Page 19 of The Love Penalty

“What kind of compromise?” she asks hesitantly.

“Well, what if you pay for breakfast and I pay for dinner? And for lunch, instead of another restaurant, we just grab some hot dogs from a food cart? And we choose between the tower and the ferris wheel. And instead of a boat tour, we just do the architecture tour on foot?” I say all of this really fast and take a deep inhale while I wait for her reply.

She seems to consider it, but she is biting her bottom lip. It takes all my willpower not to reach out and touch it with my thumb. “I guess that would be fine. But I feel like you paying for an expensive dinner is not comparable to me paying for breakfast.”

“There’s no way I’m not taking you to that speakeasy. You will love it, trust me. And if you’re that worried about it, we don’thave to do a full dinner. We can just share something,” I say hopefully.

She holds my gaze for a moment and gives a quick nod. “Okay. Thank you, for compromising.”

“Of course,” I say honestly, “I just want to hang out with you.”

She gives me a small smile and a quick ‘thank you’ hug, then opens her hotel door. She grabs the bag at our feet and I say, “Goodnight, Olivia.”

“Night, Robbie.”

I smile wide the whole elevator ride to my room and have the best sleep I’ve had in a while.

FOURTEEN

Olivia

Robbie isat my hotel door at 7 AM sharp. I have to admire his tenacity and punctuality, but this is still way too early for me. I’m a night owl and I would sleep until noon every day if given the chance. I’m sure my grumpy face reflects my thoughts, but Robbie is not put off by me. He gives me a bright, big smile that brings out the dimples I’m so obsessed with. The ones I’ve started to see in some of my dreams.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he says, handing me a big cup of coffee. I frown, but take it from him and give it a sip. Of course he got my coffee just right, damn him.

“Morning,” I say groggily and close the door behind me. We head to the train station and I steal glimpses of Robbie. He hasn’t tried to make small talk since he knows I’m not in the best mood, but he also doesn’t seem upset about it. He’s got a smile on his face and sips quietly on his coffee as we walk side by side.

While I appreciate him giving me the space I clearly need to become a functioning human being this morning, he shouldn’t have to compromise yet again. He already made a lot of changesto our plans that I feel bad about. The least I can do is talk to him.

“So, how come your besties have not been invited on this day trip?” I say.Besties?What is wrong with me? Can I ever hold a normal conversation?

He laughs and says, “Well, Eli was up this morning but he prefers to start his day in the gym. I asked if he wanted to join us later but he said he’s meeting an old friend of his from Finland who is playing for Chicago’s NHL team this season.”

I nod, encouraging him to continue talking. He says, “Jordan is headed back to Grand Marquee early and visiting his parents. And I figured you probably didn’t want Ashton around constantly trying to flirt with you.” He looks at me to gauge my reaction to the last statement and I decide to tease him a bit.

“Hm, what if I’m in need of some flirting?” His eyes go wide and he looks away from me. I may have said the wrong thing.This is why I don’t hold conversations this early in the morning.

He doesn’t say anything for a while as we get on the train and find some empty seats. In the short time I’ve gotten to know Robbie through texts and small conversations here and there, I’ve learned that he loves to talk—constantly. So this silence from him is starting to worry me.

Then he surprises me by saying, “If you want me to call Ash and invite him, I will. It’s just that, during some of the games, I got the impression you weren’t really interested in him. But, if I was wrong about that, I apologize. I’m not trying to monopolize your time, but just for the sake of being honest—“ he pauses and turns his head to look at me, “I was really hoping it would just be us today. Because I like hanging out with you, and getting to know you.”

I feel like an idiot. What the hell was I doing, trying to steer the conversation towards flirting? He totally got the wrongimpression too. I was hopinghewould flirt with me, not offer to invite Ash. “I don’t.”

“You don’t like hanging out with me?” he asks, confused.

What?

Oh God, I can’t even follow the conversation properly.

I shake my head and drag a frustrated hand over my face, “This is why I don’t hold conversations in the morning.” I turn to face him in the seat and make sure my message is clear this time, “I don’t want you to call Ash. I don’t even know why I made that comment about flirting, it was stupid. I’m not even remotely interested in him, by the way.” Robbie swallows and my gaze gets drawn to his throat. Is it weird to find a guy’s throat attractive?

“Okay, I won’t call him then,” he says with a small smile.

“Good, don’t,” I say definitively and tap my fingers on my knee. “For the record, I really like spending time with you too. I don’t usually do this—just befriend people. There’s a reason I don’t have a lot of friends, and I think some of it has to do with how socially awkward I am.”

His hand covers mine on top of my knee and I can’t help but stare at it, at the way his thumb caresses me. “I don’t think you’re socially awkward. I think you like to keep to yourself and you’re quiet. Except for when you start to let people in. Last week, you sent me a ten minute voice note about how much you love hockey. I think you do just fine at making friends if they’re the right ones.”

I nod and turn my hand so that it now lays flat underneath his. We’re both caught in this moment, just looking at our hands barely touching. I wonder what he’ll do. Will he lace his fingers through mine? Will he continue to caress my hand? I don’t get to find out because the train stops for one of the stations and we both involuntarily lurch apart.

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