Ruby
Rude. The right words are thank you.
I roll my eyes.
Me
Thanks. But I can't afford them.
Ruby
A gift.
Me
I will pay you back.
Ruby's message just bubbles, but she doesn't write anything.
Somehow, from what I know of her, paying her back is going to be near impossible, but I promise myself to try when I have funds.
Then I set my phone down and close my eyes.
I should be all tense muscles and a bunch of tiredness wrapped up in denim and cotton. But I'm not. It turns out that while shopping might not be my thing, spending time and having fun with a friend—a real friend—is.
I feel good.
Best of all, I don't think I thought about Alex more than once. Okay, twice.
But Ruby is a bundle of energetic fun, and it entertained me to watch men fall over themselves to impress her or help her when all she did was sail through it all without seeming to notice.
When I said something about it, all she did was wink and state, "Make them work for it and then give it to someone who deserves you."
Of course, it doesn't take long for my problems, if you can call them that, to return.
Worse than that, they feel magnified.
I don't have Alex's number anymore.
And his failure to contact me after his last text hurts.
Perhaps it means he just doesn't care.
Why would he? We don't know each other, not even what we look like.
But... I thought that was part of the appeal.
And though I don't want to admit it, he has becomesomeone special, someone I could find myself with, be myself. So stupid.
Ruby was right when we talked about him. I know nothing at all about him, and now, after all I have done, including sending a racy few photos that make my cheeks burn, he has disappeared.
Surely, he would have tried to contact me.
And here I am, questioning if there is any real connection or if any of it was even real.
Now there isn't even an excuse about perhaps he is waiting for me or he somehow lost my number, too...
Silas would have contacted him, passed him my number.
