It couldn’t have even been thirty seconds later that my phone rang. My stomach somersaulted, and I curled into a ball on my side before swiping to answer.
“Hello?”
There was a small noise of… something before he spoke. Surprise, maybe? “Hi, umm…. This is Adair.”
I rolled my lips, holding back a laugh.
“You knew that,” he said, clearing his throat. “I, umm….Wow, I didn’t really think before I called.”
I grabbed the nearest pillow and hugged it to my chest. “Shouldn’t you be working?”
“Yeah…. Yeah, you’re right. I just needed to confirm this was you.”
I bit my lip, hugging the pillow tighter. “A text could’ve done the same.”
“I—” he said, drawing out the word, “do not agree. I’m too trusting. Delly says it leaves me vulnerable to catfishers.”
I snorted. “Miss Lenny would totally catfish you.”
“And I’d fall for it,” he said sadly. “And then….” He sighed dramatically, reminding me so much of his sister.
“What?” I pressed my phone hard against my ear, eager for him to keep talking.
“And then I’d spend so long trying to find a way to get out of it I’d probably go along with it and end up moving next door, making me your neighbor instead of roommate. And then Delly might see me doing naked sunrise yogawith Miss Lenny, and I can’t have that on my conscience. I really can’t.”
My cheeks hurt from trying to hold back my grin. “Hence, the phone call.”
“Hence, the phone call,” he repeated, but then there was a beat of silence before he groaned. “I try not to lie. I wanted to hear your voice.”
My body warmed as if I’d stepped into a ray of sunshine on a frigid day, but then my stomach squeezed in a way that almost felt like… dread?
“You went quiet,” Adair whispered. “Was that the wrong thing to say?”
“No,” I said, then took a deep breath to give him my own honesty back. “I’m just a little fucked-up.”
“Hey. Where are you right now?”
“In my room.”
He hummed, but there was a rough edge to it. “Have you had lunch?”
I smoothed my hand over my stomach and held back a disbelieving scoff when I realized that Iwashungry.
Of course he’d known.
“No,” I replied.
“Uh-huh. Well, as much as I’d love to talk more, I actually have to get back to work. But first, I’m gonna take my favorite rolly chair and cruise all the way to Apartment 3A and check on our guys. And then,” he continued, as if he hadn’t just grabbed my heart with both hands, “why don’t you go heat up the leftovers from last night’s dinner you brought back from the cafeteria? If that sounds good, I mean. If not, there’s sandwich stuff in the fridge and those All-dressed chips that you and Delly like in the pantry.”
The unmistakable sound of wheels rolling on tile filled my ear, followed by the faint sound of a door closing.
Had he rolled into a conference room for privacy to talk to me?
My cheeks flushed hot, and I pressed the back of my hand to them in turn, trying to cool them. He was actually rolling down the hallway right now, just as he said.
“Indigo Girl, I’m going to put you on hold with my receptionist. Please, uh…. Please be here when I get back. I actually do have one thing to ask you about while I’ve got you. Okay?”
“Okay.”
