Page 33 of The Lover
“My favorite! I haven’t been there since high school graduation.”
I didn’t say I had been there. With Carol. I was thick sometimes but I wasn’t a dumb man.
“Okay. How was the rest of your day?”
“Awesome. I had this really hot guy leave me a twenty-five percent tip.”
I smiled. “Probably because the service was super special.”
She chuckled. “But seriously, waitressing at that place is no joke. I am on my feet constantly and when I come home all I want to do is sleep.”
I looked over at the clock. It was nearly ten.
“Then I’ll let you get to it. See you Friday.”
“See you Friday. And Jake…”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for calling.”
“Good night, Ellie.”
“Night, Jake. Dream of me.”
The call ended and I decided I was dead tired too. Nothing left to do but go to bed and do as commanded.
Because I did do that at night. I did dream about her.
Nine
Ellie
Friday Night
Iheardhis truck pull up and I nearly squealed like a girl. Or a pig. One of the two. I needed to take a chill pill. This was just Jake. Yes, it was our first official date. And yes, I was out of my skin I was so excited, but I didn’t need to let him know that.
Right? Guys liked to chase a little. I told him he needed to woo me and I meant it. I had texted Denny and Maryanne to keep them in the loop. Maryanne had sent back a bunch of smiley faces. Denny had told me what outfit I should wear.
I ignored his advice, despite it being flawless, because I wanted to wear my favorite dress instead. The blue one with the little flowers, that wrapped around my waist. I brushed my hair one more time. Slicked on some pale pink lip gloss and headed for the door, assuming he would beep to let me know he was there.
The knock on my door should have told me this night was going to be a little different. I opened it to see him standing on the landing outside the small apartment with a bunch of daisies in his hands.
He held them out and I buried my face them in again. They weren’t exactly the same as my birthday flowers, because those had been the first flowers from Jake ever and this time I sort of had to tell him he needed to get me flowers, but still they were pretty great.
“I have a vase. Let me just put them in water.”
“We’ve got some time.”
I stepped back to let him inside and it was a kind of weird. Like I felt almost shy around him, which was ridiculous considering I had had his penis in my mouth more than once.
Still, this was a new dance between us. Not friends. Not fucking. Dating.
Maryanne had shipped all my stuff, but I hadn’t taken everything out of the boxes so they were piled up against the wall. I found the one with my vase and made my way into the bathroom to fill it up from the sink.
When I came out Jake had wandered around the small room and focused on the table where I had my scales. Nine on the right. Because let’s face it, I was pretty damn happy these days.
I set the flowers next to them. “Ready to go?”
