friends with.”
I can hardly say no to Trina offering me content for my articles, so I tell her, “That would be nice, thank you.”
With a smile, she says, “It appears that you and Krista might already be making a connection.”
“I think the connection is greater on her part than mine,” I tell her.
“Oh?” I’m not surprised she’s having a hard time believing this. After all, Krista is one of the more beautiful women in the room.
“What do you like in women, Blake?” Trina asks. “Do you have a physical type?”
“I like all kinds of women,” I tell her honestly.
“But you don’t go for the obviously beautiful ones,” she decides.
“Why would you say that?”
Raising one finger in the air, she says, “Molly.” Then she adds another. “Krista. They are both quite beautiful.” She’s got me there.
Before I can set her straight, not that I’m sure how I’d go about doing that, Trina takes my hand and leads me to the front of the ballroom. Once she’s at the microphone, she announces, “I have a new game I’d like you all to play.”
The chatter quiets as she continues, “I’d like you to walk away from the person you’re talking to and tell the first member of the opposite sex that you see what kind of car you think they’d be.”
She gestures to me and adds, “I’ll go first. This is Blake and I think Blake would be a black sports car with a faulty starter.”
Wait, what? Did she intend to be insulting? But before I can ask, she asks me, “What kind of car do you think I’d be, Blake?”
“A semi-truck speeding down the freeway about to run over a black sports car.”
She snorts before telling the room, “You see how much fun this can be? Don’t stop to talk to anyone until you’ve told ten people what kind of car you think they’d be.”
When everyone gets busy doing what they were told to do, I ask Trina, “A faulty starter?”
“Definitely. The good news is that starters can be fixed. Now go. I want to see you talking to ten different women and they can’t include Krista or Molly.”
The first woman I see after Trina leaves my side is a short, no-nonsense-looking blonde. I stop in front of her and announce, “Volvo.”
