Page 63 of The Longshot

I’m left shaking my head in disgust.

“No. That’s not right.”

Maybe I should start in a less formal way?

A less… pleading way?

I suck a short breath in and exhale a long breath out, relaxing my shoulders as I try again.

“Hey Chels.” I chew down on my bottom lip in worry. “How’s uh—it going? Fuck, what is wrong with me?” I run a hand over the creases in my forehead. “Get it together, Wilks. Seriously!”

Why can’t I think clearly?

Why is this so bloody hard?

Straightening my spine, I switch positions, this time turning my back towards the door as I talk to the open road.

Maybe it’s the pressure getting to me.

“Chelsie,” I try once more. “I just wanted to say to you that I really like you… like a lot. And I’m here because I want to make things work between us. I’m here because I… I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I?—”

“I think you should go with option one,” a recognizable voice takes me by surprise, forcing me to flinch—Ruby. “Though,” she speaks as I reluctantly turn back around. “Throwing in a little bit of option three might drive it home.”

If the word embarrassment was a person, I’d be it. Not only do I sound like a fool as I ramble on the front of Chelsie’s porch, but I also look like one as Ruby undeniably catches onto the fact that something is wrong between Chelsie and I.

Great. This is just great.

“Hey, Ruby…” I flash her a humiliated smile, hoping that somehow, by some miracle, I can swallow myself whole and disappear into the abyss.

I can’t.

“Hey, Wilks,” she responds with a mutually awkward wave, and silence follows thereafter. I’ve never been more humiliated in my life.

“You’re uh—probably wondering what I’m doing here, huh?” I can’t help but admit, kicking the gravel beneath my shoe as I rub behind my neck.

“I think I might have already gathered that,” she playfully scoffs, folding her arms across her chest.

“So you heard… all of it?” I painfully laugh, hopeful it’ll help to alleviate the pink that masks my cheeks.

“Every. Last. Word.”

“Perfect,” I remark sarcastically, rubbing along my bottom lip. “Isn’t that just perfect?”

“Perfect, indeed. So, Chelsie, huh?” Ruby flashes me a keen look—one I’m certain Chelsie has before.

The two are so similar with their wide eyed gaze, blonde hair and round face, yet different at the same time. Nothing about Chelsie can be duplicated—replicated—or replaced. Chelsie’s her own. Comparison is not an option.

I bob my head. “Yeah, I am. Is she uh—home?” I attempt to peer inside, but see nothing with an empty hallway.

“She just left town.” Ruby breaks the news with a shrug of her shoulders before peering back down at her watch. “About an hour ago, actually.”

My heartbeat amplifies. No, scratch that. It stops beating all together. Left town? What? Why? Was it because of me? Was it because of what happened? Shit. How has this gone so south so quickly?

“Oh, relax, pretty boy.” Ruby cuts my internal crisis short with a coy laugh. “It’s not because of you and your eager touch.” She subtly rolls her eyes. “She’s just visiting our parents for the night, okay? She’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

I exhale a sigh of relief, yet I’m still not appeased as I obsess over two keywords in her sentence.

“Eager touch?” I repeat what appeared to be her mindless slip-up. “Is that what you just said?”

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