with as much smolder as he could muster. “Mind if I get in on that hug?”
“Get the hell out of here!” Josie shouted at him. She turned to one of the bartenders and pointed to the guy who had effectively ruined their moment. “This douche is out of control, Tank.”
The massive bartender looked at the interloper and shook his head. “Leave them alone.” It was all he had to say to send the guy running.
When he was gone, Josie burst out laughing and Leslie found herself laughing as well. From that moment on the night took a less tense tur, and when Amber was finally off of her shift the three of them hit the dance floor together, making sure that it was strictly a girls’ night. While Leslie was in the bathroom, she had no doubt that Josie told Amber her secret, because Amber hugged her for an excruciatingly long time and refused to let her go after a while.
Eventually the club closed, and the three tipsy girls made their way back to the apartment building, stopping at Gustavo’s, who was closing up, but at the sight of his favorite customers he let them in. “Everything’s half off, but you got to hurry,” Gustavo said. “Everyone’s headed home already.”
“The usually,” Leslie said to him with a sweet smile.
“You mean the usual?” he chuckled and shook his head. “What are you doing out this late? And dressed so pretty?” he asked as he tossed the two slices of basil and roasted red pepper into the oven and looked at her. It wasn’t uncommon for him to see Leslie this late at night, but it was unusual to see her out in something other than an oversized sweatshirt, her reading glasses, and yoga pants. The old Italian was the sweetest guy in the world, and he reminded Leslie of her father.
“Decided to go out.” She shrugged, feeling more than a little drunk.
“Looks like it was a good time,” Gustavo smiled as he tossed Amber’s pepperoni into the oven with Josie’s potato and bacon slices. “You ladies need anything? Bottle of water, maybe?”
“Nah,” Leslie said, opening her clutch and flipping through the bills. “We’re almost home.”
“Like I said, it’s all half off,” Gustavo said. Leslie had seen Gustavo’s wife and two boys running around the restaurant several times when she’d been here. He was always busy, but it was because he was affordable and made amazing pizza. Leslie knew he didn’t make a ton of money. Gazing down at the tip jar, she saw it was already empty. They must have divided it up already. “Separate or together, ladies?”
“Together,” Leslie blurted out before the others could protest. She went to hand him a fifty and quickly switched it to a twenty. The girls were already heading toward the door as Leslie grabbed the rest of the cash out of her clutch and stuffed it into the tip jar for him. “Have fun with the family,” she said to him as he stared down at the cash in his jar, easily five hundred dollars that Leslie had just parted with, not even batting an eyelash.
“Sweetie, no; I can’t take that. Come back here.” Gustavo came around the counter and dug into the jar. “I’m glad you’ve had a fun night out, but this is too much.”
Leslie had tried to usher Josie and Amber out before they noticed. Caught red-handed, she turned around. “No, Gustavo, that’s for you and your family. I did that on purpose. Thank you for the awesome pizza.” She pushed opened the door with her butt and took a bite of the pizza in her hand. It was hot, but tasted amazing.
“What was that?” Amber asked as they made the short walk home.
“Nothing.” Leslie didn’t offer to add more and thankfully the two roommates didn’t press it.
They were all fairly quiet as they ate their pizza, enjoying the sights and the sounds of their neighborhood before they walked into the apartment building.
“It was fun tonight. Thanks for taking me.” Leslie tried to keep her voice neutral. She suddenly felt like crying and couldn’t understand why.