Minty Read Free

face.
    Minty let out a big sigh. “I am doing this just for you, and we are leaving early. If you get tied up I will take a taxi home, so I don’t want you mad at me or anything, okay?” She got a big smile from Angela along with a nod of agreement.
    As they all left the building there were lots of laughs accompanying a lot of promises of seeing each other at the local beer and pool hall. The two girls made their way over to Angela’s car. It was a small Chrysler convertible. By the time they got to the parking lot, the wind had whipped Minty’s hair out of the tight knot she always wore it in. After the drive to the party spot and when Angela had the car parked, Minty pulled the mirror down. She pulled a comb out and started to untangle her hair. She had the clip in her lap and as she reached for it Angela quickly grabbed it, tucking it away.
    “Hey, I need that.” Minty reached for the hidden clasp.
    “No you don’t. You have great hair. You’re out of the office, so let it down. In fact, I have an idea.” Angela pulled a tube of lipstick out of her own purse to hand over. “Come on, try it. Let’s see.”
    “Look, I am the average book worm. You are the gorgeous pinup. Can’t make a silk purse out of a whatever.” She just held onto the tube without doing anything.
    “You are not a whatever . I don’t know whoever told you that. So you are not a pinup. Neither was Grace Kelly, but she was in as many movies as Marilyn Monroe. Ended up married to a prince. Put on the lipstick.”
    So Minty gave in and applied the coral lipstick. They got out of the car, but Angela stopped her. Angela unbuttoned Minty’s blouse. folding back the collar along with the first couple of buttons. She unhooked the belt that Minty had in her slacks that was hidden behind the overhang of the blouse that she had left lose over everything and pulled it tight around the blouse to tuck in her small waist.
    Minty looked down and frowned. “Angela, this is not me.”
    “Sure it is, honey. So maybe it will take some of the heat off of me for a change.” Angela looked up, taking Minty’s hand to drag her into the bar.
    The bar was a local hangout. It was a large roomy combination of mixed areas. It was not fancy, but it had a good reputation. It had a lot of wood and a low ceiling in the long room and was very dark. At one end was a wraparound bar with young office workers on their way home, stopping for a short one with friends. The outside wall had large booths and the middle had plenty of mismatched tables that were pulled together to fit whatever size crowd came in. Since their group had called in ahead, there was a long set of tables pulled up for them.
    Against the inside wall, opposite the booths, was a dance floor with a bandstand behind it. A small band was just starting to set up. The final end of the room was pool tables and dartboards. There were lights directly over the pool tables, but they were placed in such a way that the glare did not expand, so the whole place was a dim room that gave Minty the creeps. Minty had a phobia about the dark —she slept with all the lights on. She even had a backup light on batteries.
    Evidently it just gave everyone else the thought of partying, because as soon as people came through the door they started to drink, laugh, and get loud. Angela grabbed her as they sat down next to two other women from the office, strategically placed to keep the men away.
    Angela leaned over to whisper. “Let’s just order a couple of appetizers, then we can eat and run, okay?”
    Minty nodded agreement so when the waitress got down to them, they placed their order for wings and nachos. They settled down with their water.
    “Oh my God!” exclaimed one of the women sitting next to Angela. “I just went to heaven.”
    Both Angela and Minty looked in the direction over the crowded room that the woman was staring. Two very tall large men had just come in through the door. In fact, they were so tall they