That gets her attention. She levels me with a stonefaced glare. “You could barely follow directions last time.”
“You caught me by surprise,” I counter. “I wasn’t expecting to go from interrupting your date to being tied up in your bed.”
“Aha!” She jumps up. “So you admit, you were sabotaging my date!”
Shit.
“No. I said I was interrupting. Very different from intentional sabotage.”
She deflates slightly. “Youareup to something. I know you are. And I will find out what it is.”
“Your determination is admirable, Red.” I smirk and she lets out a growl of frustration that I can feel all the way in my dick.
As if she can sense her loss of control coming, Cole hastily shoves everything back in her bag. She honestly lasted longer than I expected her to.
It still hurts, though. I’m trying to bridge that gap between hate and… being able to spend an adequate amount of time in the same room together. I’m obviously fucking failing.
That much is clear as Cole flips me the middle finger, storming out of the shop just as quickly as she arrived.
And maybe I’m a masochist because there are a whole lot of things I’d like to do with that finger.
When faced with an entire day with zero plans, my choice is usually to cuddle up with Ernest and find the latest true crime documentary. I survived my project with Brody, coming out relatively unscathed because of his ability to act like a grown-ass adult and not make things weird.
I definitely made things weird. Especially when he was over at my apartment late one night and went in for a perfectly platonic high five. I misinterpreted his arm movements, going in for a hug instead. I’m not even a hugger! I have no idea whatpossessed me to do that, and I’ve been waking up around two in the morning every night to overthink it.
But, we passed our midterms and I’m on the way to passing the entire course—no,acingthe entire course. I should be hearing back about placements for next semester any day now, as well.
So, yes. I decided to take a day off. No studying, no working on projects, no agonizing over the way Ben looks in glasses.
It was going to be a great day.
Then I matched with a guy named Garrett on the dating app. And, well… my Ben-in-glasses dilemma needed a solution, so I set a date with Garrett for this evening.
Fine, it will be a partial day off. I’m getting ready to settle down on the couch with popcorn and a diet cherry cola—though, even that has now been ruined by Ben—when my phone dings.
Maybe it’s Garrett canceling the date. I really don’t want to go out tonight.
Thea
Hey Cole! It’s Thea!
Yes, Thea. We’ve been texting. I even saved your number in my phone.
Thea
Wow! What a compliment.
That really is so great. Are we friends?
I feel like we’re friends now.
I don’t have friends.
Thea
Right… I do remember you saying that. But saving my number feels awfully friend-like
Do you need something, Thea? It’s my day off
