1. Aurora - I Just Don’t Do Blind Dates

Chapter one

Aurora - I Just Don’t Do Blind Dates

“How did I let you talk me into this again?” I grab the gown I’d thrown on the bed before I run into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Walking back into my closet with the gown, I hold it up and look into my full-length mirror. Nah , I think to myself. I’m not feeling the gown.

“You had better not be considering swapping that gown for jeans and a shirt,” my best friend, Ryan, shouts on the other end of the phone.

“Or maybe sweats and her old ratty t-shirt,” my other best friend, Brittney, laughs on her end of the phone call.

I shake my head and smile to myself. It has always been this way each time I agree to go for an outing. My friends ensure we have a conference call if they can’t be with me physically. It’s to ‘prep’ me up, they say. But I’m sure they just want to make sure I don’t bail on them .

“And you agreed to come with us tonight to have fun. Yunno, F-U-N. You don’t want to spend another night talking to your hundred cats, do you?” Brittney asks, and answers what she considers a hilarious question with a laugh.

I shake my head, eyes to heaven, only to hear Ryan pipe in: “And please, don’t hide in your office, pretending to do paperwork as soon as we get to your bar,” he grumbles.

I think they have something up their sleeves, especially with how they are bugging me to wear that gown—the backless, short gown they had gifted me just two months ago.

Well, I’ll have to disappoint my friends again tonight. I have no plans to mingle anytime soon. I guess I’m going to have to do exactly what Ryan warned me about: Hide in my office tonight.

“I don’t own or talk to a hundred cats. I have just one cat, and I definitely do not talk to him on Friday nights.” Thankfully, they can’t see me scratching his ears as I speak. He must know we are talking about him because he raises his head high and jumps off the bed, turning to tell me that he is done with me for now.

Ryan booms out a laugh, announces he is just about to leave his place, and exits the conference call.

“Are you planning on ‘walking’ me to the bar via the phone, Brittney?” I ask her, and she laughs.

“I just want to make sure you wear the gown. You know, Ryan is bringing his friend who is total eye candy, and you wouldn’t want to burn his eyes off with your appearance in sweats and your old t-shirt, would you? ”

“Ryan is bringing a friend? Which friend is that?” I ask, knowing the only friend Ryan has, aside from me, is Britt. And yeah, the plenty of girls he calls, ‘just friends.’

“Oops, you were never meant to know that! Bye, see you soon, Aurora!”

And the line goes dead.