“Not that the sex isn’t amazing, too,” I told Ellen. “But I wanteverything.”
Ellen ignored me, clearly not interested in discussing my sex life or anything else now that she finally had her breakfast, but that was fine. She wasn’t the one I wanted to discuss it with anyway. I wasn’t sure if Jordan was a morning person or not, though, so I’d wait a bit to call him.
I grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge, sucking half of it down in one go and then downing the second half at a more reasonable pace, flipping through my phone as I drank.
There was a notification that Jordan had posted a new video that tempted me to click right away, because even though I had plans to see him later—plans which I’d get around to informing him about just as soon as I’d showered and eaten my own breakfast—I was never going to get enough of watching him. But there were also double-digit notifications from the message thread I shared with my sisters, so indulging myself would have to wait.
I was ninety-nine percent sure that Lizzie and Kate blowing up the thread would just turn out to be nothing more than their typical teenage drama, but I could never quite shake the one percent of me that constantly worried about them after having spent so many years responsible for their care, so I opened that first and skimmed over their chatter, the excessive use of emojis and unnecessary punctuation reassuring me that nothing was actually wrong.
“Just Christmas drama, Ellen,” I told her as I read through it, since she tended to get snippy if I didn’t keep her in the loop.
She paused mid-chew, slanting an unimpressed look up at me, then went back to eating.
“Fine,” I said. “We’ll call it ‘enthusiasm’ instead, if you insist.”
The tip of her tail flicked, but otherwise, she ignored me. I’d put up with that from her, but not from my… boy?
I tried out the feel of the word, rolling it around my brain as I smiled. I was working us up to “boyfriend,” too, but no, “boy” was better. “Boyfriend” didn’t really encompass everything I wanted with Jordan.
The Daddy research I’d done included all sorts of variations of what being a Daddy and a boy might mean for a couple, but I already had a sense of which ones would suit us best… and hopefully Jordan would prove me right on that when I called him later. Because ignoring me like he’d done after the first time he’d come over? It would be one thing if he really didn’t want this—I wanted to be in charge, but only as long as that worked for him, too—but after spending more time than I probably should have paying attention to him and trying to figure out what made him tick over the years, it was crystal clear to me that he was just running scared.
He got a pass for that first time since we were obviously both new to this and I hadn’t had a chance to prove myself to him yet—although just to be clear, I definitely would have tracked him down eventually if he hadn’t come back to me on his own—but this time? One way or another, I was going to make sure that he realized he could count on me. That he should be runningtome, not away.
Although actually, maybe the best way to do that was make sure hecouldn’tkeep running away.
I refocused on the messages about Christmas from my sisters, a plan brewing in the back of my mind. Over-the-top and too excessive? Probably. But since I’d already made my peace with those traits being part of my basic personality—and so far, all the “intensity” that other guys had complained about seemed to work for my boy—I wasn’t going to worry about it. Not unless Jordan said no.
My finger hovered over the screen for a second, logistics playing out in my head, then I hit the call button.
“Oh myGod, Andy, why are youcalling?” Kate asked, answering after three rings. “The whole point of having a group message thread is so we don’t have to, like, be interrupted.”
“Because your Saturday morning schedule is so busy, Kay-Bay?” I teased her.
“Yes,” she huffed. “Mom is giving me driving lessons this afternoon, and I’m trying to pick an outfit.”
“You’re literally going to be sitting in a car.”
“Inpublic.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“This isimportant, Andy. I’mbusy. And I’m hanging up. Justmessageme if you want something.God.”
“Hang up and I’m not bringing any of your Christmas presents home with me,” I threatened.
She sighed, drawing out the sound so long that I almost laughed. Then, finally, “Can’t you just call Liz instead? She’s sitting here beingsuperunhelpful, so I’m sure she’s got plenty of time to talk.”
I heard a squawk of protest in the background, and the muffled sound of something being thrown. Hopefully, nothing more than a pillow.
“Jesus, brat,” I said, shaking my head and grinning as I imagined their antics. “Can you two please settle down and let me get a word in edgewise? I want to talk to you guys about Jordan.”
Silence. Then—
“Oh myGod,” Kate squealed, all brattiness vanquished in an instant. “You mean Jordan, your hot crush from those YouTube videos? The one we’ve been telling you to ask out? Wait,didyou? Did he say yes? Did—mmph.” I was pretty sure the girls were wrestling for control of the phone, but then Kate came back on, sounding breathless. “Hold on, Andy. I’m putting you on speaker because Liz isannoying.”
I laughed. I hadn’t gone very far from home for college since in-state tuition was cheaper and I liked being within driving distance of my family, but even though I was just a few hours away, I usually felt a little guilty for not getting back to visit often enough.
But on the other hand, the amount Ididn’tsee my sisters gave me a chance to miss them. I loved my sisters, but so far, their teen years were… a lot.
