Page 21 of Tailored for Them

“It was a good kiss, then?” Courtney clarified.

“Sogood,” I pressed my lips together, “I’m just not entirely sure she wants more.”

“I think she does,” Beck nodded toward my phone, now resting on the table. “She sent a double text. And a smiley face.”

I nodded, scratching the back of my head. I usually kept it short and sometimes went the extra mile to shave little designs in the short hair. But I’d been letting it grow out a bit more. I could run my fingers through it. I could grip my hair near my neck, and I couldn’t remember the last time I could do that.

“God, I’m being ridiculous,” I dropped my utensil to scrape both of my hands down my face, shaking my head as I picked my phone up, “I’m going to respond.”

“Do it,” Beck encouraged with a nod of her head.

Me: No problem.

I sent that, and then immediately groaned. I pushed my plate out of the way so I could drop my head to the table appropriately, considering how humiliating my texting game was at the moment.

“No problem? T, what the hell is wrong with you?” Courtney asked after looking at my phone, “Just tell her you want to kiss her again.”

“Yeah,” I lifted my head, staring wide-eyed at Courtney, “Good idea.” I must have looked insane because Courtney’s brows rose as she subtly leaned away from me in her seat. Shethrew Beck a look, but I focused on my phone as I sent my own double text.

I was going to send what Courtney suggested word for word, but I thought about it for two more seconds and decided to go a flirtier route, just in case she wanted to gently turn me down.

Me: If you need me to scare off any more of your exes, I’m only a text away now.

There. That felt a little better.

God, this woman.

Courtney snorted next to me, indicating that she read what I sent over my shoulder.

I set my phone down and focused on taking bites of food. Desperate not to spiral and wait for those dancing three dots to show up at the bottom of the screen.

Nicole was a CFO.

She was probably very busy.

She probably wouldn’t see that text until later—

Bzzzz.

“What’d she say?” Beck asked, leaning toward me from the other side of the table.

My phone was already in my hands, my eyes reading her text as fast as possible.

Nicole: What do you mean by that?

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand before thumbing a response. I needed to rip the band-aid off here. I needed to let her know I was interested. Very interested. If she wasn’t, she could put me out of my misery. I could redownload any of the dozens of dating apps I had and find someone else to hyper-fixate on.

Even though I’d never been hyper-fixated on anyone before.

Not even when I was in a committed relationship.

What I was experiencing now was new territory for me.

Me: I mean, I really enjoyed scaring off your ex. So, if you ever needed to again, we could even practice scaring off our ex in the future—you know, to get it *just* right. Or you can tell me to fuck off, and I will. Your call, babe.

I set the phone down, feeling more like myself.

“This is crazy,” I murmured to myself. The table was silent, which made me glance up to see all three of my friends studying me with a myriad of expressions.

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