Party Boys and Pancakes

“I don’t think I can keep up with Jess any more,” Jackie said, and we all looked at her in amazement.

I had to admit that her unmanaged hair and showing of dark circles under fading eye concealer made her look way more tired than the usual, peppy Jackie. It is just that she always went out and lived in the fast lane. For her to say she couldn’t keep up with someone was like saying that the Pope had turned Baptist.

“He goes out all night, every night,” she said, “and party’s hard each time. I mean it isn’t like we just go to a sit-down bar or out to eat one night and then a club the next. No, it is go out and eat, another bar for drinks, then the club to dance, maybe another club for a change of crowd. On, and on, and on. It is exhausting!”

“I can imagine,” I said.

“And then I have to be on my feet all day for work,” Jackie said, throwing her arms up and leaning back on the brown leather sofa. “I can literally feel and see my arms and hands shaking as I am icing a cake. I just know I am going to be like ‘sorry your cake is crooked, I got plastered last night and no sleep’. That will be great for business.”

“Then end it with him,” Holly said. “You’ve been with him past the usual expiration date anyway.”

“But I really like him.” Jackie said, poking at the blueberries in her pancakes.

“You like him?” I asked her. “Or you like the glamour that surrounds him?”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Kim said. “It is hard to pass up a rich guy, who is hot, everyone likes, and more so, everyone wants to be with.”

Jess was the son of mega real-estate guru Nolan Pearce. He was now a partner in his father’s business, and to say the least he never had to ask what something cost before buying it. His new Jaguar and Armani wardrobe, for example.

“I have to admit,” Jackie smiled, “it is kind of fun to watch the heads turn. But I just don’t need to see them turn until 3 a.m. every night.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Kate said. “I would be a walking zombie. That is until I collapsed, and then I would just be a zombie.”

“I know!” Jackie exclaimed. “That is just how I feel, like a zombie. I seriously went to the bathroom stall at work yesterday afternoon, laid my head on the toilet paper holder, and took like a fifteen minute nap. Thank goodness someone came in and used the hand dryer; otherwise I don’t know when I would have woken up.”

“If it is going to bring down your work then you really need to tell him that you can’t party that hard anymore,” I said. “If he sees it as weakness then he’s a dumb ass. I mean not everyone has a daddy that can make everything right with his checkbook.”

“No, kidding,” Holly said, “but wouldn’t it be nice.”

“Maybe he wouldn’t mind slowing down either,” Kim said, putting more syrup on her pancakes. “You have a pretty good night-life reputation yourself. Maybe he doesn’t want you to think he is a boring pansy and is mainly doing it so you think he is a good time.”

“I haven’t thought about that,” Jackie said. “You may be right. I mean he sounds like death when I talk to him during his lunch break. Maybe he wouldn’t mind slowing down. Geez, this is making me sound like an old has-been.”

“Then what does that make us all?” I asked her, jokingly. “We must be unbearably boring.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jackie said to me. “You know what I mean.”

“So are you going to see him tonight?” Holly asked.

“Yeah, he is coming to my place after this,” she said. “I told him I’d call when we got done. I think I am going to tell him to pick up a movie on his way and we’ll just stay in and watch it. I’m anxious to see what his reaction will be.”

“And what if he says ‘hell no, we need to go out’?” Holly asked.

“Then I will be honest and say ‘movie or nothing, take it or leave it,’” Jackie said.

That night Jackie enjoyed a movie and box of Milk Duds…..by herself.

Lex’s Blueberry Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 heaping teaspoon sugar
2 eggs
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and drained
Cooking spray

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix. In small bowl, whisk eggs and add to dry mix. Add milk and stir until smooth. Fold in blueberries. Heat a griddle pan and use cooking spray before pouring batter so it doesn’t stick. Flip once each side browns. Serve with butter, peanut butter and favorite syrups.