Page 24 of The Friend Scheme
I notice that the night is winding down, and I don’t want to chicken out.
“Hey, um,” I say.
“Yeah?”
“Could I maybe get your number? Is that okay?”
He grins. “And what exactly would you want with that?”
“You know, just… I dunno.”
“Shark bait wants my number. How amazing.”
“I’m not shark bait! Just tell me: Are you going to give it to me or not?”
For a second I think he isn’t.
But then he puts out his hand.
I retrieve my phone, unlock it, and swipe through to my contacts book. I hand it to him, and he starts entering his details. Then he hands it back.
“I was going to ask you, if you didn’t,” he says. “Just FYI.”
“Oh, really?”
He smiles. “Yeah, course.”
And oh man. His smile is really cute. I love how it changes the whole way he looks. Normally he looks kind of serious, because his features are so handsome. But when he smiles, he looks a little like a sweetheart. Like the kind of guy who’d earnestly go for school council, or get upset if he gets a bad grade because he doesn’t want to disappoint his teacher.
Maybe that’s the sort of guy Jason really is. Maybe his macho thing is just an exterior.
I know about that. Too well.
“Um, cool,” I say. “That’s nice to know.”
I feel like this conversation could go further, but I don’t know where to take it.
“Well,” he says. “Later.”
“Yeah, I’ll message you.”
“Already looking forward to it.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I leave the car. I hurry up to my front door, unlock it, and then step inside. Eddie is standing by the door, whimpering and wagging his tail. I scratch between his ears, in the spot I know he likes best, then go to my room. Because Luke isn’t home, he follows me.
I text Dad, telling him I got an Uber home. Then I strip down to my underwear and fall backward onto my bed. Eddie jumps up and joins me. I put my hand on his flank and give him the occasional belly scratch.
And then I spend about an hour lying in bed in the dark, just thinking.
It takes me that long to come to the realization.
He entered his details.
Maybe he included a last name?
My heart racing, I check…
And see that he left the last-name field totally blank.
