Ash
I’ll let you get back to grading. Don’t want you to be up past midnight. We can talk dates for meeting the team when I see you Sunday.
I don’t get anything back for almost a minute, then her ‘thumbs up’ emoji pops onto the screen. It feels anticlimactic, but I put the phone down and go back to watching TV. For some reason there’s a small thrill building in my chest at the thought of seeing the doc again…but also a small dread at bringing her to meet the team.
Chapter 7
Gray
I scroll back up to the top of my text conversation with Ash and reread it, second guessing everything I wrote. I was surprised to get his invitation to meet the team, and I had to powwow with Celena before answering. A voice in my head told me that, for a pro athlete, meeting his team is akin to meeting his parents, so Celena and I spent almost twenty minutes vastly overanalyzing the implications.
I look at the messages one more time and decide I played it cool enough. Hopefully I didn’t give Ash the wrong impression. I was aiming for politely interested but not eager. Of course, then I insisted on getting personal with him by teasing him about his homework and asking about his childhood dreams.
Jesus, Gray. Thirsty much?
I also overplayed the ‘I’m a busy person’ card. Yes, I’m still grading, and I should look over my lesson plan for Monday before bed, but the research proposal will have to wait for Saturday, as will looking into anger interventions.
I was also carrying on two other text conversations at the time. One was with Celena and one was with ManOfYourDreams89 from that InSync dating app Celena signed me up for.
I assume the username is tongue-in-cheek. Or at least I hope it is. The guy seems normal enough, if nothing exciting. But normal is a good start.
He and I both selected “Down to have dinner” because I got a notification earlier today that we matched. He sent me a message a couple hours ago, but I only had time to answer just before Ash texted. At onepoint I was juggling conversations with ManOfYourDreams89 as well as Celena and Ash and praying I didn’t mix them up.
I also need to message back ShadowDaddy55, who I’m guessing is a reader, so at least he has that going for him.
My phone pings.
Celena
Where did you leave it with Ash?
Gray
We’ll discuss the details of meeting the team on Sunday.
Gray
And he’s still salty he never got to ride a T-Rex.
There’s a long pause before Celena sends a GIF of someone looking completely confused.
Gray
He wanted to be a dinosaur trainer when he was a kid.
There’s a pause before the dots bounce.
Celena
Did he volunteer that info or did you ask?
I sheepishly type out my answer.
Gray
…I asked.
I practically feel Celena’s judgement in the dancing dots.
