The problem is that when life goes back to normal…well, life will be back to normal. Which means no Blake, or dreamy first dates.
Hours pass. And my phone stays silent and dark.
…
The crew wraps filming a little earlier today around 4:00 p.m. The stillness and quiet that follows is unsettling after the steady commotion downstairs over the last couple of days. Which gives me all the more reason to angst about not having heard from Blake.
In my bedsit, I’ve pulled the curtain against the slant of the peak of the afternoon sun in an attempt to make a shady refuge, but it’s admittedly suffocating in here. I retrieve the pitcher of iced tea from the fridge. Cross-legged on the velveteen sofa, the bed folded away, I sit between the floral cushions that my mum sewed for me.
He’s busy. Clearly. He’s working.
That’s the reasonable chain of thoughts. Versus:
Oh God, he hates me and is full of regrets and woe after being up last night with me and I’m full of cringe and I’ll never hear from him again.
So much for fun.
Lily sends texts during the day demanding an update, and it’s safe to call her as I eat the last of the pizza I brought upstairs from catering.
“Hey, Lil.”
“Thank God. I was starting to think Blake stole you to become his husband.”
“Ha. No. Fuck, no.” My face burns with the inevitable blush when I think of Blake. “I’m fairly certain that doesn’t usually happen in America.”
“Well, he’d have to get through me first. You deserve a good price. And I deserve my commission.”
Relenting into a smile, I laugh. “Glad you’ve got my back at least.”
“Of course I do. Now you’ve kept news from me forhours.I figured that maybe your date carried on into today…” Lily teases, her voice light. In the background, there’s the clatter of a café, full of steamer screech and the rattle of crockery.
“Not like that,” I spill. She can’t have found me out already, can she? Possibly she has spies everywhere. Worse, what if Gemma knows? “I mean, we were up all night but—nobody went to anyone’s place or anything rash like that. That way lies scandal.”
There’s silence. I swear I can hear her grin over the line.
“Into hijinks in public places?” she drawls.
The perma-blush is back. “No! It’s not like that.Definitelynot. I wouldnever.” I cough.
“Oh yeah? What was it like, then? I’m dying to know.”
She’s onto me, I swear.
“Er…” How to put last night into words, all transcendent and full of some light-hearted feeling that leaves me a bit unsteady. Also the filthy bits I’m keeping entirely to myself. Like the world shines brighter today. How odd.
“Please tell me,” she coaxes. “I won’t even judge you if you say you had a good time.”
“Well, in that case…” I gulp. “Amazing?”
“That’s wonderful! Tell me everything.”
“We had a vegan meal and we went dancing and…” I skip over dark club corners with a blush I’m glad she can’t see, and some regrets that I’m no longer in that corner with Blake. “We were up all night. Dancing. And walking around. I didn’t get home till very early. Or very late, depending.”
“You deserve to have some fun. And I’m so glad you’ve connected like that.”
“He’s kind of addictive,” I admit. “I don’t get what he sees in me, but the more I find out about him, the more I want to know, and…maybe he feels the same way too?”
“I’m about to cry with joy over here. There’s so much to see in you, Aubrey. I’ve years of study on the topic. I’m, in fact, a world-renowned authority.”
