The Personal Affair

S I X

The bar, Crowley, was bustling and seemingly filled to the brim when I walked it. It was game night so there were more patrons than I had thought there would be. Finding my friends was a struggle in the loud, boisterous crowd but after much effort, and assistance from a female server, I found them seated in a corner of the bar.

"Nicki!" Meg exclaimed when she spotted me a couple of steps away, beckoning me to walk faster. She pulled me into a hug and kissed both my cheeks exaggeratedly, her floral perfume wafting to my nostrils. The smell was different from her usual scent, yet familiar, and I think that's what she wanted me to notice.

"Is that the new YSL perfume?" I asked as I took my seat —the only empty chair in this establishment, I'm sure— and gave Hailey a side hug.

"You see?" Meg turned to her. "I told you she would notice." She added in a really bad French accent, "Nic, you have the best nose in all of Seattle."

I was slightly confused so scrunching up my face, I said, "Um, thank you?"

Megan looked exasperated. "Haven't you seen the new Emily in Paris?"

I chuckled. "Not everyone is a freelancer and has loads of time to themselves like you Megan."

"Fair enough."

"I'm surprised you ended up buying that perfume though. You said you hadn't liked it, what changed?" We had gone shopping together when we came across it. I personally loved the scent but I couldn't afford a splurge like that. At least not yet.

"Yeah, I really liked it, but then I couldn't afford it, so I had to act like I didn't like it for the sake of my sanity and that of my credit card." She explained slowly.

Hailey and I laughed at that because that was just like Megan. "Cosmo must pay good," Hailey mused.

Megan made a sound at the back of her throat, her attention diverted as she stared at someone across the room. I turned to look at the person she had an eye on only to be met with a tall figure standing across the room. He had his back to us, but kept craning his neck to look our way.

"If that fine piece of chocolate looks here one more time I'm gonna apparate myself there this quick." She snapped her fingers, biting her lips suggestively.

I snorted, shaking my head at my best friend.

"Meg, it's girls night, remember?" Hailey reminded her.

Rule number one on girl's night: No taking a man home.

That rule became so much easier to obey when I got married and I practically had an in-house man which the girls had deemed unfair, but such was life.

"We already had a girls night. You know? The one where Nicki ditched us to do something fancy with her asshole boss?" Megan quipped like she was thinking of her reply.

I covered my face exasperatedly. "Am I not going to hear the last of that? It's been days."

"Just kidding. Just kidding." She laughed. "How was it? Hope he didn't make you do anything you didn't want to? He should come to me for that because there's nothing I wouldn't want to do for that fine man." She wiggled her brows suggestively.

"You and half the warm blooded females in Seattle. Which he has most likely actually slept with." I said with hand gestures.

Meg leaned in like she was about to share a secret, whispering low, "Wait, your boss is a whore?"

"Back up, back up," Hailey cut in, raising her hands. "What does this guy even look like?"

"Like a mixture of Chris Hemsworth and a young George Clooney." Megan said and the two shared a look before Hailey's mouth took on an 'o' shape.