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Merrick finally picked someone for me and I’m meeting him tonight to see what I think of him.
Oh my God. Who is he?
Osian Cardiff.
There was a long pause and then:
Ew.
I called her, tapping the speaker button. “Why did you say that? Do you know something about him?”
“No, not really,” she said, yawning. “He’s hot, but he’s kind of a player.”
“Are you shaming him?”
“No, I don’t mean a player like that,” she said. “I mean, he runs through women and just dumps them. Uses them for sex.”
The pit of my stomach tightened and I met my gaze in the mirror. My mouth twisted as I chewed on the inside of my lower lip. About three years ago, Candice had lost her virginity to a man like that and I’d held her while she cried.
“He kind of made me feel like a human fleshlight,” Candice had told me. “Just pumped and dumped even though he knew it was my first time.”
She’d sworn off men after that, deciding to throw herself into her academic pursuits instead. I hadn’t told her, but her experience had made an enormous impression on me.
So big that I’d refused to date anyone during college. I knew what it felt like to be treated well, Merrick had made sure of that. The idea of being used, of being put through unnecessary pain, didn’t sound inviting.
I wasn’t in a hurry to lose my virginity. In my mind, I had a little pink card with a glittery gold V on it. It was kept in my buttoned wallet and zipped into my purse.
Safe and unswiped.
“Okay, that makes me feel like shit about tonight,” I said, throat tight and stomach fluttering.
“Merrick will be there,” she said. “It’s not like he’d ever do anything while Merrick’s with you.”
I swallowed. “Merrick won’t always be with me.”
She cleared her throat and I knew she was remembering her experience.
“Okay, we’ll talk about it over coffee this week or something,” she said. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just being paranoid. He just makes me feel…on edge. You know that kind of guy?”
I did know, every woman knew that kind of man. The kind who didn’t show any obvious red flags, but exuded a nagging, unsettling feeling. It was probably some kind of evolutionary protective system we still had from millions of years ago.
Or maybe I was just being paranoid. I shook my head once and took a quick breath, releasing it slowly.
“Okay, I’m going to get ready,” I said. “I’ll text you how it’s going if I get a chance.”
I showered, shaved, moisturized, and applied a light dusting of highlighter on my collarbones, shoulders and forearms. I could hear Merrick had returned. He was walking around lightly in his room upstairs, pacing the way he did when he was on a phone call.
I felt better just hearing him.
I pulled my hair back in a low bun at the nape of my neck and tugged some waves free by my ears. Then I slipped on my tight, ruched cocktail dress and matching blue heels.
It was strapless, but it had little puffy sleeves that sat just above my elbows. The skirt was tight until it hit the middle of my thigh and then it flared out in a high-low style with a little bow on my left leg.
I felt like a blue cupcake and I loved it.
I put my hands on my hips and pivoted, bending slightly to look at my ass. Hmm, it was a little bit revealing. Should I change? I took a deep breath and bent over the sink to put my berry red lipstick on.
No, I was fine. Merrick was there. There was no need to be nervous tonight.
