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</div></div><br/>Tess Cassidy had never planned for divorce to be a part of her story, but in the end, it was out of her control. After all, a marriage takes two people to make it work, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, in her case, there had only been one person who tried day in and day out to make things work, and it proved to be too much work for just one person to handle. So, after five long months, Tess was able to drop her married name of Dooley and reclaim her maiden name of Cassidy. She was a newly divorced, officially single woman, at the ripe age of thirty.<br/><br/>And the most ironic thing about her five year long marriage coming to its unceremonious end? Tess had been working for twice as long as her marriage lasted, as a social worker. The world must be in shambles when even the counselors people turn to can’t seem to keep their lives together. The more that she thought about it, Tess realized that she had been holding onto her marriage for far longer than she should have because of the stigma against counselors to embody the so-called perfect life that so many of their patients strive to achieve.<br/><br/>Really, all she was doing was pretending for far longer than was necessary. All because she feared being divorced and giving others advice about their families and relationships. If her own, most intimate relationship that life had provided to her had failed, then who in their right mind would want to listen to what she had to say on the matter? At least, that was what she kept reflecting on as she looked down at the stack of papers on her coffee table which officially pronounced her unhitched. She sat in silence staring at them, her only two friends, Astrid and Annie, exchanging looks and whispering about something.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><br/>
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<br/>​</div>“I can hear you, you know.” Tess grumbled, sighing aloud as she reached out for her glass of rosé.<br/><br/>Astrid adjusted her black frames and breathed out a sigh of her own at her best friend. “Look, you’re finally free! You should be celebrating!” She urged, elbowing Annie for a bit of support.<br/><br/>The beautiful blonde nodded her head encouragingly, her large eyes going wide. “Yeah, I mean, think of how much better you’ll feel when you find someone to rebound with. Anyone will do, really.” Annie sounded desperate on Tess’s behalf because she was mostly living vicariously through her close friend, being that she was a new mother and hadn’t had sex in about six months.<br/><br/>Which was almost as long as it had been for Tess, actually.<br/><br/>Tess leaned back on the couch and folded her legs beneath her as she held onto her wine glass like it was a life preserver. “I don’t want to go out, I’m so emotionally drained and… blegh.” She excused, shaking her head. It was hard to imagine going out and partying, let alone trying to jump right back into dating again. It was not something she was looking forward to in the slightest. But that didn’t stop her friends from pushing the issue, thinking it was for her own good.<br/><br/>“Well, I made plans for you, so you can’t NOT go.” Astrid demanded with a sly grin. “You need to get out of this house, out of these grungy clothes, and into something slutty.” She laid herself down on the loveseat opposite Tess, nodding her head sagely, as if that would convince Tess to comply. She managed a chuckle, but just barely. Annie put her hands on her hips and used a motherly tone that the others weren’t familiar with yet. “Don’t you ruin this for me. I never get time to myself anymore, and no one wants to babysit a newborn. But tonight, I’m going out.” She insisted.<br/><br/>“WE are going out.” She corrected, pointing to the three of them.<br/><br/>Tess was silent for a moment, as her gaze drifted from Annie to Astrid and back again. Finally, she sighed out her reply. “Fine.” With that, Tess stood up and set her wine glass down. She strolled to her bedroom and started getting herself ready, feeling like she had no other option. Maybe it would help to lift her spirits.<br/><br/>At least she hoped it would. But, as she looked at herself in the mirror once she was fully dressed and ready to go to some swanky lounge, all she could think was that she was a failure.<br/><br/>She stepped out to show the girls her outfit and got back a “wow” from Astrid and a nod of approval from Annie. “Okay, let’s go before I change my mind.” Next thing she knew, Tess was being whisked out of her own house and into the Uber they had ordered for her. The car ride was filled with loud music, at Annie’s request, and plenty of singing and dancing like nobody was watching.<br/><br/>When the Uber finally arrived at the lounge, Tess was practically yanked inside, led to a corner of the place where tables and chairs were pushed together to create a secluded spot for them. It almost felt like a VIP section, especially with all of the balloons and gifts just piling on top of one of the tables. There was even a<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sadanduseless.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F12%2Fdivorce-cakes11.jpg&amp;hash=91448ed99fd16e8833b8c02c771f33a1" href="https://www.sadanduseless.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/divorce-cakes11.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Divorced AF</a>cake.<br/><br/>“Oh my God!” Tess exclaimed, not having expected any of this for a divorce party. “You guys did all of this for me?” She questioned, in disbelief. She assumed the night would just be spent getting drinks with the girls, but it really was like an actual party. Astrid placed a Just Divorced black sash around Tess, then gave her a tight hug. “You deserve it, bestie.” Astrid then pulled Annie onto the dance floor before she got too sleepy to enjoy herself and Tess pondered what to do first, open gifts or slice into the cake.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><div class="bbImageWrapper lazyload js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F22%2Fdc%2F97%2F22dc978a7e73a6be9b83285a09ff36cc.jpg&amp;hash=1ba5fc1dcf4939afd1c13be7b16f2158" title="22dc978a7e73a6be9b83285a09ff36cc.jpg">
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