Page 149 of Triple Play
Elise: 9 PM?
Me: Perfect.
I set my phone down, run my hands through my hair, and try to figure out how to tell the girl I love that I rearranged my entire career to be closer to her without sounding like a stalker.
This is fine. Everything’s fine.
I’m absolutely not panicking.
Nine PM comes too fast and too slow at the same time.
I’m sitting on the hotel bed when my laptop rings. Elise’s face fills the screen, and something in my chest unclenches.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” She’s in her apartment—the tiny studio near campus that costs too much and has terrible lighting. “You look tired.”
“Thanks. You look beautiful.”
“I’m in sweatpants and haven’t washed my hair in three days.”
“Still beautiful.”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “What’s going on? You’re being weird.”
“I’m not being weird.”
“You’re absolutely being weird. You’ve got that face.”
“What face?”
“The face you get when you’re overthinking something.” She leans closer to the camera. “Just tell me. Whatever it is.”
This is it. The moment.
I could tell her now, over video call, and get it over with.
But that feels wrong. This deserves better than a pixelated screen and hotel WiFi.
“I need you to trust me,” I say instead.
Her eyebrows raise. “Ominous.”
“Not ominous. Just—can you be free tomorrow evening? Around six?”
“Grant—”
“Please. I know you’ve got studying and summer semester just started, but—please.”
She’s quiet for a second, studying my face through the screen.
“You’re freaking me out.”
“Don’t be freaked out. Be—curious.”
“Curious.”
“Yeah. Curious about what three idiots might have planned for you.”
