Thursday and Friday dragged by. Friday afternoon, I rang Belinda. "What are you up to tonight?"

"More like, what are you up to? Is Adam coming over?"

"I don't know, but I have a new resolution! I will not sit around and wait for him to show up."

"Oh...tough girl now, are we? I hope it works for you." Belinda laughed, then got serious. "I don't want to be the one to burst your bubble, but isn't that what you did last week?"

"That's why I'm not doing it this week." I came back at her, tough and macho. "So, what are we going to do tonight?"

"We'll go to Freddy's. They had a great band last week. Macy hooked up with a hot guy. She's meeting him again tonight. I'll pick you up at eight. Okay."

"Great, see you then," I said.

I wore jeans and a tight-fitting shirt with long sleeves. Belinda picked me up.

"So, where's Macy?" I said as I climbed into the car.

"We're on our own. The hot guy is taking her to the movies."

"What's his name?"

"Peter...maybe..." Belinda screwed up her face and laughed. "But it could have been Paul. I remember it started with a P."

We pushed through the crowd to the bar, bought a drink, and found a small space against the wall. I said, "There are heaps of guys here tonight!"

"All the better for us." Belinda lifted her glass to her mouth and did a sexy pelvic shuffle.

Laughing at her stupid antics, I shook my head. "Hey, I'm not on the lookout at the moment. Remember."

She pointed her finger at me and cocked her head. "What if a really... hot guy who is perfect for you, sweeps you off your feet?"

"Won't happen." I tilted my head and grinned at her.

Belinda cocked her head. "It might. What would you do if it did? Would you tell him to piss off because God's gift is dangling you on a string?"

"He's not!"

"He is!"

"It's only been a couple of weeks, give the guy a break."

Belinda folded her arms across her chest. "Has he asked for your number yet?"

I tried to ignore the question.

"Well?"

"No," I snapped and took a mouthful of my drink.

Belinda can be such a bitch sometimes but I guess we need to have the guts kicked out of us now and then.

"So, he picks you up on the train, has sex with you, takes you out once, humps the be-Jesus out of you, shows up at your work with another woman then spins you some yarn. Pretends to respect you by not having sex with you, and hasn't asked for your phone number. Oh... yeah... he's not dangling you on a string, is he?"

Anger pounded in my head, more because what she said was the truth. I wasn't game to tell her he had come late on Wednesday night. It would give her more ammunition. "Please don't ruin this for me, Belinda."

She was going to cut me off. I put my hand on her mouth before she could speak and said, "I agree with everything you've said, but there's something about him. I know there's a chance I'm going to get hurt, but I'm prepared to risk it. He's funny and sweet and caring when he's with me. My other arsehole boyfriends were pricks all the time."

"God...I don't believe you sometimes." Belinda shook her head. "You have sucker imprinted on your forehead."

I hung my head. "I'm trying to play this differently. I'm trying to continue my life as if he weren't around. If he turns up, he turns up. I'm determined not to wait at home for him. After last week, I learnt my lesson." I smile at her because I didn't want to fight and ruin our night, so I added, "If an absolutely perfect hot guy comes along and sweeps me off my feet, I promise I'll go home with him. Happy?"

She cuddled me and repeated, "Happy."

I have to admit our disagreement put a dampener on the night. I tried hard to have a good time. I danced more than I drank and found every guy I met boring. Belinda seemed to be having a good time with a guy named Marcus. He came across as being too smooth in my opinion. I wasn't going to say anything. We decided to go uptown to another club called Vertigo's. Mister Smooth came too. By two o'clock, I'd had enough. Belinda was busy sucking face with her creep. I tapped her on the shoulder. "I'm going home."

"Wait." She jerked to face me. "You can't! You have to drive!"

"I'll catch the train."

She shook her head. "I don't want to come into town tomorrow to get the car."

I tugged her away from Marcus and whispered, "Don't you want to go home with him? I'm in the way."

Belinda joggled her eyebrows at me, a smirk on her face. "How about you drive us back to my place and catch an Uber or taxi from there."

This made sense. Belinda lives in the next suburb to mine. A ride from there would be better than the train from the city.

Heaps of people were gathered in groups outside the clubs and pubs. I was glad I wasn't walking to the train by myself and remembered Adam asking me not to work at night because of the weirdoes on the streets.

I decided to take the Dockland Highway home and had to stop at a set of lights. A commotion across the intersection caught my attention. Two police cars with their lights flashing. I put a little pressure on the accelerator to ease the car forward.

"Looks like some poor pricks are going to spend the night in the lock-up." Marcus laughed.

Police tussled with one man and shoved him over the boot of the police car. They snapped some handcuffs on him. Another man stood facing the wall of the building with his legs apart. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, and his head hung. I did a double-take and jerked the brakes. The car behind me honked.

"What the fuck!" Marcus yelled as I flung us forward.

"Sorry...sorry, I wasn't watching what I was doing."

Mister Smooth, who didn't appear so smooth now, said, "Where did you learn to drive?"

I ignored his smart comment. I wanted to get another look at the man who had been facing the wall. In the side mirror image, he bent his head and climbed into the back of the police car.

"Are you okay, Jazz? You're not pissed, are you?"

"No, I'm okay, too busy being a sticky beak." I tried to make light of it, but the man facing the wall looked a lot like Adam. The image wouldn't stop appearing in my head. I kept telling myself I was stupid because I hadn't seen his face. The likeness in that brief moment was his height, the colour of his hair and the fact that he had a tattoo on his forearm. I put the picture of the man in my head again, yes, it had been the right arm. Again, I told myself I was being stupid. Lots of men had tattoos on their arms. I hadn't seen the picture, just the dark mark. It could have been anything.

"Jasmine!" Belinda stared at me.

"What?"

"I've been talking to you for five minutes."

"Sorry, I'm tired." I laughed it off. "What did you say?"

"Marcus said he would drive from your place so you don't have to catch a taxi."

"Are you sure? I don't mind. How much have you had to drink?"

He sniggered, "Even drunk, I could drive better than you."

"Ha, ha. Very funny," I sneered. "How much have you had to drink because I'm not letting you kill my best friend?"

"I'm not drunk. I haven't had a drink since we left Freddy's." I studied his face to check if he was lying.

"Shit! Will you watch the road? If anyone's going to kill us, it'll be you."

He had a point, so I drove to my place and crawled into bed, unable to get the image of the man being ushered into the police car out of my mind.

Do you agree with Belinda?

And WOW!! I wonder if that was Adam who Jasmine saw!

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