Page 69 of Clichés & Curses

I arched an eyebrow. ‘You mean, you weren’t planning on taking me out to dinner?’

‘Of course I was,’ she said, putting down her glass on the coffee table. ‘But at least this way, you’re motivated to finish the assignment and not procrastinate.’

‘Oh, come on,’ I whined. ‘I only have one part left; I can finish it tonight.’

‘Nope,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘We’re not leaving until you finish.’

‘Ugh, fine,’ I groaned before picking up my laptop and started getting to work. My brain rejuvenated with the promise of good food as the reward.

As I was finishing up the last paragraph, I heard another knock on the door. I was about to get up and see who it was when Eliza stopped me.

‘I’ll get it,’ she declared, standing up to greet whoever was at the door.

Letting Eliza handle the distraction, I continued my work, my attention laser-focused on finishing this up, as I was getting closer to the end.

I was typing out the last line when I heard Eliza call out to me. ‘Clara! There’s someone here to see you.’

I wrote out the last word and the final full stop, and saved the document. Standing up from the couch, I headed to the front door to see who it could possibly be.

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw who it was.

It was Colton.

‘Colton,’ I exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’

From my peripheral vision, I could see Eliza’s eyes darting between Colton and me. ‘I’ll let you two talk,’ she told us. When she passed me, she whispered, ‘He’s cute.’

I quickly shushed her, scared that Colton might’ve picked up on what she said.

Eliza just let out a small laugh. My gaze followed her as she went back to her spot on the couch, leaving me and Colton alone at the door. Once I was sure she was out of ear range, I let out a small exhale before turning to face the unexpected guest at the door.

Colton greeted me with a beautiful smile and butterflies immediately started erupting in my stomach.

I missed that smile.

‘Hey, partner,’ he said.

I gave him a big smile of my own in return. ‘Hey, partner.’

I couldn’t help but start fidgeting, not really knowing where I should put my hands.

After spending so much time with Colton, I had gotten pretty comfortable around him. But the last time we had seen each other was for the not-date previous Saturday, and this was the first time we were seeing one another since. I was just fully unprepared for his unexpected arrival—in my apartment of all places.

I tried coming up with something to say, when it hit me that he might have just gotten back in town from the away game. ‘Did you just arrive back in town?’

‘Yeah,’ he nodded. ‘Just a little over an hour ago.’

‘Oh! And congratulations on winning the game by the way,’ I continued, as I remembered them winning against the opposing team. ‘I know I already texted you, but I thought I would say it in person.’

When I had finished my class the day before, the first thing I did was look up the score of the game. Seeing that they had won, I immediately sent a text to Colton congratulating him. His reply came only a moment later, with him telling me they had just finished the game, and were making plans to celebrate the win while they were still in a different town for another night.

That day’s conversation had been initiated by Colton, with a little good-morning text. But with me trying to finish up my assignments to free up my weekend, I had told him I wouldn’t be able to reply to his texts as much. The last one that I had read from him was him telling me they were on their way back. I hadn’t looked at my phone since then, so I wasn’t sure if he had texted me again.

‘Thanks,’ he replied shyly, before playfully adding, ‘And just to let you know, Ididhit a home run.’

I let out a small laugh. ‘Yeah, I know.’

At that, a questioning look covered his face. His eyebrows furrowing at my words.

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