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I growled a little and motioned for another shot "I put effort into it once More effort than any young man should, and it blew up in my face I learned that lesson the hard way No reat time for her Everybody wins"

Zeb made a noise and nodded when Asa asked hi tiirls are ht you were s annoyed We were supposed to be brothers-in-arms--bros before ho’s--and all that noise I didn’t ask hiic and brutal clarity at me

"You don’t understand"

He rolled his eyes at ot arrested I loved the holy shit out of that girl She told me she would wait, that I was her one true love and even bars and time wouldn’t be able to keep us apart It took a little less than two , a little over six and she was engaged to a ski pro She has two kids now and drives a minivan You think that means all women are like that? That there isn’t one out there that would really wait if she loved me?"

We just stared at each other until he shook his head

"I don’t I think there are good women out there that will stand by their man no ive a shit I did ti to see what I have to offer now Sure, until I find her I have no qualood tiirl is worth it, I’ the work, especially when it’s hands-on"

The liquorish taste of the J&auue as I tossed the shot back I needed to stop Things were starting to get wavy and I felt like if I let go of the grip I had on the edge of the bar I was going to slide off the bar stool and land on irl to hold your heart That first sets the tone for everything and everyone that comes after" I didn’t sound so sure about that anymore and it wasn’t just because of the booze

Asa paused and leaned across from me on the other side of the bar and reached out across the expanse to flick me between my eyes I swore at him and jerked irls for a irl you slow-dance with, and the first girl you go to bed with There’s the first girl to give you a kiss, and then the first one you take home to your irl you fight with and the first girl you fight for There’s also the first girl you have to let go of There’s the first girl you love, obviously, and the first girl to break your heart There’s always a first girl, Rowdy, but there is also the girl that is going to coirl is the one that really matters"

I always toldto lie she wasn’t irl for most of what Asa said Sure she had irl to break irl I had sex as Joanne Morse when I was fifteen The first girl I had slow-danced with had been Megan Drake during ho the year I scored three touchdowns in one quarter She was also the girl that had gone down on ured out I could pine for Poppy but still get laid as long as I sirl and told her she was pretty, I had pretty e-appropriate feh school The first girl to take ho to happen since ivenlike a drunken idiot tonight He was right: there had always been another girl after the first and I had never had a last girl yet

"You guys suck I just wanted to get drunk and get laid" They both chuckled at lassy eyes land on Dixie as she sauntered up toto help you out with the last part, Rowdy"

I liked Dixie I liked her as a person and liked everything she orking with that irl She never asked for ood tiht now, looking at her and the sexy anticipation in her eyes, I knew there wasn’t any way I was going to be able to go through with taking her home My mind was on someone else and I didn’t want Dixie to be reduced to a drunken hookup because I was acting like the world’s biggest coward by avoiding the woman I really wanted to be with

I covered her tiny hand with ht, sugar These two sorta ruined my mojo"

There was no way I could drive, so thata cab to my apartment

"Sorry"

She just shook her head atto catch your eye and you were never going to look at any other girl again It’s the way all of you guys seeives uy will look atmy rejection into an act of chivalry Man, she really was a doll

Asa called me a cab Zeb helped pour me into the backseat and the poor driver watched me in the rearview oing to hurl all over everything I gave hi him to worry and stumbled into my lonely apart from booze and memories, so I did what I always did when I was that keyed up I got out a sketch pad and some charcoal and I dreas pretty sure none of it would look like anything legible in thewhen I sobered up, but for the s that were chasing h that I could shut my eyes and slump over in a blacked-out heap

I JERKED AWAKE WITH a start the next day and sent the sketch pad falling to the floor as I scraht in my train wreck It was on the kitchen counter next to a bowl of cereal I had poured but obviously never ate, and the Marked nuuitars rattled my fuzzy head