Page 16 of Blocked Score

I’ll just be sure to enjoy our time together for however long it lasts.

7

SCARLETT

These shoes were a mistake.

So was not checking the weather forecast before I went outside today.

I try to distract myself from the sharp pelting of heavy falling rain, impossibly cold for the month of July, by debating which of the two choices was a worse mistake.

It’s easy to lean in favor of the latter while I’m scurrying down the sidewalk, getting wetter and wetter. But when I finally find an open bar to slink into and get out of the downpour, I realize that wetness is temporary, but pinched feet are forever.

Okay, not forever, but at least until I get back home. The shoes were definitely the worse mistake.

A couple days ago Demi and I went to a vintage store. I found the coolest pair of red kitten heel shoes that I couldn’t resist buying. They were a little tight, but they were in pristine condition and looked like no one had even owned them before, so I figured they’d break in.

Demi’s friends with an art student who had a gallery showing in the Loop. She invited me to tag along with her to see it, and I thought the occasion was perfect to wear my cute new shoes.

It didn’t take long to be repaid for my hubris in the form of foot pain.

After the showing, Demi had to head to work. I was walking to the train when the downpour started.

Rain lashes swiftly against the street and sidewalk outside, filling the air with a rapid beat. It doesn’t look like it’ll be stopping anytime soon, and a peek at the weather app on my phone confirms that suspicion.

Stuck here for who knows how long with nothing to do, I text Lane.

I’m soaked.

He replies with a wide-eyed blushing emoji that makes my stomach clench with a laugh.

Not that way.

Lane

Way to get my hopes up.

I roll my eyes.

LANE

Caught in the rain?

Yep. Insult to injury, my feet are killing me.

LANE

Why? What happened?

Wrong choice of shoes. At least I’m off my feet. Holed up at a bar in the Loop to get out of the rain.

LANE

I’m in the Loop too. What bar? I’ll meet you.

I tell him the name of the place and order a soda. While I wait for Lane, I rasp my fingertips against the cold glass of my drink, trying to come to terms with the giddy feeling that makes my chest feel like I’m bouncing on a trampoline and has the sides of my lips tugging up into a big, stupid grin.

I’ve never felt this way, not with any of the guys I’ve dated before.

---