Between Friends

Chapter 1

SIENNA

Street lights beamed as I exited the Uber that dropped me off. Tonight I would be meeting some old friends for drinks.  It was the first time I was out since my divorce from Malcolm and I wasn't sure how people would react. We had been together for about 9 years and finally decided to call it quits due to irreconcilable differences. He had a kid on me, year 5 and I stayed with him. I tried to be a good wife, step mom but he continued to fail as a husband. He constantly cheated on me and was verbally abusive. Still, I stayed with him always wondering what I did wrong.

I needed this though, I needed to be out and not in my new home moping around. I'm sure he was out having fun with his new fiance so why not. I walked into the building pulling down the blue dress I wore. It was rather short and was the first time in about 8 or years that I had worn something so tiny. I spotted my friends off in the corner Giselle waved me over.

Giselle and I had been friends for our whole lives. She was one of my best friends. Next to her sat Lisa, she was a close friend of Giselle so we were always cool. Beside her was Keri and Teri the twins they were our college friends. "Girl that dress!! You tryna catch a man?" Giselle questioned as soon as I reached the table. They all stood up to hug me. "No, of course not." I said blushing. "Well you look damn good. Malcolm is an idiot for cheating on you!" Teri said. "Period" Keri added.

I sat down on the end. If at anytime I need to make my escape this would be the best seat. A waiter came over and I quickly put in a drink order  of Cranberry and Vodka with a shot of Tequila. As soon as my shot came I downed it and asked for another. I know they would want to talk about Malcolm and the fact that he was already engaged only 5 months after our divorce was final.

A few hours later, and about 10 shots of Tequila down I was crying. I could tell I was bringing the party down, so I excused myself and went to the restroom. 

"You really need to get it together Sienna" I said to myself in the mirror.  I dabbed my face with a wet cloth and tightened up my makeup. I gave myself another look over as I made my way out of the restroom. I took the liberty of ordering an Uber on my way back to the table. I really need to be at home. I probably wasn't ready to come out so soon anyway.

"You guys I'm gonna go home. I'm just not feeling it." "Aww Sien, you sure you gonna be okay?" Giselle asked. "Oh yea, ya'll know I'm an emotional drunk, girl I'm drunk." I said trying to laugh tonight's travesty off. "Okay, well..text us and let us know you made it home safe." Lisa said. "Of course I will. I love you guys." I said giving each of them a hug before I made my way to the exit.

The Uber was about 20 minutes away so I took this time to go through some emails, and social media notifications. I heard the door open up  but I didn't look up. "Sienna?" I heard. I looked up, "Rico? Hi, how are you?" "Damn girl, I kept looking and trying to figure out if it was you or not. I'm glad it was." He said smiling. Rico was an old friend of Malcolm's they used to work for the same law firm but Rico started his own.

"Yea it's me." I said blushing. "How's Malcolm doing. Man I haven't spoken to him in years." "Um Malcolm and me are divorced." I don't know why but my voice cracked when I said it. "Wow, divorced. I always knew he would lose you." He said which shocked me because he was never this bold before. "Please tell me you're just out here taking a breather, I would love to have a drink with you."

"I was actually about to call it a night." I said sadly. "Well can I get your number at least?" He asked. He was so cute standing there with his perfect smile and pleading eyes. I smiled and looked down at my Uber app, the driver was 15 mins. I pressed cancel. "How about coffee, I already had enough to drink tonight." I suggested. He smiled. "Okay. There's a spot up the block we could walk to." "Cool."