What do I think is going to happen here exactly? She laughed in my face at the idea of anything romantic between us, and I don’t know what I was thinking even saying it in the first place. I don’t need to see the regret on her face tomorrow morning, and I don’t need to experience just how much of a gut-punch her rejection will be when it inevitably comes.
I really don’t need to think about whatever feelings I have for Ashleigh, and just how deep they run.
So, I don’t ask to go home with her.
Instead I wink and say, ‘Been fun, Easton. Look me up if you fancy doing it again sometime, yeah? Maybe on my desk next time.’
And at the same time her hand lands feather-light on my arm and she says, ‘Do you want to get breakfast tomorrow?’
We both stop, and stare, and pull back.
‘What?’ I say.
‘Excuse me?’ she snaps.
‘What did you say?’
‘Breakfast, tomorrow. But if you’re only looking for a booty call, then you can forget about it, and you can shove your—’
‘You want to get breakfast?’
She sniffs, angry, like she no longer deigns to care for the notion. But she does, and we both know it, and I grin widely, which only makes her scowl at me.
‘I’d really like to get breakfast with you, Ash.’
She blinks, giving me a sidelong look. Searching for the piss-take and the joke that aren’t there, just like I’ve been telling her.
For once, she decides to take me at face value, and it’s a weight off my shoulders.
‘Okay.’ A smile steals over her face, blue eyes brightening. ‘Breakfast. I – I don’t have your number.’
‘I have your Insta. I’ll DM you.’
She laughs. ‘Of course you will.’
I duck down into the car just as she leans up out of it, each of us stealing one last kiss.
One last, but only as far as tonight is concerned.
I close the door and wave her off, and as soon as the car is out of sight, mine arrives. I climb in, say hello and exchange some polite small talk with my driver, even as I’m busy opening up Instagram on my phone and finding Ashleigh’s profile to message her.
Easton, it’s me, I say. Sliding into your DMs as promised.
Now who’s being incorrigible? x comes her reply, and that kiss makes my heart squeeze.
Breakfast, I think, settling back more comfortably in the car, as three dots appear on the screen and Ashleigh types another message. Breakfast, and then everything else.
‘School reunion, huh?’ the driver says to me, and whistles. ‘Dropped off some people earlier coming from here. You stayed pretty late.’
‘Yeah. Stayed behind to help tidy up.’
‘Good of you. So, how was it? Memorable night? Ready to do it all again in another ten years?’
My phone buzzes in my hand as Ashleigh sends me her number, and a suggestion of where to meet tomorrow morning that, obviously, I’ll have to disagree with and come up with an alternative, just for old time’s sake.
‘Yeah,’ I say out loud, and grin down at my phone. ‘Ready to do it all again.’
