Here's to Tomorrow

by Teagan Hunter

  “Reminder not necessary. That’s part of the reason I’m freaking out. How about these?” she asks, sticking out her foot and modeling the boots for me.

  “Hmm. What color is the dress?”

  “Teal?”

  “Why is that a question?”

  “Because I suck at naming colors. Just go with teal.”

  “Then I like. Very cute. And they’d look good with a summer dress.”

  “Rae?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Did you just…give me fashion advice?” she asks, surprise coloring her voice.

  I shrug. “Hey, I’m not that bad at putting an outfit together. I manage to look pretty damn decent most days.” It’s a half-truth.

  “Fair enough. Alright, I’m sold. Jane! Ring this bitch up, please!”

  I shake my head and laugh. I grab a super-cute light-pink crocheted half-cardigan and follow Maura to the front.

  “These are perfect for you, Maurie!” Jane exclaims.

  “Right? I scored big this time,” Maura replies, just as excited.

  “How are things going, ladies? Any fun news?”

  Maura and I both sigh.

  “I think we’re both smitten,” I tell Jane. “Like for reals smitten. And Maura here is a sex fiend now.”

  And cue the arm-punch from the best friend. “Rae Kamden! You are such a brat. It was one time!”

  Jane just laughs. “You two are such a handful. If I didn’t adore you girls so much, I’d almost feel bad for your fellas.”

  “Hell, I adore us and I do feel bad for them.” I lean in close to the counter. “Especially Tanner. Dude had no idea what he got himself into with this one,” I mock-whisper, jerking my head in Maura’s direction a few times.

  “You are so not my best friend anymore. You are so damn evil.”

  I roll my eyes. “Liar.”

  Maura huffs at that.

  Jane shakes her head and laughs. “You two are so freakin’ cute. Makes me wish my best friend were still around. And that I had a guy, because judging by those smiles, you found yourselves some good men.”

  “I know I did,” Maura says on a sigh.

  Jane gives me a look, waiting on me to fess up. I try to play it cool and shrug. “Hudson’s okay so far. He’s got a great ass so I’m not complaining.”

  “Oh, whatever! You were just practically drooling over your date last night.”

  “She’s right, Rae. I can see it in your eyes. This one is different. He’s good for you.”

  I shift my eyes away and try to divert the attention from me because I know she’s right.

  Hudson is different. Every time I think about him my heart races and I get those stupid flutters in my stomach. A part of me wants them—craves them, even—but the other part is terrified of them, and rightly so. Relationships can suck. I’m already so in like with Hudson that I know that if this one tanks—even this early—it’s going to hurt my heart and I’m definitely not okay with that.

  So…here’s to tomorrow and hoping everything is still looking smiley and bright then.

  “He’s got friends, ya know. Tucker and Gaige. I can hook you up,” I tell Jane.

  “Nah, I don’t have time for dating. Anyway, girls, anything else for you today?” Ah, Jane. Master attention-diverter.

  I give her a look, letting her know she didn’t fool me. She gives me back a minimal shrug. I know we’ll get her to break one day.

  “That’s all I need this trip. I’m sure I’ll be back next week for some therapy shopping after this weekend,” Maura says.

  Jane winces. “Yeah…good luck with that.”

  “Thanks. I’ll definitely need it.”

  After Jane hooks us up with our usual frequent shopper discount and we say our goodbyes, we hoof it back to Vern’s for our cars.

  “You’re working tonight, right?” Maura asks, opening up her car door.

  “Unfortunately. I’m on the schedule until Sunday.”

  “Blech! See you tonight then. I’ll be the hot girl buzzing about.” With a wink and an air-kiss, she’s gone.

  Damn, I love that girl.

  Hudson

  “Is it weird of me to come here after last night?” I ask Tucker.

  “Nah, man. Chicks dig that shit. Plus, it’s guys’ night. We do this almost every Thursday. We just changed venues this time.”

  I nod. “Right, right.”

  “It’s cool, dude. I showed up at a girl’s work the day after our first date one time,” Gaige says. “I mean, yeah sure, she put a restraining order on my ass pretty quick, but it was only for thirty days. You’re good.”

  Tucker and I exchange a look and then just stare at Gaige in bewilderment because this is the first we’ve heard of this.

  Gaige rolls his eyes. “Laugh, you fuckers. It was a joke. Ha ha. Funny.”

  We do laugh at that.

  “You gotta brush up on your joking skills, man. They suck,” Tucker tells him honestly.

  “Oh, Tuck, you wound me. I can always count on you to knock me down a few pegs. Thank you,” Gaige replies sarcastically, clutching his chest.

  “You’re both cracked in the head. I feel bad for your future wives and children.”

  “Don’t worry. We feel equally as bad for yours,” Tucker grins.

  I bump his shoulder. “Asshole.”

  “Hey boys. What can I get for ya?”

  We turn toward the voice that most definitely does not belong to Rae.

  She’s blonde, lanky, and even though she only spoke eight words to me, her voice is already annoying as fuck. I can just hear the fakeness dripping from her words.

  “We’ve got some specials on tap tonight. Any takers?” Annoying Voice Girl asks, probably talking about a lot more than just beer. She puffs her chest out some and inches in way too close to me.

  “Uh, just Dr. Pepper for me,” I tell her with plenty of emphasis on “just,” scooting farther away and closer into the dark corner. Last thing I need is for Rae to see this shit. Not that that was the deciding factor in me moving away. It was definitely this chick.

  She notices my shift in direction and turns her attention to Gaige. Poor dude.

  While she’s busy hitting on my two best buds, I scan the bar, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rae.

  I get lucky.

  I watch as she effortlessly moves around behind the bar with a big bulky man, shelling out drinks left and right. They’re smiling easily at one another, moving around together so swiftly. I can tell from here that they’re pretty familiar with each other.

  Just then, a shorter and definitely smaller man leans over the counter and kisses the guy standing next to Rae. He then holds his fist out to Rae. She bumps it, of course. They laugh and continue to sling around drinks.

  I didn’t even notice before, but there’s a guy sitting in front of Rae with dark hair. Even from the back I can tell that it’s Perry.

  She smiles at him. My heart cracks a little.

  Because that smile? The one she just gave a guy that isn’t me? It was easily the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.

  And it wasn’t my smile.

  She leans across the bar and Perry whispers something to her. She laughs.

  That wasn’t my laugh either.

  I look away from them before I get super pissed.

  “You saw that too, huh?” Tucker asks.

  I shrug.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. He’s probably just a friend,” Gaige tries to reason.

  Apparently while I was watching Rae, they were watching me, and while they were trying to talk me away from inching closer and closer to the edge of a damn cliff, none of us were watching Perry.

  “Hey, Hudson! Fancy running into you here.”

  Fuck. Me.

  Perry’s standing at the front of our table. I’m fighting the urge to either hug the guy because the website and graphics he sent me this morning were fucking amazing, or to punch him—again—because of Rae. That whispering in her ear shit still has
my blood boiling. I have no idea what’s really going on between the two of them, and no idea how they know each other, but damn if it doesn’t piss me right the fuck off.

  I look over to the bar and finally make eye contact with Rae.

  She smiles. It’s my smile.

  I breathe for the first time in minutes.

  “Hey, Perry, definitely didn’t expect to see you here,” I say with a little edge to my voice. He doesn’t know me well enough to know what I really meant, but Tucker does and I get a good kick to the shin for it. “Tucker, Gaige, this is Perry, the website dude. Perry, these are my employees.”

  “Just your employees? Well fuck you too, man,” Tucker says in jest. He extends a hand to Perry, who shakes it. “Tucker. And excuse this asshole. I’m way more than an employee to this dude. We’re totes besties.”

  “‘Totes besties?’ The fuck? God, you two are douchebags. Gaige. I’m the attractive, funny, and very, very best friend of Hudson here.”

  You know how on that show How I Met Your Mother Barney and Marshall fought for nine seasons over who Ted’s real best friend was? Welcome to my life for the last seven years.

  At this point, Perry only looks slightly scared.

  “You wanna join us for some burgers? This place is pretty damn good,” I offer to him, secretly hoping he’ll say no and leave.

  I like the guy and all but I have no idea about the whole Rae thing.

  “You know what? Sure. Just let me go tell my girl. I saw who your waitress was and you don’t want that shit skanking up your table, trust me.”

  His girl? Rae?

  Drumroll please… Yep. Rae. I watch as she laughs again from behind the bar and then says something to the bartender, who looks over at our table, then smiles back at Rae and nods. Then she’s following Perry over to our table, staring right at me the entire way.

  Now I’m panicking. I have no fucking clue what I’m going to say to her. I didn’t text her all day, which was probably a dumbass move on my end, because she said she was spending girl time with Maura. I didn’t want to be rude but now I’m rethinking that because I’m nervous as hell to talk with her again.

  “Hey, Rae. Good to see you again.” Thank God for Tucker and his constant ass-saving.

  “Tucker. Always a pleasure.” She turns to me. “Long time, no see. Or text. Or call. Or anything,” she says with a wink and I know I’m off the hook.

  “Hey, Gaige, do phones work both ways?” I ask with a smirk, still holding eye contact with Rae.

  “Yes, I do believe so, Hudson.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

  “Huh, fancy that.”

  Rae cracks a smile. “Touché.”

  “I see you all have already met,” Perry says, taking a seat. “I feel a bit out of the loop then. I only know Hudson.”

  “Quick rundown: Tucker sucks at video games, Gaige is quiet, and Hudson is a total smartass and proposes on the first date. You’re all caught up. Congrats,” Rae tells Perry, giving him a pat on the back.

  “Proposing, huh? You’re moving a bit fast there, bud,” Tucker teases.

  “To be fair, she was technically the first one to propose. On the group date. Did you forget already, Rae? That hurts.”

  She lifts her hand to her forehead. “Oh, my.” Apparently she’s a Southern Belle now. “How could I possibly forget?” She turns to Tucker and, in her normal voice, says, “Thanks for that, by the way. Ditching me on the first date. I had such high hopes for us, Tucker.”

  He laughs. “After I ditched I realized my mistake in leaving you with this tool. My deepest apologies. Can I make it up to you?”

  “Hey, fucker. Find your own girl to date!”

  It flies out of my mouth before I even realize it. I swing my head toward Perry. He’s laughing.

  Huh. Maybe there isn’t anything between them.

  “Already got the boys after you, huh, Rae? Nice.”

  Rae flips her hair in a mocking gesture. “As if we all didn’t know that would happen.”

  Perry fist bumps her.

  “You’re all so weird,” Gaige mumbles.

  “True,” Rae laughs. “So, what do you boys want? I’m taking over so y’all don’t have to endure the painful company of Clarissa all night. She’s…clingy.”

  “And crazy,” Perry adds.

  Rae nods her head toward Perry. “That’s saying something coming from him.”

  We laugh and then all take turns ordering our burgers.

  “Sweet deal, dudes. I’ll be back later. Holler if you need anything.”

  And then there were four.

  “Where’s Tanner tonight, Tucker? I’m not really missing him—no offense or anything—but he’s been tagging along for weeks now and then all of a sudden he’s not here. What gives?” Gaige asks.

  Tucker looks to Perry. “Brother,” he says in explanation. “I don’t know where he’s at tonight. He’s been out with Maura every night she’s not at work so I’m surprised he isn’t here since she is.”

  “Wait. Maura? Rae’s best friend, Maura?” Perry asks. We all nod our heads. Perry looks at Tucker. “She’s dating your brother?” Again, Tucker nods. “Holy crap. Poor Tanner.”

  Cue stares from the entire back half of the bar, because that’s how hard we’re laughing at that.

  “That was so not what I was expecting you to say,” I tell Perry.

  “So what makes you say poor Tanner? That’s a bold statement. My brother is…well, he’s a damn asshole. I love him to death because he’s my brother but he doesn’t really rank high on, well, just about anyone’s list.”

  Perry shrugs. “Well since she’s besties with my girl, I’ve known Maura my entire life. I know how off her rocker she can be. She used to be fairly shy and quiet but she’s definitely…blossomed in the past few years. Girl will give you whiplash.”

  Again with his “my girl” shit. Who is this guy to her?

  “I know on our little double date she and Rae seemed to have quite a few similarities. It was comical and slightly unnerving.”

  “Yeah, they have their moments. They are fairly different but also kind of the same. It’s weird. I love them both dearly though. But that info doesn’t leave this table.”

  His joke gets a little lost on me because I’m too busy internally freaking out over him using Rae and love in a sentence together.

  Who is he? How does he know her so well? And why does he love my girl?

  Yep. She is unofficially my girl.

  Kind of.

  If I ever man up and tell her what she needs to be told, she’ll be my girl.

  “Be right back, dudes,” Perry says, getting up from the table and heading toward the bar.

  As soon as he’s gone, Tucker turns to me.

  “So?”

  “So what?”

  “Who is he? I can’t figure it out. He talks like he knows her better than anyone else does. Maybe he’s an ex,” Tucker ponders.

  “Maybe he’s family, you dumbasses,” Gaige mutters.

  “I don’t know, man. That thought briefly crossed my mind. But I’m not sure. They seem really, really close. Almost too close, ya know? Like they know know each other.”

  “What, is Logical Hudson taking the day off or some shit?” Gaige asks.

  “Logical Hudson was the one that thought of the family thing, for your information. But then, ya know, No-Bullshit Hudson chimed in. Fucker wins every time,” I smirk.

  “Amen. I’ve met the dude. He’s kind of a dick,” Tucker comments.

  “Alright, so, exes? Close friends? What?” I ask.

  “Close friends.”

  “I’m still going with family.”

  “Exes,” I say.

  “Well, that’s settled then,” Tucker says sarcastically.

  At the same time, we all take a drink of our sodas, taking a moment to process everything.

  “How’s Joey doing? We gonna have a movie night soon?”

  “I think you’re way too excited to watch old Disne
y movies with a seven-year-old,” Gaige says to Tucker. He turns back to me. “But really, when’s the next movie night?”

  I have to laugh at these two fools. I swear they love Joey almost as much as I do.

  “Joey’s great. Probably a little peeved since I’ve spent the last two nights away from mom’s, but we’ll just have to do movie night soon to make up for it. Next Saturday or Sunday?”

  They look to one another. “Sunday,” they say at the same time.

  I laugh. “Sunday it is. My apartment or Mom’s?”

  “Mom’s,” they answer, again at the same time.

  “I can grab some pizza if you want so Mom doesn’t have to cook dinner,” Gaige offers.

  “You just want her to make extra desserts.”

  “Can you blame the dude? Your mom makes the best fucking cherry pie ever. You were a lucky little shit growing up,” Tucker says.

  “True,” I smile. “You two need to watch your mouths this time, though. There were two weeks of Joey saying ‘shit’ and ‘asshole’ after the last movie night.” Both the jerks snicker. “Oh, you think that shit’s funny? You do realize that every time I said ‘Joey, don’t say shit!’ or ‘Joey, don’t say asshole!’ that kid made me pay fifty cents to the cuss jar? You know how expensive that got? I think you both owe me at least five bucks!”

  Apparently this is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard because neither one of them is making a sound. That’s how hard they’re laughing.

  “I think… I think…,” Tucker starts, gasping for air and holding his stomach.

  “Oh, yeah? I think… I think you’re both dicks,” I mockingly mutter.

  Tucker ignores me. “I seriously think that just made me love that kid more. Genius!”

  I just shake my head, because he’s right. My kid is damn smart for a seven-year-old.

  “Alright, alright,” Perry says, sitting back down at the table. “What’d I miss?”

  “Looks like we’re buying dinner. Hudson’s broke,” Gaige says.

  Laughing ensues.

  Perry looks at us like we’re all crazy. He may be right.

  Just then, Rae comes over carrying a huge tray stacked full of food.