Page 116 of Bad Crush
Things are looking up, Cancer. Especially in the bedroom. Expect mind-blowing orgasms on the regular.
“Did you write this?”I ask as I reread Adam’s text with what I can only guess is my daily horoscope.
“Of course, I did. A lot more where that came from too. Every day, baby.”
Since I saw Lori and told her I was done, she’s stopped emailing my horoscopes each morning. There’s a finality in that somehow. It was the one thing that tied us together all these years.
“You know she didn’t write the horoscopes, right? She just pulled them from some website and emailed them.”
“Well, how very unoriginal of her. Besides, it isn’t a horoscope so much as it’s a mantra for the day. And I’d say I already fulfilled today’s.” He winks.
Yes, yes, he did.
“Can you grab my ChapStick in that top drawer?” I ask Adam. He’s lying closest to my nightstand.
He tosses it to me and then asks, “What’s this?”
“Hmmm?” I slather my dry lips. There was a lot of kissing last night and this morning. I look over to see a piece of red paper folded up into a small square. “Oh no, give that to me.”
“What is it?!” He’s smiling now, more determined to see it. He’s unfolding it while I tackle him, trying to pull it free. He stands on the bed and holds it up high so I can’t reach it. Stupid height.
“Dear Adam,” he says and then falls quiet.
I sit on the bed and cover my face. Oh, god. Why didn’t I burn the thing?
“Wait, wait, wait…” He looks down at me. “Is this what I think it is?”
“If what you think it is, is the most embarrassing moment of my life, then yes. Seriously, give it to me.” I try sticking my bottom lip out. He is not moved by my pouty face.
“You put this in my room that night?” he asks and keeps reading.
“Yeah, I slid it under your door after a bad date and a bottle of wine. When I woke up the next morning, I knew I had to get it back.”
“Why?”
“I’m sorry. Did you get to the line about holding my heart in your hands?”
He chuckles and joins me sitting on the bed. “This is one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.”
“Almost done. And, if you would have woken up and found that, we would never have gotten together.”
“You don’t know that.”
I stare at him disbelievingly.
“Okay, I probably would have thought it was a little over the top for a girl I’d barely talked to.” He pulls me onto his lap. “But I love that you had a bad day, got drunk, and your thoughts went to me. Do you promise to always think of me when you’re drunk?”
I think for a moment. “I do.”
“There was this one time…” he starts. “Right before spring break last year.”
I know which time he means immediately. It was just the two of us at his apartment while the rest of the group went to get food. I hung back that night just to spend more time with him. “I almost told you the night before you left, but I chickened out. Then you came back and started dating Maria.”
“Man, what an idiot I was,” he says, and then he more than makes up for it by kissing me until my alarm goes off. There goes my ChapStick.
“I have to go,” I say reluctantly.
“Five more minutes.”
