Read Girlfriends (Patrick Sanchez) for Free Online

give it up.”
    “Fine, Shirley. If this is the way it has to be. I was hoping we could end this like grown-ups.”
    “Sorry to disappoint you. I’m not sure what makes you think you can do without me. What? Do you think Maggie’s going to get that pole out of her ass all of a sudden?”
    Collin remained silent in response to Shirley’s comment.
    “Wait a minute,” Shirley continued. “This doesn’t have anything to do with that wife of yours, does it? You’ve found someone else. Some other bitch to take that little toothpick of yours.”
    Again Collin remained silent (a sure sign of guilt) before responding. “It’s over, Shirley. I’m sorry,” he said calmly as he reached for the doorknob.
    “Yeah, well, we’ll see. The fat lady ain’t sang yet,” Shirley snapped as the door closed behind Collin.

Girls with Flair
    “C an I get you a beer?” Annie asked Gina, pulling her keys from the lock as she closed the door behind them.
    Gina knew she’d had way too much to drink and should probably say no. She could barely walk up the steps to Annie’s apartment. She looked around the place in her drunken state. It was basically a dump. The one-room apartment was on the top floor of a converted row house—pretty much a bed, some other secondhand furnishings, and a little kitchenette in one corner. In the opposite corner from the kitchen was a large wraparound desk with vast amounts of computer equipment. Gina found it odd that Annie couldn’t afford a decent roof over her head but managed to splurge on what looked like thousands of dollars worth of computer stuff.
    “Sure, I’d love a beer.”
    Annie fetched a beer from the miniature fridge and started fumbling for some glasses.
    “You have a cat,” Gina said with a hint of disapproval in her tone as Annie’s cat crawled out from under the bed. One of Gina’s peeves was people with cats. It was always weird single people who had cats, or so Gina thought. Gina didn’t understand the whole “cat thing.” The idea of living with such a creature was absurd to her. Cats were obnoxious, self-centered, unfriendly, and, besides, who in their right mind would willingly change a litter box?
    “That’s Silky Sheen. She’s my roommate.”
    Gina could barely contain herself. A cat for a roommate. That isn’t pathetic at all. “I don’t like cats,” Gina said matter-of-factly.
    “You’d like Silky. She’s just like a dog.”
    This was another one of Gina’s issues with cat people. They always said that she would like their cat because it was just like a dog. She wondered why, if these people wanted a cat that was just like a dog, they didn’t just get a fucking dog in the first place.
    “Is that so? This is a nice place you have here,” Gina said as if she genuinely meant it.
    “Thanks, me and Silky are pretty happy here.”
    It was almost sad to Gina that Annie talked about the distasteful cat like it was her roommate.
    Annie added, “Money’s been pretty tight since I started my own business a few months ago.”
    “Your own business?”
    “I’m a bit of computer guru. I majored in psychology in college, but once I got into the workforce I just gravitated toward computers. I worked for a big insurance company for a few years, climbing the corporate ladder, but eventually decided to go into business for myself.”
    “Wow, that’s pretty impressive.”
    “I sunk all my savings into getting it started. The biggest expense being that monstrosity over there,” Annie said, pointing toward the computer before continuing to babble on about megahertz and gigabytes, leaving her guest confused, not to mention bored, by her computer jargon.
    “So, what do you do with your business?”
    “Well, like I said, I’m just getting started, but what I plan to do is help small businesses select the best computer hardware and software to meet their needs. Then provide support to them. I’m also a whiz on the Web, so I’m going to develop and manage Web pages