Girlfriends (Patrick Sanchez) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a meaningful love life seemed more hopeless than ever. She didn’t know where Gina had gone, or if she’d be back, so Linda decided she would grab a cab home. Gina was a big girl and could take care of herself. Something was vaguely familiar about the girl she saw Gina leave with anyway. Linda figured she must have been someone Gina knew, so she really wasn’t worried.
    Linda passed the strange woman who propositioned her on the way out of the bar.
    “I hope you get some help,” Linda said to the woman with a comforting smile as she walked out the door.
    Maybe I should get some too, she thought, laughing slightly to herself as she hailed a cab to head home.

Cheap Wine, Lucy, and Sex
    “I ’m downstairs,” Cheryl yelled into the intercom at the entrance of Peter’s building.
    “Okay, just a sec.” Peter buzzed Cheryl into the building and hung up the phone. He had just put on a pair of loose exercise shorts. The ones that hung off his body but still highlighted the merchandise. After he buzzed Cheryl in, he shoved the Backstreet Boys video under the sofa. He’d been working out to it earlier that day, and, as thirty-year-old straight men were forbidden to enjoy the Backstreet Boys, he wanted it out of sight. He took off his shirt and threw it in the clothes basket. He knew he was looking pretty fine. Two hours at the gym every other day was really starting to have results. He glimpsed in the mirror and saw a very attractive tall man with dark brown hair and green eyes, features he inherited from his Italian mother. He flexed just a little, although lately he really didn’t even need to flex. His chest was cut and his arms seemed to bulge just fine, even when he was relaxed. Recently, he’d taken to getting his chest waxed. Why build the buff body and hide it behind a hairy chest?
    He never looked better in his life. There were days when he’d spend several minutes looking at himself in the mirror. He didn’t necessarily do it out of arrogance or narcissism. It was more to admire the way he was able to transform his body from the puny kid he once was. He didn’t grow to six feet until he was seventeen and was small and scrawny most of his young adult life. He’d never forget high school—hiding behind the fat girl he sat behind in history class to avoid catching the gaze of Gus Rodman, the class bully. Every time she moved or adjusted positions, Peter would reposition himself and use her as a shield of sorts. If he could avoid Gus’s gaze, maybe Gus wouldn’t pay any attention to him.
    He never did anything to Gus, but for some reason he singled Peter out and insisted on picking on him. Peter had suffered from severe asthma and allergies as a kid. He wasn’t always able to participate in gym class and occasionally had wheezing attacks at school. Gus always called him Sickly Peter or sometimes just called him Afflicted. “Hey, Afflicted,” he’d call to Peter, and then start making fake wheezing noises. “Call my mommy, I’m afflicted,” he’d say. To this day the word “afflicted” sent chills down Peter’s spine.
    Looking in the mirror reminded Peter of how far he’d come over the past ten years. He’d learned to manage his allergies, and his asthma virtually disappeared over the years. The scrawny kid was history, and as far as Peter was concerned, he’d never resurface again.
     
     
    As Peter quickly ran a comb through his short hair, Cheryl knocked on the door.
    “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Peter opened the door. “Hey, gorgeous. What brings you to these here parts?” Peter said with a fake cowboy accent.
    “Well, don’t we look comfortable. Always run around half naked when you’re expecting company?” Cheryl replied in reference to his shirtless body.
    “I can run around completely naked if you like.”
    “Maybe later. Got any beer?” Cheryl said, making her way into the living room. Peter watched her approach the sofa. At five feet five, she was quite a bit shorter than