Perfectly well. She is now a little kid, all grown up. And she is still someone to keep safe.
Not even a friend, just a girl to protect.
She is my text girl, full of sweet sass and humor. Someone designed to be a friend only, a trusted text in the dark.
I don't think I could go and say, "Hey, I'm your wrong number guy, pleased to meet you."
She has been through hell.
And it might make her stop texting.
I can't have that happen.
She thinks the texts were a mistake. An innocent mistake.
But they're not. They have been calculated. Deliberate. All designed to make sure that I become the trusted unknown guide she can turn to.
And when this all started, my texts were meant to be innocent. Friendly. Soft-core flirting at its most G-rated. And I stuck to that... for as long as I could.
But plans don't always pan out like you imagine them.
Even if I do have an ulterior motive.
A good and mostly virtuous one.
I figured, what better way to protect and watch her than by talking to her?
And texts are easy. They feel safe.
Honestly, I was meant to stay friend-zoned only.
But things spiraled.
Through my mistaken text to the G-rated texting, I learned Lola is not just pretty. She is intriguing, innocent,with the mind of a madame waiting to break free. Smart too, with a wit that makes me smile and keeps me wanting more.
I should have known. Watching her from a distance, without dipping a toe in to see what she was like as an adult, wasn't going to do it for me.
The sad truth is, I have been obsessed with her since I was twelve, when the little girl with curious eyes and a loneliness that haunted me drifted into my consciousness.
This was before our fathers had a massive falling out.
It wasn't creepy. Back then, I just wanted to protect the kid because her mom had died. I wasn't anything more than an older friend in my mind.
Our fathers stopped talking when I was...what? Fifteen? Sixteen? And by then, the kid followed me around everywhere.
But Dad is sharp-eyed.
I protected them both and watched over Lola when no one else would.
I told my father I didn't think about her after the fallout.
Lola who? And Lourdes? Did you mean the religious Lourdes, Dad?
I think I said that to him at seventeen.
I don't know if he bought it then or would now. We don't talk about that family these days.
But yeah, I still felt like her protector during my later teen years, and then... I don't know. I just kept on doing things to protect her.
