Page 46 of Set on You

I light up like a Christmas tree. Heat courses through my body as I fight to suppress my toothy smile. It gives me hope that he’s serious. Serious enough to wait for me. “You’d really wait that long?” I ask. “I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you got bored and stuck your fingers in a few more pies.”

He doesn’t laugh at my shitty joke. In fact, his expression is so pure and earnest I’m reduced to a quivering specimen in the middle of the sidewalk. “Crystal, I won’t.” He pauses and digs his phone out of his pocket. “I’m setting the date in my calendar. August sixth. Get ready for it.”

chapter sixteen

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

There’s something wrong with my phone.

CURVYFITNESSCRYSTAL

??

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

It doesn’t have your number in it.

CURVYFITNESSCRYSTAL

*GIF of Michael Scott’s unimpressed face*

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

Seriously though, when are you going to let me out of DM purgatory and give me your actual number? Or do I have to wait until August sixth for that too?

CURVYFITNESSCRYSTAL

Maybe.

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

I bet you text me and hang out with me more than anyone else.

He isn’t wrong. In the weeks since the bachelorette party, we’ve texted constantly, mostly communicating in random GIFs. He’s always down to run errands with me after our increasingly regular gym sessions, like going to the pharmacy to pick up tampons. He was even thoughtful enough to buy me a package of clearance Mini Eggs when I was PMSing.

There was also the time he helped me with a massive grocery run for my summer meal prep. He carried my four hundred dollars’ worth of food all the way up the stairs to my apartment in one trip, because more than one trip is allegedly sacrilegious. Once inside my apartment, he proactively changed my fire alarm, which had been malfunctioning since I moved in (which he was quite disturbed to hear).

He’s still flirting with me, hard. And I’m flirting back, despite playing hard to get in the name of taking things slow.

CURVYFITNESSCRYSTAL

You’ll get my phone number in due time.

Are you messaging me from work?

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

Sure am. Just got back from a medical call.

CURVYFITNESSCRYSTAL

Aren’t you supposed to be fighting fires? Saving lives? Doing CPR?

RITCHIE_SCOTTY7

Are you personally requesting CPR?

Yes, yes I am.

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