Page 5 of Something to Someone

“Yes, do they have real food?” We both glanced at the tables around us and saw a variety of dishes. The pasta the man was eating at the table next to us looked creamy and thick, and that’s exactly what I wanted.

Natalie pushed her stool back and hopped down to the ground. “I have to run to the restroom. I’ll find our waiter that you’ve scarred for life on my way.”

“Good luck!” I called after her. While she was in thebathroom, I refilled our wineglasses and riffled through my bag until I found my phone.

There were the expected texts and emails from clients waiting in my inbox, but what I hadn’t been prepared for was two messages from Ryder. My thumb hovered over the screen for several seconds, trying to decide if I should risk opening them while Natalie was in the bathroom.

He’d already responded to my early text wishing him happy birthday with some dumb GIF. He shouldn’t have been texting me again.

But my curiosity won, and I opened the message.

Ryder: Heyyy beautiful

Ryder: What are yuo doing.?

The two messages were sent within a minute of each other and had the classic drunken typos. I rolled my lips to suppress my smile. It wasn’t funny. Not at all.

Me: Are you having fun?

Texting back wasn’t the best idea, it never was, but I didn’t have a chance to think about it before his response lit up my screen.

Ryder: I’d be having more fun if you were here ??

“Who are you texting?” Natalie appeared beside me, and my phone leaped from my hands. That was the only apt explanation for how it went almost completely across the table, somehow managing to dodge the wineglasses and plates.

I saw her wide-eyed, shocked expression out of the corner of my eye as I scrambled for the phone.

“Umm…okay. That was a little dramatic,” she said slowly, sliding back into her seat and offering me a menu. I tucked my phone back in my bag and took the menu without looking at her. Hoping she didn’t see my blush, I held the menu a little higher than normal. She would know something was even more off if she saw the color of my cheeks.

I didn’t blush.

I chastised myself for my stupidity as she continued, “You usually don’t care if I look at your phone, so it must have been really dirty. You sure about that dry spell?”

Oh, if only you knew.

TWO

SPLISH, SPLASH

Caroline

I slipped downinto the warm water and let it wash everything away. Thanks to Ryder, my relaxing girl’s night had turned into me sitting across from my best friend feeling guilty and horrible for what I was keeping from her.

Not that there was much to tell anyway, and it wasn’t like she needed to know every thought I ever had. Or every one of Ryder’s flirty remarks. But those were convenient excuses I told myself to feel better.

I was self-aware enough to know I was delusional.

Soft music filtered through the bathroom, and I swiped my fingers through the bubbles gathered on top of the water. The warm scent of sandalwood and lavender wafted around me, and I closed my eyes.

I felt myself begin to drift off. I wasn’t going to fall asleep in the bathtub, but lingering in that place just before the drowsiness took over was calming. It was a state where, although those thoughts were still plaguing me, they were duller and less critical.

It was nice until my phone started buzzing on the edge of the tub. Isqueezed my eyes shut and willed it to stop. When it continued, and I realized someone was calling me past midnight, I begrudgingly leaned forward and grabbed it.

Glancing at the screen, I rolled my eyes and set it back down. The vibration continued for another second then stopped.

Of course it was Ryder, but I already had enough to feel guilty about. Answering the phone was bound to add more to that list.

I hadn’t even closed my eyes again when the vibration started. Letting out a loud groan that echoed off the tile, I quickly answered. It was a split-second decision to answer, make sure there wasn’t something urgent, then hang up.

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