Page 16 of Off Script
“During my lunch break, Mr. King caught me on TikTok and threatened to punish me,” I say, putting finger quotes around the last two words.
“Of course he did. What a perve,” Harper grumbles. She dislikes my boss almost as much as I do.
“How’s everything going with Philip? You two certainly looked cozy last night,” I wiggle my eyebrows. Philip joined us yesterday fordinner and Harper couldn’t keep her hands off him. It was cute, but nauseating.
She nibbles on a slice of cucumber, and a dreamy look crosses her face. “He’s great. I really like him, Carlisle."
I’m not surprised. Once Harper finds someone she likes, she jumps in headfirst—no hesitation, no game-playing, no nonsense. She voices her feelings and sees if they’re returned. Sometimes it backfires and freaks guys out, but other times, it works out well. I’ve always been envious of Harper’s self-confident approach to dating because she never wastes time devoting herself to guys who are ambivalent or uninterested.
I should probably take a page out of her playbook because I've been wasting a lot of time thinking about a guy who hasn't called or texted in days.
I plate our burgers and pull the sweet potato fries out of the oven as she tells me all the nitty-gritty details of her romance with Philip.
Bumping me with her hip, she asks with a teasing smile, “How’s your stalker? Y’all are still talking, right?”
Since Brent hasn't come to kidnap me yet, Harper has had a change of heart regarding him. Her turnaround is also probably due to being bitten by the lovebug herself.
As is our custom, we carry our dinner plates into the living room to eat at the coffee table while we watch TV and talk.
“No, I haven’t heard from Brent in a few days,” I reply nonchalantly.
Harper hums, hit with an epiphany, “Ah, that explains the number of margaritas you drank last night.”
Scrunching my nose, I hate to admit that she’s right, so I downplay it. “Anyway, let’s forget about Brent. It was a wrong number gone awry.”
“Yeah, a wrong numberwho kept contacting you.”
“Unlike you, I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
I’ve been using that excuse ever since I broke up with my college boyfriend two years ago, but for the first time, when the words roll off my tongue, they feel less than true.
My life has been in a tailspin ever since my mom died and my dad quickly remarried. Moving to LA has given me a chance at freedom from my fractured family, but I'm still not sure that I'm ready to date. Shouldn't I be financially stable and emotionally healed before I try to find happiness with someone else?
However, I have a bit of a crush on Brent. I may feel like I shouldn't start dating, but I haven't been able to stop myself from developing feelings for Brent either.
Even though I know I shouldn’t, I play thewhat ifgame in my mind.
What if I allow this opportunity to pass me by because I'm hung up on that idea that I'm not ready to date? What if I miss out on something great?
What if fate just dropped the perfect guy into my lap at the imperfect time?
Harper cocks her head to one side and raises her eyebrows. “You never know, Carlisle. Weirder things have happened.”
“It doesn't matter because I haven’t heard from him since this weekend. Four days!” I push my plate away and flop back against the sofa. “We talked and texted nearly nonstop for three days and then four days of silence.”
“Not that you’re counting or anything,” Harper teases.
“I think I scared him off. I told him about my family drama. I can’t believe I got that serious over the phone,” I grimace, as my cheeks flush, remembering our call on Sunday evening. "I definitely over-shared."
In the moment,it was healing and freeing to talk to Brent about my family, but now, it feels terribly vulnerable to have been that open.
If my own dad found it easy to cut me out of his life, why would anyone else voluntarily choose to stay with me?I shouldn’t be surprised that Brent didn’t stick around after I trauma dumped on him last weekend.
“Hey, if Brent can’t take you on your worst days, then he doesn’t deserve you on your best. Besides, I bet he has a reason why he hasn’t contacted you again.” Harper pats my knee and shoots a small smile in my direction. A look of delight dances across Harper’s face as she says, “Oh! He could be married and his wife, who was out of town for a weekend trip, is back home so he can’t call you again. Or maybe he got into a car accident and is in a coma. Or maybe he's ugly and could tell by your voice that you're out of his league, so he decided to move on before you could break his heart. There are so many possibilities!”
"Were any of those scenarios supposed to make me feel better?" Laughing, I toss a throw pillow at her, which she easily deflects.
"Got you to laugh, didn't I?" Raising the remote, Harper unmutes the TV as the current entertainment news clip ends and the TV anchors begin discussing a new story. “OMG, did you see that last photo? We missed the story about Ben Sutton’s new movie. God, he is gorgeous.” She places the back of her hand to her forehead, swooning dramatically.
