Page 55 of The Fantasy League
Dammit, I knew I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
“You threw out my food and you treated me like I didn’t exist for eight months and only started talking to me when you wanted something from me…” I said matter-of-factly. The silence that passed between the two of us was excruciating. “…but we’re friends now, soooo it doesn’t matter anymore. Problem solved.”
“No, problem not solved. Look at me, Red,” he barked out in a serious tone. Peering down at the screen, I could see the annoyance rising in his eyes.
I… was I getting turned on by this?
“You need to get one thing through that pretty little head of yours,” he started. “I haveneverfor one fucking second hated you. Not even close. Got it?”
I swallowed once. And then twice.
Okay, I was definitely turned on by this.
My mouth was so dry that all I could manage was a nod.
“Good.”
* * *
Abeland I spent the next four hours talking about everything and nothing. Our conversation flowed with ease. It was hard to believe there was a time not long ago that we could hardly speak a few words to each other.
I lay on my side in bed with my duvet cover pulled to my shoulders. My room was complete darkness aside from Abel’s face illuminating my phone screen.
“I miss you,” I admitted after a beat of silence passed between us.
“I miss you too, Red.” His features softened. “More than you fucking know.”
“I wish I could’ve come to visit you for a weekend while you were out there.”
“Come this weekend.”
“I can’t. I have a meeting here on Sunday afternoon before my editor goes on maternity leave next week and it’s probably too late to get a flight for tomorrow anyway.”
Seeing as it was midnight on Thursday, I was doubtful that there would be any available flights to or from Miami now that summer was in full force and people were bouncing in and out of here for vacations and weekend trips.
Abel was silent on the other end for a few minutes with his screen paused while I scrolled through the latest Socialgram posts. Until an email notification sounded on my end. “You should check that,” Abel dared, popping back into the screen with a smirk.
I opened up my email app to find a new email from Abel with… a freaking plane ticket to Los Angeles for tomorrow morning.
What. The. Hell.
We still hadn’t addressed our kiss at the airport, but deep down, Iwanted him to mention it. To tell me that it wasn’t a mistake. That it wasn’t for people that had—unbeknownst to me—snapped photos of us kissing in the car and posted them on Socialgram.
Now that he was inviting me to come stay with him for the weekend, I was getting the feeling that it wasn’t a mistake.
I felt foolish for how much it made my heart swell, because you know what they say about assuming.
“You bought me a plane ticket?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” The corner of Abel’s lips twitched and his screen went black.
I rolled over to my other side with a giddy smile on my face.
An hour later, a text lit up the screen on my nightstand as I lay awake staring at the ceiling. No matter how hard I tried, there was no way I was going to sleep after Abel’s confession.
Rolling over, I picked up my phone from the charger to see who was texting me this late. My heart rate sped up, a grin passing my lips as I read the message on the screen.
Abel:Good night, Red.
