Doms, Divas, & Dating

Chapter Two: Hangovers & Hairspray

“WHYYYYYY IS MY ALARM GOING OFF?!” Devina groaned loudly into her pillows as she fumbled around blindly on her nightstand, grasping for her phone.

It was 9 am the following day.

As predicted, she had a hell of a hangover from all the wine she and Sibil had drunk the night before.

“Rise and shine slut,” Sibil croaked out as she pushed her way into Devina’s room.

She was holding a tray of plain buttered toast, a pile of turkey bacon, a bottle of aspirin, two glasses of water, two iced coffees, and two ginger juice shots—their go-to hangover recovery meal.

Devina sighed as she succumbed to the reality that she was indeed going to be waking up now, regardless of how her head felt about it.

Devina took the tray from Sibil, letting her climb into bed beside her.

“You smell like stale wine,” Devina said, settling the tray between the two of them.

‘Yeah? Well, you have mac-n-cheese in your hair, princess,” Sibil said back with a playful smirk.

“Oh f**k, why did we drink so much?!” Devina said with another loud groan before tossing back two aspirin with the ginger shot.

“Because we are nearly 30, darling. Our days as single ladies taking over the city of Washington DC may be numbered, and thus we must live each Friday night like it is our last! That, and we got that big box of Costco wine from my mom, and we have no self-control- pass the aspirin, please,”

“You have tacos with good head guy today, right?” Devina mumbled between bites of turkey bacon.

“Oh yes! Lord, that man. He works for the state department as some sort of field agent. I have no clue what it means, but he makes good money and had a killer bod to go with those special skills of his,”

“Oh damn, she knows his job already! You are starting to sound like you are rapidly catching a case of the feelings there, girl! I can’t believe you found him on tinder of all places. I really thought only creeps are on that app out of them all.” Devina replied.

“f**k, I might be. I don't know! The head was THAT good. And yeah, it's not my most favorite, but it gets the job done,”

At that, they both busted out laughing before wincing from the pain of their hangovers.

“What are your plans for the day? Wallow in your hangover, then work off the wine calories at the gym?” Sibil asked.

“Ugh, you know me so…SHIT!” Devina shrieked, grabbing for her phone and spilling a little of her coffee on her duvet cover.

“Jesus Dev, what?!” Sibil said as she steadied the tray.

“Ohhhhhh I f****d up, Sibil!”

“Spit it out, Dev! What happened!?” Sibil shouted.

“I messaged a man on the app last night while drunk!! I think I agreed to have coffee with him today at noon somewhere by the GW metro stop!”

Sibil eyed her friend suspiciously before breaking into a fit of laughter.

“No, you f*****g didn’t, but nice try. I’m not a natural blonde, I’m not falling for that Dev!”

‘I wish I were joking Sib,” Devina said as she scrolled through her messages with Jacob but with sober eyes.

“Jesus, I can really be a loser when I want to be,” Devina mumbled, shoving another bit of toast into her mouth.

“Wait, YOU ARE SERIOUS!?” Sibil shrieked.

Now it was Devina’s turn to wince, “Too loud, love,”

‘LET ME SEE!” Sibil cried out, snatching the phone from Devina’s grasp.

“HOLY s**t, GIRL! HE IS FINEEEE! Like hot Swedish chick, fine!! You are so going on that date!”

Devina pulled a pillow over her face and screamed as Sibil continued to gush.

“Well, what is this red outfit you are planning to meet him in?! You are the queen of gothic chic since when do you own red?”

“I have no idea where that came from. I think I imagined my usual red lipstick? I don’t know- Sib you have to help me! He is too hot to pass up, but oh my god, am I really going to meet him this hungover?!” Devina whined the words into her pillow.

“No, come on now! Chug the water and slam that iced coffee! I will go find you something red to wear from my closet, and you get in the shower! Tacos and head guy can wait if he needs to- I am not letting you bail on this guy!”

With that, Sibil leaped out of bed and ran into her bedroom.

Devina really did not want to go out feeling how she currently felt. But deep down, she knew she should.

“Just like riding a bike, Dev! Just got to rip the band-aid off and get on the f*****g bike!” Devina said to herself as she turned on her shower and climbed in.

Her many years of therapy had taught her the importance of self-talk, and while she was almost certain self-talk did not actually mean talking out loud to oneself- it's how she chose to go about it. It worked, so long as no one was around to hear her. Sibil probably did listen to her, but she had no room to comment. They were both 50 shades of mentally ill on a good day.

Before she knew it, Devina was standing in front of their living room floor-to-ceiling selfie mirror wearing an outfit that made her feel like a target ad.

“f**k, maybe I should just wear black Sib. This is so uncomfortable for me!” Devina whined as she twirled around.

Devina and Sibil were about a size apart in every way, so they could generally share most things except jeans and bras. Both the women worked out and ate right, but Sibil had always been naturally lean and muscular while Devina had to work at it. Hard.

Her natural frame, should she stop counting macros and working out six times a week, would likely sit a good 20lbs heavier on her 5’6 frame. She was curvier in the hips and chest, with a tiny waist that she kept tight after 3 years of Rhett pinching her stomach anytime she even gained her monthly water weight/period bloat. He knew she had been a chubby kid all the way through college, only slimming down around age 24. She was never the biggest in the room, but she was big enough not to be on the hot girl list of most frat parties, regardless of her classically beautiful face and near-perfect smile.

Rhett knew this about her, and somehow, in their twisted world, he thought he was helping her keep the weight off by constantly pointing out her flaws and pushing her to lift heavier and eat less. He swore he just wanted to see her happy, and for a long time, Devina bought into his weird form of help. But many hours in therapy later, Devina had realized he just wanted her to fit into a 4/6, rather than her 8/10 or, god forbid, her happy and natural size 12 ass. Hell, the 8’s were only after a few weeks of damn near starvation.

Devina never really normalized to her slim figure as Rhett never seemed to let her just be comfortable in it.

She merely warped her style from all black baggy college kid clothes to chic adult, but still in all black. She may wear more tailored and form-fitting clothes now, but she still most often wished she could just not be seen at all.

Sibil had pushed her into a pair of black faux leather leggings, her favorite lace up black heeled booties, and a purposefully torn-up bright red band t-shirt. Its only saving grace was that it was a Black Veiled Brides shirt and oversized. Not that Sibil had any idea who that band was, she had undoubtedly bought this shirt for the look alone.

Sibil insisted she tucked it in across the front to show off her waist but still give her some coverage across the back.

Devina didn’t hate the look. If the shirt were black and untucked, she would be more comfortable. She was really just uncomfortable with the whole date situation in its entirety if she was honest with herself.

She wore her hair in messy waves and had on minimal eye makeup with a bold red lipstick.

“AH it's like babies first day at a new school! Remember baby, have fun, wear a condom, and make him buy the coffee. We want employed men with clean s****l habits, or you just come right back home, and we will try again!”

Devina rolled her eyes but laughed as she slipped on her leather jacket and grabbed her tiny handbag.

“Sure thing Sib! I will text you when I get there and probably the whole time, so please- keep your phone on you!” Devina said from the doorway of their apartment.

“Oh, I’m all over it, Dev! You say the word, and I will call in with your get-away excuse!”

“Good! Love ya!” Devina said, closing the door and heading down the hall to the elevators.