Read Online Card Sharks by Liz Maverick - Free Book Online Page B

millions.”
    â€œThe professionals.”
    Bijoux cocked her head. “Then maybe we should go to Vegas and get ourselves some professionals. The thought has crossed my mind.”
    â€œPeter put this into your head?” Marianne asked, grabbing the remote and turning back to Pretty in Pink .
    Bijoux shrugged, distracted by the show and clearly disinterested in Peter. “You’re more his type than me,” she said. “Oh, my God. This is where she has to walk into the dance by herself. God, that’s just torture.”
    Marianne’s eyes didn’t leave the screen, and her hand maintained a rhythm as it steadily transferred Skittles to mouth in a never-ending stream of not really even conscious chewing. “What does he look like?”
    â€œI don’t know. He’s sort of a male version of you.”
    â€œI bore me.”
    â€œI don’t mean personality-wise.”
    Marianne’s hand stilled midway to her mouth. “I’m not quite certain how to take that.”
    â€œWhat I’m saying is that he might appeal to you aesthetically. But I’m not sure about temperamentally.”
    â€œOh.” Marianne’s hand still didn’t move as she thought that over. And then slowly the Skittles treadmill started up again. “I’m not interested,” she said a moment later.
    Bijoux rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen. “This is it! Oh, poor Duckie.”
    â€œYou’re hurting my arm,” Marianne said. “But you’re so right. Poor Duckie. Thank God he gets to dance with that other popular chick at the very end.”
    She and Bijoux watched the look on Duckie’s face as Andie went off with boring old Andrew McCarthy and the theme music kicked in.
    Both girls took a deep breath and exhaled. “It never gets old,” Marianne said.
    â€œNo, it never gets old,” Bijoux said, clutching her chest.
    Marianne muted the TV as the credits began to roll. “Okay, so Peter’s out. But whatever happened with that one guy? What was his name?”
    Bijoux looked at Marianne, a crinkle of puzzlement over her nose. “What was his name?”
    â€œYou know, the one who was about to make a billion dollars. You hung with him for, like, a couple of months and then completely stopped talking about him.”
    â€œYeah. Well . . .” Bijoux sighed. “I broke up with him. I decided that ‘about to’ wasn’t worth waiting around for. I mean, if the guy I’m dating is technically poor at the time the relationship begins, there had better be some mitigating factors to tide me over while waiting for the payoff. But it was becoming totally stale. Finger there. Tongue here. ‘Ooh-ooh, baby.’ Yeah. Phew. Done. George falls asleep. Bijoux stares up at the ceiling, suddenly realizing she forgot to clean the spilled ground coffee out of the grout like she’d planned. . . .”
    â€œYou mean forgot to ask the maid to clean the spilled ground coffee out of the grout.”
    â€œYeah. And besides, I could tolerate less and less of him every time we slept together. The mole on his back I told you about? I got to the point where I just so desperately wanted to pluck the hair out, I was having trouble sleeping at night for thinking about it. I don’t know. Maybe we should try harder. Try some of the same things we’ve already tried, but . . . I don’t know . . . put more heart into it.”
    Marianne grimaced. “I couldn’t possibly. It’s horrible.”
    â€œWhat about speed-dating?” Bijoux asked. “It’s low time commitment.”
    â€œToo public. Too obvious. Too desperate.”
    â€œOnline dating?”
    â€œI’m not trying that again. Nobody can spell.” Marianne sniffed with disdain. “I refuse to waste my time going to coffee with men who don’t have the energy to punctuate or to capitalize