Girl Talk

Landi laughed along with her good friend Rachel later that week. It was just the two of them tonight. Nick was out with friends and Rachel hadn't made this into a party for some reason. She sipped her strawberry daiquiri - the woman rarely felt safe to drink. She'd been sipping club soda with strawberry flavoring all night Monday. It amused her to think that any gentlemen who ordered her 'another round' - hoping to get her drunk - was only feeding her desire to go to the bathroom, escaping their clutches. As far as she knew, no one beyond Rachel, Oliver, and Nick knew that she was a teetotaler at parties. No mistakes. No excuses for her actions. Sometimes she wished that she had the guts to break her rule, the rule that she'd had since her third year of college. But she'd seen and heard too many horror stories to change her habit. Pregnancies, diseases, labels, and accusations, and drama… No, she was better off being perceived as the sensible one with the iron liver than taking any chances.

"Landi! Are you listening to me?" Rachel giggled, three sheets to the wind already as they watched movies and talked about anything that came to mind.

"Sorry," the lawyer giggled, currently drunk on her second daiquiri. The truth was, she was a lightweight and couldn't hold her liquor. A perpetual 'one drink, you are drunk' girl. While she was sure that she'd gain tolerance if she was exposed to alcohol more often, the woman didn't like to drink alone and did not trust most of her friends and coworkers to look out for her should she cross the line. Most of them, she knew, would be laughing and egging her on as she messed up her life. Some would even relish any mistake she made. She pushed the straps of her sleeveless silk pajama top up over her shoulders once again. She was sleeping over tonight to be safe. It wasn't a new arrangement for the two women. She would sleep off her drunken revelry and resultant silliness in the guest room of Rachel and Nick's new place and be ready to call a cab by early morning tomorrow. Good thing it was a Saturday, the rare Saturday when she didn't have any extra work to catch up with to maintain her reputation.

A pillow crashed into her face, ending her self-reflection. "Landi! I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!" Taking another swig of her beer, the Asian woman laughed and paused the romantic comedy that was playing in the background. Alandra turned to her friend and immediately started laughing at her attempt at a stern look while obviously wasted. "What did you think of the party on Monday? You think Theresa had a good send-off to Boston?"

"Oh, I think that those who actually knew that the party was meant as a send-off for Theresa, and not just another networking opportunity, are wishing her well. I have an uncle who lives in Boston. It's a good place. I've never been, but he tells me that it's wonderful up there."

"I didn't know you had an uncle in Boston. Did you tell Theresa?"

The woman shook her head drunkenly. "Didn't get a chance. She was surrounded by her friends and rivals all night. Besides, there's nothing much to tell. I know he's up there, but he's a real estate agent. I doubt that would do much for a dental hygienist in terms of networking. And you know that Theresa is all about the networking angle."

"She might need someone to pull a bed out for a night should she run into trouble," the economics teacher said, suddenly worried for her friend. "Boston is a big place and she'll be all alone."

"She'll make friends, same as she did here. That chick's from California originally, remember? And she was happily settled in Detroit, Michigan, Omaha, Nebraska, Gary, Indiana, and Knoxville, Tennessee before she ended up here in New York. I'm sure she'll be fine. But-" here she held up a hand to forestall the protest she knew was coming, "I'll text her my uncle's address and let her know that he's in the city should she need a hand. Okay?"

"You know good and well that neither of us are going to remember this conversation tomorrow as drunk as we are." Rachel smiled as she pulled out her phone.

"Alright. I'm doing it right now," Landi groused as she put together a rambling series of messages for her friend. She got the general message across somehow and put down her phone. "There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Rachel grinned at her and relaxed on the couch. "Speaking of the party Monday…" Landi groaned and levered herself into a sitting position (when had she slouched down?), reaching for the rest of her drink. Yep, two was definitely her limit.

"What about your party?" she asked warily. Rachel had a nasty habit of attempting to set her up with different available men now that she'd found her happiness with Moneybags. Landi had managed to avoid her well-meaning meddling thus far, citing work and general unavailability. But she knew that those excuses wouldn't hold for long now that she'd become the only one of her friends who was unattached in the city. Matchmaking was harder long-distance.

Or so Theresa had gleefully informed her at the party.

"Well?" the lawyer grumbled, her mood suddenly darkened by thoughts of double dates and get-togethers meant to set her up with 'Mr. Right'.

Rachel, sensing her change in mood and suspecting the reasons behind it, decided to jump into the conversation with both feet. "What did you think of Tyr? I saw you hanging out with him and Nick before you left that night."

"Oh, him? I… I…" Wishing fervently that alcohol in her system didn't render her incapable of telling a believable lie, the woman groaned again and wrapped her arms around her head, opting for silence.

"Come on, Landi," Rachel laughed, crawling over to her friend. "I know you remember him. You, the self-proclaimed appreciator of beauty, wouldn't have missed such a prime specimen of male."

"I have eyes in my head, Rachel! Of course, I noticed Nick's friend. It would have been impossible not to," she added almost resentfully. "I've never seen anyone that embodied the words 'drop dead gorgeous' before…" she trailed off, lost in her own memories of that night. Of an African Adonis approaching her, all lethal grace and sex appeal. And the deep, inescapable baritone of his voice… she'd felt like she was drowning in that honey-thick voice of his. Almost a week later and her hormones had yet to stop reminding her of the way every word of his had shot raw sexual energy straight to her lower belly. If she'd stayed much longer than she had, there might have been a puddle under her. He was a Grade-A, alpha predator. Everything about him screamed the kind of danger that had her sticking with flavored fizzy water at public functions.

… …

Rachel Wu, secretly pleased that her and Nick's introduction had gone so well, allowed her friend some time to daydream. Alandra was what 'familial loyalty' and the concept of bringing honor to the family name would look like in Brooklyn among the African-American community. She constantly worried about how her actions would reflect on her family. Hell, she'd even admitted to asking for her father's blessing before enrolling in law school! She was a brilliant, dutiful daughter who called her mother weekly no matter how busy she was. Who worked out religiously to look good in her expensive suits, worked sixty to eighty-hour weeks, and yet took time to sit with a friend in need when necessary. She deserved a good man. And Tyr Anasazi had the potential to be a good man. The two had a very 'opposites attract' vibe to them. She'd noticed it right off the bat on Monday.

Tired of dancing around the issue, Rachel decided that the dreamy look in her friend's eyes justified her efforts. "Well, what did you think of Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous? Was he someone worth pursuing?"

"Pursuing?" she gasped. "You don't pursue an African battle god like that! You worship from afar." At Rachel's horrified look, she smiled. "Rachel, I'm well aware of my limitations. The only reason he even spoke to me that night was because Nick likely made him. Tyr is way, way, way out of my league. He's practically in his own galaxy! I know my place." She sighed heavily and gulped down the rest of her frozen drink, coughing as her throat spasmed from the cold.

"Alandra," the teacher said, laying her hand on her friend's arm to forestall the depression in those expressive brown eyes. "You're not exactly chopped liver yourself. You have quite a circle of admirers who consider you a benevolent goddess. You-" Her impassioned speech was interrupted by Landi's full-throated laughter.

"Girl, exactly how many beers have you had tonight? No one thinks of me as anything but your 'cute, token black friend'! I'm okay looking, I guess. But Tyr is a perfect 10, an Alpha to be sure. Even if, by some miracle, he was interested in me, I wouldn't know what to do with that much man. I'd likely end up being ruined for other men when he dumps my ass! Best not to even go there…" Shaking off her hostess' arm, the younger woman dragged herself to her feet presumably to fix herself another strawberry daiquiri to drown her sorrows in.

Rachel was reeling. Was that really what one of her dearest friends thought of herself? And she knew that the woman wasn't fishing for compliments. Alandra was incapable of being anything but brutally honest when under the influence. She'd never met a woman who honestly thought of herself as sexually unattractive. Dragging herself to her feet was proving impossible at the moment. But she turned on her knees to pursue her friend, only to freeze in horror. Nick and Oliver were standing in the doorway, both glaring at the gaping lawyer. She looked aghast and two seconds from running to the guest room if her state of inebriation had allowed her to coordinate her body for such a flight.

"Do you truly believe that of yourself?" Nick asked angrily.

"No. Of course not," she refuted her statement unconvincingly. She sounded on the verge of tears. Rachel, still unable to stand, leaned her head on her hip. This was all that the woman needed to break her staring contest with the Asian woman's furious fiancé. "I'm just tired right now. Don't worry about me."

"Alandra, whatever your middle name is, Shaveed, don't you ever allow yourself to think so little of yourself again," Oliver shouted dramatically, crossing the room to grab his friend. "Little Rachel is right, you are known as a benevolent goddess among your friends and enemies! You are kind and you are generous to the people around you. And don't even get me started on that splendidly curvy body of yours. Why, if I wasn't playing for the other team, I'd be one of those chasing after you, begging for a date. You are quite aesthetically pleasing, objectively speaking. And if I am an objective observer, just imagine what your true admirers think of you! I'd love to take you on a shopping spree to clothe your fleshy temple appropriately. Let's say next Wednesday? 6 o'clock?"

Before Alandra could turn down the invitation, Rachel happily plucked the phone out of her nerveless left hand and plugged the appointment in. "She'll never be able to remember this conversation tomorrow with as much as she's had to drink tonight, Oliver. You'll have to remind her to check her calendar in the morning, I'm over the legal limit myself. Goodnight, guys." With that, Rachel dragged herself to her feet, using Alandra as a pole. The lawyer, looking embarrassed but pleased with the distraction, fell over with a shrieking laugh, breaking the last of the tension in the room. All four of them broke into laughter as the women attempted to stand up.

"God, Nick! Come get your woman off of me! She weighs a freaking ton!"

"Hey!" Rachel laughed while squirming on the floor. "I'll have you know-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Landi muttered darkly, attempting to scramble up from the floor. Nick laughed again and pulled his fiancée to her feet. Oliver helped Landi to her feet, still chuckling at her astounding innocence.

"We are going to revisit this topic, Alandra. When you are sober and can remember the conversation," Nick said seemingly out of the blue. Startled brown eyes met his dark ones. After an indeterminate amount of time, the woman nodded. She stumbled her way to bed with Oliver's assistance.