Page 50 of The Chances We Take

I rolled my eyes, reaching out to smack her arm. “Stop making fun of me!”

“You’re right. Wouldn’t want Reid to check you out too much.” She winked.

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m more worried about Mikey. Not Reid.”

“You’d be surprised.” She shrugged. “Seems he’s always trying to steal glances at you.”

“Whatever you say. But I doubt it.” I brushed her off.

“What’s holding you back? I feel like this is different than—” she started to play devil’s advocate, but a memory flashing in my mind distracted me.

“I have a really good feeling about this one, Ells.” I took a deep breath as I fluffed my hair in our house’s entryway mirror. Sam and I had been on five dates already, and I was confident we would make it official soon.

A car horn blared from outside.

“He’s here. I’ll see you later!” I waved at Ellison as I spun toward the door.

“Let me know how it goes!” she replied as I gave her a soft smile before closing the door behind me.

“Hey, cutie,” Sam greeted me as I slid into the passenger seat of his Camaro.

“Hey!” I ran my eyes up and down his outfit. He was dressed much more casually than I was, with jeans and a T-shirt in comparison to the black dress I was wearing. “What are we doing tonight?”

“I thought we could just hang out at my house. Roommates are out of town this weekend. Why?” He shrugged.

“Oh…” my voice trailed off. “I think I’m a bit overdressed then. I assumed we were going out.”

“Nah, you look hot.”

I blushed as he took one hand off the steering wheel and placed it on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.

When we got back to his house, we cooked dinner together, which was honestly better than any fancy restaurant anyway. I could picture us doing this every weekend, setting aside time to spend together like couples do.

“You look sexy as hell,” he whispered in my ear as we sat on his couch, watching a movie.

“I know.” I giggled right before he crashed his lips to mine. We’d never done anything physical up until this point, other than making out a few times. He’d expressed wanting to take things to the next level, but he’d been patient, letting me decide when I was ready. I didn’t miss the annoyance that flashed in his eyes whenever I’d stop us from going too far, though.

But it had already been a few weeks. Maybe taking that next step would be what we needed to make our relationship official.

The next morning, he drove me back home and gave me a kiss on the cheek before I got out of the car, but nothing had been made official yet. I chalked it all up to waiting for the right moment. Asking me to be his girlfriend right after sex wasn’t exactly the most romantic thing.

“How did it go?” Ellison was waiting for me when I walked in the door.

“It finally happened,” I blurted out.

“He asked you to be his girlfriend?” Her eyes widened, and my heart dropped.

“Oh, well, n-no,” I stuttered. “But we took things to the next level, you know.”

“Are you happy about that?” she asked.

“Yeah! Yeah, for sure.” It was only a half-lie. “It was necessary, I think. I’m sure we’ll be official any day now.”

But instead of asking me to be his girlfriend, Sam ghosted me. And then one night at a bar, I saw him with another girl on his arm.

“It’s fine, Ells.” Reality came flooding back in. “I’m just not going to get my hopes up.” I knew too well what getting your hopes up for a guy led to.

Disappointment. That’s what.

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