I’ve been at the bar for about an hour, sitting on a stool in the corner and slowly drinking the same beer, when Kayla appears. “On your own tonight?” she asks, grabbing a stool and pulling it over to me.
“So are you,” I note.
“Mind if I sit?”
“Go right ahead. Can I buy you a drink?”
“If you like.”
I flag the bartender to bring a beer for her and one more for me, draining the one I’ve been working on. “What brings you out tonight?”
“This is where all the fun is,” she says. “I’m too young to stay in on a Friday night.”
I laugh—not because Kayla’s old, though she is a year older than I am, but because her personality is so infectious. It’s always been easy to see why she’s one of the most popular members of this pack.