Page 49 of Taking It To Overtime

“Your phone.”

Right. Not ringing ears at all. Actual ringing.

I spot it on the bedside table just as the sound goes silent. I don’t move fast enough to swipe it up before it rings again; the vibration shuffling it across the wooden surface. It takes afraction of a second to recognize Tandy’s smiling blonde face as her contact info shows on my phone screen. It takes longer to decide if I should answer.

“Answer it,” Robbie says. “I bet they’ll just call again.”

He’s right. The phone goes silent in my hand and I can see that I have three missed calls from Tandy “Homeskillet” Davis.

“It’s my best friend.” I say to Robbie, regretting my words once they're out.

Robbie was once my best friend, andhe doesn’t give a flying pig’s fuck who’s calling you.I remind myself.

“We’ve been playing phone tag for since I got here.” The phone rings again.

“It’s okay, V,” Robbie nods at my twitching cell. “Go ahead, I said to take the time you need. I meant it. Talk to your friend.”

“It’s a video call,” I warn him, even as I turn away from him. I swipe to accept the call and Tandy’s blonde hair fills my screen. Literally. Wild, gold waves are all I can see.

“Darling!”

My best friend is a blur of hot pink Lycra as the picture finally focuses on her face.

“You have roughly ten minutes before I’m late for yogalates and you know how Luz gets when we walk in late, but I miss you so effing much and I love seeing your beautiful face, and I want all the details on your reunion with Hottie McHockey.”

There’s a snuff of sound from behind me that sounds suspiciously like a laugh.

“I don’t—” I try to head her off, but Tandy is a bloodhound with a scent.

“I saw the photos. You can’t lie to me. I know you saw Robbie Oakes at the Genosa Airport—talk about signs from the universe sweetie—and the rumor is he ripped your clothes off with his fake hockey player teeth and bent you over your suitcase for a happy welcome home.”

Another snort.

“Well, that’s a bit extreme,” I say, but my cheeks are heating at the image she created.

“And you’re blushing,” Tandy grins, “So something happened. Spill.”

Every word in the English language melts out of my head like a popsicle in the August sun. She’s right. Something has happened, although not what she thinks. And yet, exactly what she thinks too. Robbie is standing feet from me. In my hotel room. He’s picking me up for a date. Every time I look his direction I soak my panties and have to squeeze my thighs together. I climbed into his lap, and sucked on his tongue, and altered my brain chemistry.

And yet…

It can’t mean anything. It can’t. Right? I’mleaving.He’sleaving.Even if we ride this train all the way to mutual orgasm station, it’s just for right now. Once again, there’s no future for us. Right?

“So, did you fuck his brains out?”

I don’t answer.

“Oral?”

A jury of my peers would definitely acquit me if I murdered her.

“A handy at least?”

“Tandy.”

“Vera.” She throws her head back, her phone swooping in a dizzying arc, and laughs. “This is Robbie Oakes. You’ve been hung up on him as long as I’ve known you. Longer. He’s your one babe, and he kissed you—okay, your cheek or something—the first time you come face to face? Maybe jumping him is premature, but I think it’s very likely you’re his one too. Okay? Promise me you’ll give it a chance.”

Somebody kill me now. Seriously. Stab me with my Ferragamo’s, strangle me with my purse strap,suffocate me with my travel pillow. Something. There are no more sounds behind me, just a weighty silence, full of all the things I desperately tried to bury six feet deep for the last sixteen years.

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