Page 17 of The Bad Girl

“I’d rather not say, let’s just leave it at nothing.”

“Nadine, you’re the one coming to me for help.”

I cross and uncross my feet, but it fails to distract me from the humiliation that’s now fresh in my mind.

“It really doesn’t matter,” I finally say.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and confess my shame. “When I got to his room, he was asleep. I woke him up, and I asked him to take my virginity.”

“Lucky guy.”

“Wait, there’s more. He told me to go away, and instead of listening, I took off my pajamas and stood there in just my panties.”

His eyebrows cocks upward. “And nothing happened!”

“I’m not done yet. My friend came into the room because of the commotion Tom was causing, and I fled.”

Maxwell stares at me, saying nothing for at least a full minute. He licks his lips and opens his mouth to speak, only to close it again. At one point, he leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I just need to know what to say—what to do. First, he asked me to be his date for his sister’s wedding, but then he said we should catch up over coffee first. I don’t know how to reply.”

“First things first—do not reply. Do not say a word to him without running it by me first. Was Tom the reason you were dressed so—”

“No, that was for Grady. I made the mistake of asking a stripper down the hall for help with my wardrobe. She tried to adopt me, I think.”

“Mystery solved. Now let’s talk coffee. You’re going to wait until Monday to reply. Otherwise, you risk looking overeager. You’re also going to set the date out a week, maybe two. Say it’s the earliest you can fit him in.”

“Really? That seems like a long time to me.”

“Look, Tom is hot. I’m secure enough to say that. Since he’s hot, women are probably pretty accommodating to him. You have to be the one to stand out. Men like to hunt, and the harder the prey is to catch, the more rewarding the capture.”

“So, all I have to do is play hard to get?”

“No, you were onto something with that whole exciting, dangerous transformation. Men tend to get bored rather easily, and women who are exciting and keep us guessing have a better chance of sealing the deal. But you can’t go into batshit crazy territory.”

“How can I be exciting and dangerous with a Facebook profile that screams prime candidate for preschool teacher?”

“Everyone’s profile looks tame on Facebook, we have to think of a platform he hasn’t seen you on. Tumblr, perhaps. Oh, I got it, that new one—Chatterbox! It’s been around going on three years, and has good traffic.”

“Chatterbox? I can’t just open up an account and be bad from here on out, that will look inauthentic.”

“I actually own a lot of shares in the company, and I have access to blank accounts spanning back years. They were purchased for my product lines, but the platform hasn’t taken that direction yet. You can have one of the profiles, and we’ll bring the feed back two years. I can make you into something of a Chatterbox Sensation,” he says with a cheerful glint in his eye.

“I don’t know—”

He raises a hand to silence me. “Oh, and don’t go to just any cafe. Go to a place like Kobrick’s. One that also serves liquor. I think there’s a Hard Brew close by.”

I draw in my brow. “I was just looking for—”

“Some help to make you more interesting. Well, do you think getting together for a Starbucks is going to have you looking anything more than basic? I’m not saying get drunk, but perhaps indulge in an espresso martini?”

“Okay, okay. Let me get out my notepad so I can take notes.”

“That’s another thing. Drop the notepad. Drop the timeliness. Drop the overly-polite attitude. You have to come across as unafraid, confident, aloof, and you certainly can’t give a fuck what happened with this boy when you were eighteen.”

“Yeah, I’m hoping that doesn’t come up.”