Page 71 of Ms Perfectly Fine
“I ran.” Autumn muttered her admission into the pillow, hiding her face in shame.
Nina choked on her drink.
“You what?” She smirked. “Iwould never run away from that man.”
“Elijah went out first, and when I was on my way back to our table, I heard him talking to Tim. Hearing how he spoke about me, about his feelings…I panicked. I’m terrified I’ll let him down.” She felt like an idiot now that she was saying it aloud, but it was the truth. They had only known each other a short time, and she worried they were moving too fast. She loved her bubble, but since he’d arrived in her life, he’d popped it.
“How could you let him down? You don’t have to be perfect. He’s lived with you for three weeks, and to live with someone is to see every side of them,” Nina reasoned. “He hasn’t run away—you did.”
“I’m not proud of it.”
Nina’s phone vibrated on the table.
“Are you going to answer that?” Autumn asked.
“Nope. This is too juicy.” Nina sat back and took another drink.
“It might be Garrett calling to apologise,” Autumn pointed out, thinking that her friend was revelling in her misery a little too much.
“Then I’m definitely not answering.”
Autumn admired her for standing her ground. She was fairly sure that if Elijah appeared in front of her, she would crumble.
“So, what are you going to do? You live with him, and you can’t hide here forever,” Nina said, her eyes filled with sympathy.
Autumn squeezed her panda cushion tighter. “That’s my point. There’s no escaping each other. With anyone else, I could have my own space, but he’s everywhere. There’s no time to breathe.”
“Maybe he’s exactly what you need because youcan’tget away. He won’t let you push him away, and geographically, you can’t either. The universe works in mysterious ways.” Nina wrapped an arm around her.
“You might be right. Maybe I’m just freaking out because, for the first time, I don’t want him to leave, so I left first,” she grumbled. He wasn’t the problem—she was.
The phone rang again.
“Just answer it, or he might appear at the door,” Autumn said. The last person she wanted to see her like this was Garrett. Selfishly, she hoped it wasn’t him; if he did appear and they made up, she would have to go home and face the music.
Nina started, sitting on the edge of the couch. “Elijah, hi, how are you?” Autumn didn’t dare look up to meet her eye. “Yep, Autumn is with me. She wasn’t feeling well, so she came over.”
If anything, she had been feeling too good when they were together, and it was leaving that had made her ill.
“No, don’t worry. You don’t need to come and get her, she’s fine,” Nina said. “Ha, good point—whenisshe not fine?”
Autumn glared at her, but was grateful he didn’t have the address. To find it, he would have to go into her things, which she hoped he wouldn’t do even if she had poked around his.
“Don’t worry, I have it covered. She’s going to spend the night with me,” Nina said before ending the call.
“How did he sound?” Autumn asked, peeking over the pillow.
“Like a worried, overgrown, sexy puppy,” Nina said, and Autumn groaned, guilt and embarrassment merging within her.
“Can a puppy be sexy?” She frowned, trying to make light of the situation.
“With that voice, yes. If I were you, I wouldn’t walk home, I would run,” Nina teased, leaning over the couch.
“You aren’t helping.” Autumn knew she was only saying it to get a rise out of her, but it was working. She looked at the door and considered going home, but her fear froze her to the spot.
“What’s it going to be? Going home and facing life, or hiding for the night and facing it tomorrow?” Nina asked as she hesitated.
“I’m going to sleep here with Mr Panda, and pretend my invading hunk didn’t do things to me no human being should do in a public space,” she muttered. Nina’s laughter was utterly infectious. “Tomorrow, I will put my big girl pants on and act like an adult.”
