Page 57 of Mr. Wrong Number

Colin:Relax. I was just messing but you went radio silent fucking fast.

I rolled my eyes but laughed.

Me:Screw you, Beck.

Colin:I think you wanted to.

Me:Um, if I recall, you were the instigator.

Colin:You might be right, but you were all in, Livvie. Admit it.

Me:I wasn’t disgusted. How about that?

Colin:How about if your brother hadn’t come home, I think we might’ve...

Me:Don’t say it.

Colin:Totally ended up in my bed.

“Oh, my God.” I opened the door and went back into the dark apartment, freaking out and nearly running up the steps to the loft.

I bit down on my lip and texted:You might be right.

Colin:We both know I’m right.

That made me giggle; Colin was fun to flirt with. Who would’ve guessed that?

Me:So, um, can I have a thirty min nap tomorrow?

Colin:Seriously? I thought my bed was mine now.

Me:I still can’t sleep well because of my raft bed, jackwad. I’m only asking for thirty when you aren’t home. Don’t be stingy with your Purple.

Colin:Fine. You can have thirty, but you owe me.

I dropped down onto the air mattress, giggling yet again with full-on butterflies in my belly. I rolled onto my side, pulled the sheet over my shoulders, and closed my eyes, wholly disgusted with myself for having cliché butterflies.

Me:Swear to God I’d do almost anything to get some alone time with that mattress. We have a deal.

Colin:Btw, you do know that your brother can never know about what happened, right?

I pictured Jack yelling at Milo, my middle school boyfriend, when he walked in on us kissing in the backyard.

Me:Duh. He’d kill us both.

Colin:G’night, Olivia.

12

Olivia

“This was so fun, Olivia.”

I smiled and wanted to be struck by lightning. Glenda had called and invited me to lunch to talk about the column, and it’d been really nice for a while. We had delicious pizza at Zio’s and the woman was hilarious, but then she started talking about her kids. Asking about mine. Each time I gave a vague answer and then pulled anohmigosh, is that Tom Brady over there?type of distraction to lead the conversation away from our offspring.

But it was a screaming reminder that eventually, the whole thing reallywasgoing to go down in flames. It was only a matter of time, but instead of focusing on the downfall, I was concentrating on enjoying the ride.

“I know—we should do this again soon.” I finished my Diet Pepsi and pushed the glass up on the table. “Thanks for inviting me.”

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