Page 28 of Heartstruck at Dawn
TALKING TO WILLIAMlast night was the leading cause of my renewed state of mind when I woke up this morning. Even though I wasn’t sure if I believed him, I wanted to. My mind and my gut were still arguing about it.
My father wanted to have dinner with me. We usually had takeout at my place, but he was going to leave for a few days. He insisted on taking me somewhere nice.
I went to my 7:00 p.m. class with Grant, hoping to run into Tobias. I had some unfinished business to attend to with him.
“Hey, Billie!” Tobias said as he waltzed into the gym, looking cheerful like he always did.
“You betraying—tattletale-snitch-informant!” I said to him as a joke (but not really) as Grant took my gloves off.
“Whoa, Billie!” He lifted his hands and approached me. “Grant, why don’t you hurry up and take those gloves off her hands.”
“Whatchu do, man?” Grant asked with a grin as he kept to my bandages. “You know I’ll be on her side either way.”
I high-fived Grant and said, “Yes, why don’t you tell him.”
Tobias made a face that led me to believe he was about to say he didn’t know what I was talking about.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about!” he exclaimed with a nervous laugh.
Ugh!
“Does the wordblindring any bells?” I clued him in.
“Ohhh! That!” He rubbed his hands. “Um, well, it’s not like I ran up to tell him about it, you know? Billy’s curious like that and asks a lot of questions, and … shit! Okay, I shouldn’t have said that either, but you know how he is. I’m sorry, Billie. I-I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” he said in between stammers. I couldn’t help but laugh.
I kind of liked the fact that William was asking around, wanting to know about me. Thanking Tobias was what I should’ve been doing instead because William knowing about the blind dates probably gave him the extra encouragement he needed to wake up from his daze.
“Don’t worry. I know how he is. But I don’t get why he’s so curious, though, if he’s back with Erin.” I threw the hook in the water and hoped Tobias would take it. We couldn’t pretend like Tobias didn’tknowwhat had happened before with William and me.
“I don’t know. It’s complicated, I guess. Billy doesn’t talk much about his relationship status with her,” he replied. That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear. The wordscomplicatedandrelationshipdon’t go well together. Why hadn’t William shared what he told me with his brother? Was he lying to me?
“Anyway, I have dinner plans to get to,” I replied, trying to sound casual.
“Another blind date?” Tobias asked, raising his brows. He wanted to sound playful while expecting an honest answer from me. I shrugged and told him I’d see him around. Let them join the speculation club for a while.
Someone knocked on my door. I assumed it was Caleb because he knew how much I hated my doorbell. I grabbed my shoes and purse and rushed to open the door. He probably wanted to walk me down to the car to meet my father.
“Hi!” I said with a smile.
“Hey, Red,” he said, looking a little gray. “You seem to be in a better mood today.”
Oh.
I’d forgotten all about the discussion we had last night. My little chat with William had brightened my mood, but Caleb still looked troubled. It was best if we sorted things out before leaving.
“Caleb, I’m sorry about yesterday. I swear I didn’t even recognize myself. You’re free to … well, do whatever you want and talk to whoever you wish. I shouldn’t have said anything about it. I’m really sorry.”
It stung to say it, but it was the truth. However, I preferred it if Caleb did the flirting around in his free time rather than in front of me. The unfair part was there was no way forhimto escape witnessing who I saw, talked to, dated, and even kissed—at times.
“I’m sorry too. You were having a bad day, and you expressed that to me. I should’ve been more receptive to it, and I wasn’t.” He shook his head with embarrassment. “Ren’s your friend, and I shouldn’t be meddling in your affairs like that, even if he wasn’t just a friend.”
“Caleb, you know how much I care about you. I want us to always be okay, no matter what.” I walked up to him and gave him a tight and affectionate hug. I settled my cheek on his chest and stayed there for more than a few seconds. I liked it there. So warm and safe.
Our relationship was tricky, but we needed to make it work. His hugs were always so cozy—easy.
The elevator doors opened behind us, and my father stepped out of it. Caleb and I quickly broke away from the embrace, but it was too late.
“Hey, Dad!” I said enthusiastically, trying to create a diversion from the fact that he had just seen me and Caleb hugging.Damn it.
