“What does he look like, then?”
Silence for a second, then a few more as I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth.
“What? You can’t tell me?”
“I don’t know.” The words left me on an exhale.
“You don’t know if you can tell me?”
“No. I… I don’t know what he looks like.”
Another beat of silence, and Rikky looking at me with increasing judgement. “Youhavemet him, yes?”
“I have. It’s just… well, I’m always blindfolded.” Heat rushed to my cheeks and neck. “And I’m not allowed to touch him. So I don’t know anythin’ really. Except his voice.”
“I will find out who he is,” Rikky said, pulling his phone from his pocket.
I snatched it. “No. You stay outta this. I will find out, and it’ll be whenhetells me. I don’t want to find out any other way. Okay?” He rolled his eyes, and I prompted him again. “Okay?”
“Yes.”
My eyes narrowed, trying to determine if I could believe him. Rikky always had a great poker face. “Fine.” I handed his phone back, and he slipped it into his pocket.
“You’re happy, then?”
I nodded. “I am.”
“But?”
“There’s no but.”
“Benjamin.”
“Ugh, don’t legal name me,” I groaned. I loved Rikky, but sometimes I wished he was a little less perceptive. “He’s what I wanted.”
“But?”
“But… now I want more.”
My phone vibrated against the marble surface, and I snapped it up and opened V in the same breath.
8:07 p.m. H:
No.
8:07 p.m. B:
No, I can’t know, or no, you don’t have a partner?
Please respond quickly. Please, please, please, please, please.
8:08 p.m. H:
No, I don’t have a partner.
I exhaled, the tension melting from my body. He didn’t have someone. He was single. I could work with that.
8:08 p.m. B:
