“That means you’re warming up to me.” He nudged my shoulder and reached for the bucket.
“No, seriously, you can’t carry it.”
“You’re dedicated, I’ll give you that.”
I smiled to myself at the realization. I hadn’t accomplished anything of substance this year, but he was right, Iwasdedicated. I hadcommittedto this assignment. Even if it was dumb.
“So, are you going to give me your number now?” Isaac crossed his arms over his chest, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“Nice try.” I scoffed. “Just because I’ve decided not to ignore you doesn’t make us friends.”
“Come on, how am I supposed to even try to be your friend if I can’t invite you to anything?” He pulled out his phone, and I realized the loneliness of the last few monthshadfelt like a suffocating blanket. “We’re ten digits away from having a good time.” He said, a flirtatious little smirk on his face.
Heart thundering in my ears, in a moment of pure insanity, I blurted out my number.
Isaac’s thumbs tapped away on the screen. “Check your phone.”
Oh shit. What did I just do?I swallowed hard. “Now?”
“I want to make sure you didn’t give me a fake number.” He smirked as I groaned and set the bucket down, checking my phone. I waited, but no message came through. “That’s what I thought.” Isaac laughed and plucked my phone out of my hand, tapping away.
“Not my fault you typed it in wrong.” I muttered immediately wishing Ihadgiven him the wrong number.
“Yeah, right.” When he handed my phone back, a new text thread at the top of my messages was addressed to:
My best friend Isaac
Hey
I shook my head and stuffed my phone into my back pocket. “You’re very presumptuous.” I muttered, and then curiously, “What did you savemycontact as?”
Isaac smiled, and his thumbs flew over his phone screen. “Check your messages.” He wiggled his brows and peeled off in the direction of his class. “Bye, baby.”
I saved your contact as Bucket Baby
Very cute.
Not as cute as you
Now go to class you slacker
I hauled the bucket up, and a small smile threatened to tug the corners of my mouth up. I shook it off and headed towards my studio. He wasnotmy friend.
The next week, after following me around like a sad puppy as usual, Isaac made his move. He invited me over for pizza and a movie that Friday, and to my surprise, I said yes.
I showed up at his apartment after my evening class, sans paint bucket.
He opened his front door dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, looking shocked. “Woah, no paint bucket.” He motioned for me to come in.
“It’s my weekend.” I shrugged.
He smiled and shut the door behind me, tipping his head for me to follow him into the kitchen, where he handed me a plastic plate. I looked around his space, taking it in. Typical college guy apartment. It was clean at least, pretty empty though.
“Take your pick,” he said, opening all three boxes of pizza, each a different type.
“You got this all for us?” I asked, wondering how much he planned on eating.
He dropped his hand down onto my shoulder and squeezed. “I think you need to eat, young lady, so I came prepared. I wasn’t sure what you’d be in the mood for.” His thoughtfulness caught me off guard.
