Read Online Card Sharks by Liz Maverick - Free Book Online

guess.”
    â€œAgain?”
    â€œWould you prefer Gandhi? That’s on, too.”
    They looked at each other and in unison intoned, “Pretty in Pink.”
    Marianne flipped to the right channel and said, “Why don’t we just rent a DVD one of these days and see something we’ve never seen?” She leaned over the TV tray and used an umbrellatoothpick to spear a cherry and a canned pineapple slice, then dropped it into Bijoux’s drink.
    Bijoux gestured to the TV screen with her mai tai. “This was our childhood, Marianne. We were such innocents. Molly Ringwald was our best friend and our world was high school. How could we have known? She always got the boy in the end. Though I still completely disagree with the ending of this movie. I still remember Duckie’s face when he let her go.”
    â€œTell me you’re not already crying.”
    â€œOf course I’m not crying.” Bijoux grabbed a cocktail napkin and loudly blew her nose.
    The phone rang, and Marianne reached over the arm of the couch and picked it up. “Oh, hi, Mom . . . yeah, I’m fine. Everything’s fine . . . what? I’m just hanging out with Bijoux. . . . Yes, I realize it’s Friday night. . . . No, we’re not going out tonight. . . . No. No. No, we don’t have dates. . . . No, Mom, I’m not a lesbian. Would that be better?” Marianne turned away from the phone. “She says that would be better.”
    Bijoux shrugged.
    â€œWhat are you up to? Oh. Oh, I see. That sounds great. Well, you go on then. Have a great time. Say hi to Daddy. Okay . . . Okay . . . Okay . . . I love you, too.” Marianne hung up the phone. “How sad is it that my parents have a better social life than I do?”
    â€œAnd they’re already married,” Bijoux said bitterly. “Pass the bag.”
    Marianne handed her the grocery bag, and Bijoux began to remove an assortment of items, which she arranged on the table in front of them. “Look what I bought,” she said, holding up a transparent, frosting-smeared box. “2-Bite Cupcakes. Aren’t they adorable? Just look at that frosting-to-cake ratio.”
    Marianne opened the top and looked down. “They look good. If we split the box and eat them all tonight, do you thinkit would equal a piece of cake for each of us? Or more than a piece of cake?”
    â€œIf I’d planned to eat enough to equal a piece of cake, I would have bought cake.”
    â€œSo what you’re telling me is that these are supposed to be diet-serving cupcakes?” Marianne wiggled one of the tiny cupcakes free and held it up to the light for inspection. She stuck the whole thing in her mouth, effectively renaming the morsel to 1-Bite Cupcake. With her mouth completely full she managed to say, “I think I could eat six and just about approximate a piece of cake.”
    Bijoux looked at her, sighed, and lined six cupcakes up in front of herself.
    â€œSo why do we need men? We’ve managed to create these lives where we don’t actually need them. We’ve got sperm banks and Rabbit Pearls and good jobs with lots of money.” Marianne looked over at Bijoux, who’d just harrumphed after the word money. “Work with me here. What is it that compels us to couple up? I mean, straight or gay is irrelevant. Everybody’s coupling up. Why? And what makes it so annoying to be uncoupled in coupled circumstances? And why don’t couples like to have uncoupleds around? If it were only in our heads, we’d have a lot more dinner invitations. But it’s in everybody’s heads.”
    â€œNoah took two of each animal.”
    There was a long pause. “That’s it?” Marianne asked.
    â€œThat’s about as much of an explanation as you’re ever going to get.”
    â€œThere are some animals who don’t