Page 3 of The Rent Just Went Up
“Where to?”
“Anywhere but fucking here.”
Sarah nods and slams her foot on the gas. The car jerks forward, the tires screeching in the quiet suburban neighborhood. I glance over at her in shock, but she just smiles back at me, her palm out to already subdue anything I might have to say.
“Relax, bitch. I’ve got aperfectplace to go, okay?”
I just smile, lean my head back on the seat, and put my life in Sarah’s hands—at least for the rest of the evening. She’s been my bestie throughout all of high school, so if she says she’s got the perfect place, then she’s got the perfect place.
“So are you gonna tell me what happened?” she asks.
“Well, he was trying to get me to give it up tonight,” I say with a sigh.
“As we suspected.” She nods.
“But as it turned out…he was cheating.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Sarah groans. “That piece of shit! With who?”
“Jamie Peters.”
“Jamie big-tits?” Sarah replies. “I thought they broke up.”
“I thought so too,” I say with a sigh as my phone vibrates with several texts from Chris.
“Is that him?” Sarah asks. I nod, thumbing through them. “What’s he saying?”
“I’m sorry…I made a mistake…I loveyou…typical bullshit. I’m gonna block him now.”
I do, without hesitation.
“I’m sorry, girl.”
“Eh.” I shrug. “It’s not like he broke my heart emotionally or something. We weren’t like in love, you know? I just feel…”
“Like a guy still cheated on you?” Sarah suggests.
“Exactly.”
Sarah nods and pulls into a parking lot, and I realize that in the amount of time we’ve been talking, she’s been driving pretty fast and we’ve arrived at The Sundown Beach, one of the local bars in town. I glance over at her as she takes out her keys and grabs her purse.
“What are we doing here?” I ask. “Neither of us have fakes.”
“No need.” She smiles. “My brother’s friend started tending bar here last week. He’ll totally let us in.”
Before I can say anything, she hops out of the car and heads for the door—a door with an enormous bouncer with arms the size of my waist standing by it.
“Sarah, wait!” I hiss as I hop out and chase after her. But by the time I reach her, she’s already standing right in front of him.
“IDs?” the man asks, looking suspiciously at us.
“Yeah, can you tell Jared that Sarah and Erika are here to see him?” she says with the confidence of Hillary Clinton oozing from her pores. The bouncer looks at her for a second, chewing his gum, and for a second, I’m sure he’s just going to tell us to get lost. But to my surprise, he raises his chin and licks his teeth in reply.
“Wait here.”
With that, he vanishes inside. Sarah turns to me and flashes me the proudest smile full of teeth. “See? I told you it’ll work!”
“Yeah, well, we have yet to see–”