Page 75 of Up All Night

“Uh-huh, sure.” He clearly looked like he thought he’d already won. “We’ll just have to wait and see what next Saturday brings.”

I squared my shoulders. “Myamazingunplanned day is going to change your life.”

He gave me a skeptical look.

I had no idea what our unplanned day would look like, hence the whole unplanned thing, but I had no doubt that our day together would be even more amazing than today.

Although, I was beginning to think any day spent with West would be amazing.

22

Halle

When I had told West that I would text him in the morning when I woke up to let him know what time we would be getting together today, I swear I saw his eye twitch.

He’d tried to not so subtly fish out an approximate time from me by asking what time I usually woke up, but I wasn’t about to give him any information remotely close to planning. I’d told him what time I woke up would depend on how late I went to bed the night before. He’d tried to play it off like he was cool with that, but I could see in the set of his mouth and his exaggerated nod that he was going to have a hard time accepting a whole day with no plans.

I wasn’t anti-planning myself, but West was an extreme planner—and it couldn’t be healthy. To live under such constraints would make me feel claustrophobic. Sometimes you needed to see where the wind would take you.

I woke up earlier on Saturday than I normally would if I didn’t have to set my alarm for work, but knowing I would get to hang out with West today had me as excited as Christmas morning. We hadn’t seen each other since last Saturday other than coming and going from our apartments, making small talk in the few minutes we had.

I refrained from texting him right away. I wanted to make him sweat. I could envision him pacing downstairs in his living room, wondering when I was going to text him to tell him when we were going to meet. He’d then probably check his email a few times and pace some more. I grinned at the image of a restless West. Maybe I was an awful person for finding joy in annoying him, but it was kind of funny, too.

I did a short body-weight workout to start my day, using the time to think about what I wanted to do first with West. My stomach kept rumbling during my workout, so food needed to be our first activity. I thought about a few different ideas for breakfast, wanting to do something different than just going to a restaurant.

I’d just finished blowing drying my hair when I decided what we were going to do.

I grabbed my phone and pulled up West’s number, clicking on his name. I’d planned to text him but wanted to call him just because I could. The thought had me smiling.

West picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”

My smile remained at his eagerness. “Have you been staring at the phone for the last however many hours?”

“No, of course not.” His words contradicted his obvious tone of denial.

“Liar.”

“I’ve been working, going through emails, and occasionally glancing at my phone to make sure I didn’t miss your text,” he said, trying to prove himself.

“You forgot to mention the pacing,” I added.

“How did you—” But he stopped, cutting himself off. “I was just stretching my legs after sitting for so long at my computer. It’s good to get up and move every so often.”

“Uh-huh, sure.” I wasn’t buying any of it. “Anyway, I thought it would be fun to go and have a picnic brunch at Crissy Fields.”

“That sounds great. Do you need me to help pack anything?”

I walked into my kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “No, I think I have enough food here.”

“If you think of something while you’re packing, just shoot me a text.”

“Okay.”

There was a pause before he spoke again. “I know you don’t have anything planned, but do I need to wear anything specific to be ready for what you’re going to throw at me today?”

“You can wear something comfortable and casual. Something that would make you ready foranything I throw at youtoday,” I said, emphasizing the phrase he’d used. “Like if I decide we should do something crazy like…run a marathon, then you’ll be ready.”

“You? Run a marathon?” He chuckled.

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