“Yep.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
The call ended, and she slid the phone onto the charging pad by the front door before returning to the kitchen.
“How’s Dana?” Jules asked. It was still weird to hear her friend call her mother by her first name. It was Mrs. Wright until Jules turned eighteen.
“Excited about the trip.”
“Excellent. I can invite Aidan over while you’re gone.”
“Who’s Aidan?”
“Dude I’ve been sexting.”
“Oh, is that what those noises were last night? I thought you were watching porn. You could invite Aidan over when I’m here.”
“Yeah, but loud, kinky sex is easier when your roomie is gone. Want some more?” Jules held up the bottle of margaritas.
“Yes, please.”
Wish I could have loud, kinky sex. But no, it would be just her and her vibrator for the foreseeable future. It had been getting a workout lately, with Not-a-Jerk-Ryan making all too frequent cameos in her fantasies.
She went to close her bag and noticed a piece of paper folded in half. She didn’t remember putting any paper in her bag. Elissa pulled it out and opened it.
Ryan DeMarco 555-8995
Her heart stopped. The man had slipped his phone number in her bag. Now what?
“Whatcha got there, Lissa?” Jules said over her shoulder.
Elissa jumped. “When did you get sneaky?”
“Easy when you didn’t hear me call your name three times.”
Her friend snatched the paper out of her hand, replacing it with her margarita.
“Is this Jerk-Ryan?” A huge smile planted itself firmly on Jules’s lips. “You really need a better nickname for him. So…what are you gonna do about this?”
Elissa stared at the paper like she would a diamondback curled under the patio furniture.
“I don’t know.”
“How about this? I will put it on the fridge while you overthink this to death. And when you finally break down and realize the universe is flashing a huge ole Bat Signal at you, you call the dude. Or text.”
“But—”
“And if you don’t, I’ll do it for you. I sure as shit do not want to get on the universe’s bad side. You have two weeks. Now, I’m going to see if Aidan is online so we can have phone sex again.” Jules took her half-finished margarita to her bedroom.
Fuck. And now she definitely owed five dollars to the swear jar.
eighteen
a stupid amount of satisfaction
Elissa didn’t call that night. Ryan tried not to be disappointed. She didn’t call the next day either. Or the next.
