Chapter 84

“I didn’t know you guys liked going to the club,” Eric said, sliding into line behind you and Gemma. “Here is usually pretty good. We just came from Nobody. Nobody was there though, so we came here.”

You really couldn’t be sure if Eric did it on purpose or not.

“This is a spontaneous stop,” you told him. “Gemma felt like dancing, so here we are.”

“Nice,” he said, and blatantly looked Gemma over again. “How come you don’t wear this to the office?”

“Because it’s not business appropriate,” Gemma frowned at him. The conversation was interrupted momentarily as a group was let into the club and you all shifted forward.

“Eric, that’s like me asking why you don’t wear what you are into the office,” you said. He was in a ridiculous colourful dress shirt with an extra high collar and a gold chain showing through the open buttons.

“Hey man, I’m out on the town, these are my Peacocking clothes,” he said. “I don’t need to peacock at work.”

You rubbed the bridge of your nose. “Do I even want to know what you mean?”

“Dude, I’ve got a couple of podcasts you should definitely listen to. And a YouTube guy who talks all about picking up chicks,” Eric said. “Most 304’s only care about one thing, so if you’re out looking for a good time you gotta peacock and make sure you’re flashing around your money to show off status.”

“Eric, what the fuck is a ‘304’?” Gemma asked.

“Oh, it means a hoe,” he said. “Like if you were to spell it on a calculator upside down, like 5318008 upside down spells boobies.”

You just blinked rapidly, trying to process everything that was spewing out of his mouth.

“So you are ... peacocking,” Gemma said. “To pick up hoes, based on the recommendations of podcasts and a YouTube channel?”

“Fuck yeah,” Eric said. “Did you know only ten percent of men are fucking eighty percent of women? Why do you think I spend so much time on the dating apps? It’s all a numbers game.”

“Eric, you do realize that you get what you pay for, right?” you asked. “If you look like a fuckboy, and act like a fuckboy...”

“Hey, I don’t care if people think I’m a fuckboy,” Eric said. “Cause you’ll know what I’ll be doing?”

“Fucking?” Gemma filled in.

“Exactly,” he said. “Speaking of which, Gemma-”

“If you say anything rude to me right now, Eric, I will legitimately file a complaint at work on Monday,” Gemma said.

Eric snapped his mouth shut and screwed up his face. “Well, how come you’re here with John then?”

“Because he’s my boyfriend,” Gemma said. “And he wasn’t fucking rude about asking, and didn’t try to peacock, or neg me, or whatever other dumb shit they tell you to do.”