Caught Up in the Moment

Excerpt

“I’m tired of being good.”

Teagan Bishop looked up when she heard the sound of chopsticks hitting the table. Tonight she was enjoying her weekly outing with her three best friends. Teagan met the trio in the school library her freshman year in college on the campus of Southern Methodist University. They had quickly become a quad and have been inseparable ever since.

Teagan didn’t know what was wrong with her. From a young age, she’d been socially awkward and unfortunately, had never grown out of it. The only reason she connected so well with her friends was because they’d bonded on an intellectual basis first. Growing up, she had always been a wiz at schoolwork. Not anywhere near a genius level, but studying had come easy for her. So had good grades, making her somewhat of an outcast and adding to her already socially awkward high-school years. She’d also been chubby and her fashion sense had been a little off. Most of the other kids just stayed away from her.
After high school it hadn’t gotten much better. There had been a handful of awkward relationships with men, none of them memorable—at least not in a good way. Besides her brother and father there was only one man she could be around for more than five minutes and not make a fool of herself. He was a co-worker, also the only male friend she had.

“Would you care to explain your statement or do we have to guess?”
Teagan stared at Carissa blankly. “Explain what?”

Leilani put down her chopsticks. “Are you okay Teagan?”

Teagan nodded as she remembered what she said that warranted Carissa’s question.

Alana picked up her chopsticks. “Personally I’m not sure I want to know. It sounds like it could lead to trouble.”

Teagan smiled. “Which happens to be what I’m looking for.”

Carissa’s mouth dropped open. Leaning over, she strained to look into Teagan’s cup. “Are you drinking green tea or did you sneak and get sake?”

Teagan laughed. “It’s green tea.”

Teagan looked down at her plate and frowned. More food had disappeared than she remembered eating. She must be in bad shape because she loved sushi and looked forward to eating at Nakata’s.
Because of Leilani she now went through withdrawal if she went more than a week without sushi. Right now it was the only daring thing she did in her life. But that was about to change. Taking a deep breath, she looked at each of her friends.

“I want to be bad.”

Alana began to choke. Leilani patted her on the back, while Carissa gave Teagan a gaped-mouth stare.

Leilani sighed. “What happened, Teagan?”

Teagan shook her head. “Nothing happened, which is why I want to change it up a little. My life is so boring it is ridiculous. I need to let my hair down, let my bad side out.”

Carissa stared at her with wide eyes. “What bad side?”

Teagan looked at her friends, full of excitement. “The one that I plan to develop.”

Leilani sat her chopsticks down, giving Teagan an inquisitive look. “Did something happen that we don’t know about?”

Teagan sighed with frustration. “No. That’s the problem. There isn’t anything happening. My life is boring.”

Alana looked at her with puzzlement. “You have plenty going on in your life.”

Teagan’s eyes widened with surprise. “I do?”

Carissa nodded. “Yes, you do.”

Teagan folded her arms across her chest. “Besides you guys, my family, and work, name one thing.”

It was a struggle for her to keep a straight face when her friends fumbled to find something else and smiled when they looked at her in defeat. “So, like I was saying, I need to add some spice to my life.” She paused before giving all of them a pointed look. “We all do.”
Leilani was the first to speak. “What brought this on?”

Teagan turned her gaze to Carissa. “You.”

Carissa stared at her, her expression full of surprise. “Me?”

Teagan nodded. “It’s more to do with your mom than you.”

The light in Carissa’s eyes dimmed. It was one of the reasons she had been hesitant to bring it up. Carissa had lost her mom to brain aneurysm two months ago. Teagan reached across the table and squeezed Carissa’s hand. “Losing your mom so suddenly made me realize that life is precious. I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, but there is a lot more that I want to achieve. I also know that I don’t have forever to do it.” Teagan sighed. “I want to shed my good girl persona. Live on the wild side a little.”

Alana looked concerned. “Are you sure about this?”

Teagan nodded. “I’m more than sure. As I said it’s something we all need to consider.”

Carissa shook her head. “I want no part of this.”

Teagan stared at her. “Can you sit here and tell me you are one hundred percent happy with your life? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you handled a situation the complete opposite way than the lackluster, humdrum way you always do?”

“You aren’t making any sense, Teagan.” Leilani pressed her fingers to her temples. “What’s wrong with the lives we currently live?”

“We exist. We aren’t living. There is a major difference.”

Alana shook her head. “I like my life the way it is.”

“Alana, at some point we have to stop being so boring and predictable.”

Carissa frowned. “There is nothing wrong with being responsible and conservative.”

Teagan laughed at the emphasis Carissa put on the words. Leilani sat back in her chair. “What are you getting at, Teagan?”

Teagan leaned closer to her friends. “I think we should all dump our good girl personas at least once. Do something out of the ordinary. Nothing life threatening, just fun.”

Alana shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Teagan sighed. “Look around us.”

She watched as her friends glanced around the restaurant before looking back at her.

Carissa frowned. “What are we looking for?”

Teagan shook her head. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. Yet the fact that they were so oblivious to what was in front of them told her she had made the right decision. “We are the only single women in here because we don’t have anything better to do. Not that I don’t enjoy spending Friday nights with you guys but it would be nice to have other options on occasion, like a date or something. ”

She watched as Leilani, Alana, and Carissa glanced around again. Their gazes returned to her after a few moments.

“So this is about being single?”

Teagan rolled her eyes at Alana. “No. This is about enjoying life and if having a man is a part of it, then fine. If not, that’s fine, too.” Teagan exhaled. “I’m tired of feeling like life is passing me by.”

Leilani gave her a pained look. “I’m not so sure about that. We know what happened the last time I threw caution aside.”

“Yes, we do,” Alana muttered.

Teagan gave both Alana and Lani a sympathetic look. “Garry, Mitchell, Wayne and Mike were jerks.”

Carissa nodded. “Teagan is right. They were jerks. They also knew they could take advantage of us—”

“Because we are nice girls,” Lani finished.

Alana shook her head. “This is crazy. You can’t tell me the two of you are buying into this.”

“I don’t want to, but Teagan is right.” Carissa’s expression fell a little. Teagan knew how hard the loss of Mrs. Onai was on her friend.
Carissa put down her chopsticks. “Mom used to always tell me that I needed to be more sociable, get out and enjoy life a little more. She said there was so much in the world I hadn’t discovered yet because I hadn’t stepped out of my shell. It might be nice to break out, even if it is temporary.”

Teagan smiled. “Your mom was right, Carissa. There is a lot you’re missing out on. We all are.”

Lani and Carissa nodded in agreement. Alana shook her head, grumbling underneath her breath. Teagan grinned. She loved her friends despite their quirks. They had a lot in common but there were a lot of differences between them as well. Teagan looked around the table studying them. With a Black mother and Japanese father, Leilani was the most exotic looking of the four. Carissa was of mixed decent as well. Her mother was Black and her father Native American. Alana’s mother was Black but her father Cuban. Teagan was the only one who had an African American mother and father.

She loved her friends, didn’t know what she would do without them. Her friends were always there for her when she needed them.

“So what do you think, Teagan?”

“About what?”

Carissa laughed. “This was your plan and now you aren’t paying attention?”

Teagan stared at Carissa and Leilani, wondering what they had come up with. “I’m paying attention now.”

Leilani leaned forward. “Carissa and I said you’re right. So we’re going to follow your suggestion and do something different than we normally do.”

Teagan arched a dark brow in their direction. “What are you going to do different?”

“I don’t know, but I will when the time comes,” Carissa responded.

Alana shook her head. “This sounds like trouble and I want no part of it.”

“You know you’re curious. It’s in your nature,” Teagan murmured.

Alana scowled. “I’m only curious when it comes to academic or work related studies.”

“Tell it to someone who will believe you,” Teagan replied, around a laugh.

Leilani shook her head before raising her hand to capture their waitress’s attention. Teagan’s eyes widened when Lani ordered a round of sake. The waitress reappeared with the drinks. Before she could ask Lani what they were for, Carissa beat her to it.

“I know it’s Friday, but why are we having sake?”

Leilani smiled as she reached for her glass. “Consider this a toast to the new us. A way to commence saying yes to doing at least one thing out of the ordinary.”

Teagan smiled and reached for her sake. After a moment of hesitation Carissa picked up her glass. Alana was the only hold out. “This is insane. I can’t do this. One of us has to be rational.”

“We aren’t asking you to break any laws, Alana,” Carissa muttered.
Teagan nodded. “We just want to prove that nice girls can have fun too.”

Teagan watched as Alana’s worried gaze traveled from Leilani to Carissa. A moment later she groaned in defeat, reached for her glass of sake, and raised it.

“Okay, I’m in,” she muttered. “But is this backfires you all will find out just how much of a mean girl I can be.”

Carissa laughed. “I’ll take my chances.”

After a clink of glasses they drank and sealed the agreement.