Page 86 of I Wanna Text You Up

“Right, right. Continue,” I tellher.

“Then everything will work out. You’ll have your ‘aha moment’. Things will start making sense and you’ll start feeling a whole lot less scared about what lies ahead. So just let it ride, you know? See where this thing with Caleb takes you. Have your moment, Zoe. You deserveit.”

I have the urge to bite at my nails, which isn’t something I’ve done since I was a little kid, but my insides are all twisted right now. What Delia’s saying is makingsense.

I just have to see where this takes me, see if there’s a future with Caleb, and that’s something I won’t know until I give him a shot, giveusashot.

I take a deep breath and let it out. “You’re right. You are definitely right. You sureyou’re—”

“I swear, if you ask me if I’m okay with this one more damn time,” shewarns.

“Fine, fine. Messagereceived.”

“Good.” She gives me a warm, genuine smile. “I’m really happy for you,Zoe.”

“Yeah?” She nods. I sit back on the couch for the first time since arriving, finally feeling relaxed and almost ready to take on the world. “Good. Metoo.”

Fifteen

Me:Question.

Caleb:Answer…maybe.

Me:What are you doing for springbreak?

Caleb:Is that still athing?

Me:Um, YES. Now answerme.

Caleb:Nothing? Because I didn’t think that was still athing.

Me:How do you not know that’s still a thing?! You’re incollege!

Caleb:Well if you’re talking like, you know, going to the beach and being all spring break-y, then I did not know that was still athing.

Me:I’m talking just taking the weekoff.

Caleb:Pose your follow-up questionthen.

Me:Me + you + Outer Banks =fun?

Caleb:One, OBX is EXPENSIVE AS SHIT. Two, please see my firstresponse.

Me:HA! That’s where I have you. My parents actually live in OBX. Free room andboard.

Caleb:So we’re spending spring break with yourparents?

Me:Nah. They’ll be out of town visiting my grandma. We’d have the place to ourselves most of the time. What do yousay?

Caleb:What exactly does “most of the time”mean?

Me:They’ll be there for the first day, but they are leaving super early the nextmorning.

Caleb:I HAVE TO MEET YOURPARENTS?!

Caleb:Why does that make me sonervous?

Me:It shouldn’t. They’ll loveyou.

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