I drove back to her house, pulling up in the car park out the front once again.
‘Thanks for dinner,’ said Emma.
‘Thank you for coming,’ I said. She unlocked her seatbelt and quickly opened my passenger door.
‘Can I see you again?’ I asked eagerly before she left.
‘You can text me,’ she said politely as she stood up out of the car and closed the door.
Chapter 12 — Her
‘I tell you what, girl, if you go back there, this time, I do not have any band-aids for that broken heart of yours.’ Jack’s stern voice blared through the phone on my Saturday morning walk.
‘I know, it was just dinner. Nothing else. I said goodbye and left it at that.’ I spat back through my phone as I picked up my pace along the beach track.
‘So, you didn’t make any more plans to see each other again?’ asked Jack.
‘He asked if he could see me again and I said he could text me,’ I said, as I spoke, I felt my phone buzz in my ear. ‘One second, Jack, I’m just going to plug you into my headphones.’
‘He just texted you, didn’t he?’ Jack caught on to exactly what was going on. ‘What did he say?’
‘Give me a second I’m just reading it now.’
‘Read it aloud!’ Jack demanded. I was silent for a moment while I clicked on Lucas’s message bubble on my phone’s home screen. It read:
I had a really great time with you last night Emma. I’m staying at my mate Callum’s house around the corner. If you would like to get a morning coffee. Just as friends.
‘He invited me to coffee,’ I told Jack.
‘Of course he did. I mean it, Emma; I don’t have band-aids this time. I really don’t trust this guy,’ he said. I stayed silent, debating in my head whether or not I should go.
‘Are you going to go?’ asked Jack.
‘I don’t know. I wonder where his friend lives. I was going to grab a coffee after my walk.’ It was only coffee, I thought to myself.
‘Why do you keep going back, Em?’ His voice changed from demanding to soft and concerned.
‘I don’t know.’ I sighed through the phone. I was keeping my guard up towards Lucas, but I would be lying to myself if said I didn’t enjoy last night with him.
‘What does he give you? What do you want from him?’ asked Jack, trying to council me through my poor choices with men.
‘I don’t think he gives me anything, I don’t think I want anything from him. Something about him just leaves me intrigued. If I knew the answer to what it was, I probably wouldn’t feel myself getting drawn back towards him,’ I said. It was true. I asked myself this very question, every day, what was it about him that I felt so drawn to.
‘I know I say it every time, but just be careful, Em,’ said Jack. He knew I was going for coffee, and he knew he couldn’t talk me out of it.
‘I won’t get hurt this time; I promise. I’m just catching up with him. Nothing more. Just friends,’ I said.
‘But can you just be friends?’ he asked. I didn’t know the answer to that myself.
‘It’s just coffee. I’ll chat with you soon,’ I said, wanting to hang up the phone to get back to Lucas.
‘Keep your eyes open, Em,’ said Jack.
‘I will.’ I hung up the phone and replied to Lucas’s text.I’ll be at Canvas in 10 minutes.I pressed play on my Spotify and continued my walk.
There was a line outside of my favourite daily coffee shop Canvas. I arrived five minutes later than expected, but I still couldn’t see Lucas. I joined the end of the line to the counter. The line started to shorten, and I felt a hand squeeze my left shoulder, Lucas appeared to my right.
‘Good morning, Emma,’ he said, standing tall and smiling wide.
