Page 46 of Let's Get Textual

“Delia.” His voice slides over the line, smooth and in control. “What have I done to deserve this pleasant surprise?”

I snatch the phone away as Zoe opens her mouth to speak; she’s too distracted by his voice.

“I-I…” I sound nervous—because Iamnervous. I just don’t understand why.

“Spit it out, dear. I have work, you know.”

“Did you justdearme, Zachary?”

“First, my name isn’t Zachary. It’s Zach. S—”

“Is it really?”

“Yeah,” he says, his voice rising into a question. “Why is that surprising?”

“I assumed Zach was shortened down from Zachary or Zachariah.”

“Nah. My mom wanted something simple, I guess. It’s just Zach.”

“Can I still call you Zachary?”

“No.” His voice is stern. I ignore him.

“We’ll see.”

“Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, yes I diddearyou, dear Delia. Now, what did you need?”

“Oh…nothing.”

“You just called to chitchat?”

“TechnicallyIdidn’t call.” I glare at Zoe, who raises her hands in innocence. “My friend stole my phone and scrolled through our texts. By the way, she agrees with me and thinks you’re a complete creeper.”

“I never said that!” Zoe shouts, loudly enough for Zach to hear.

“Ignore her.”

“Ask him out already!”

Zach chuckles. “Oh, sothat’swhat this is about. She wants to set us up, thinks we’re not capable of getting there on our own.”

“Yes, it would appear so.”

I glance to Zoe, who’s sitting next to me appearing rather satisfied with herself. She grins and mouthsyou’re welcome.I throw a pillow at her.

“…to dinner?”

“What?” I wasn’t paying a lick of attention to Zach, but I think he might have asked me to dinner.

“Well we’re off to a great start here, Delia.”

“Sorry, Zoe distracted me.”

“Zoe? Ah, the friend?”

“The friend.”

“I asked if you’d like to, I don’t know, go to dinner with me? Robbie thinks us meeting would be a smart idea too, especially after our Netflix night. I think our friends are trying to set us up.”

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