Page 42 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
WHEN I GET backto my apartment and take my phone from my pocket to put it on the bedside table, I realise I’ve missed a few phone calls – all from the same person. I’ve had the ringer turned all the way down since I left the pub, and forgot to turn the sound back up.
I sit on my bed with my phone in my hand, undecided whether or not to call back. It’s only ten o’clock, so I don’t think it’s too late. But he might have been calling to tell me he’s changed his mind – that he doesn’t want to play this game with me anymore – and I don’t feel strong enough right now to handle that news.
I flip my phone over and over in my hand, not knowing what to do, before deciding that it changes nothing whether I speak to him today or tomorrow. So I gather my courage and call him. He picks up after four rings, his voice heavy with sleep – he probably nodded off on the sofa. I don’t know why I have such a clear image of that in my mind, but for some strange reason, it makes me smile.
“Did I wake you up?”
“No, no.” He clears his throat and I hear him moving around. “I just nodded off on the sofa for a few minutes.”
My smile reaches my ears, so wide that even he notices.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“Of course not. Why would I?”
“Because I fell asleep on the sofa at ten p.m.”
“It happens to me all the time.”
“I was marking tests,” he says, justifying himself. “But tiredness got the better of me.”
“I saw all your missed calls. I didn’t hear my phone – I must have left it on silent all night, and I only realised now.”
“I actually thought I’d caught you at work.”
“I was only working the lunch shift today. I had the evening off, so I went out.”
“Out?”
“With Jake,” I explain. I don’t want him to think I’m asking him to pretend to be with me, then running around with someone else. “For a beer.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation. If you wanted to go out with other men, then… You wouldn’t even have to tell me. You’re not tied down.”
“What about you?”
“Me… What?”
“D-Do you want to go out with other men?”
That came out horribly.
“I mean, if you really did want to see someone… While this whole thing is going on…” I say, trying to make things better. But it sounds stupid and illogical even to my ears.
“I’m not seeing anyone, and… I don’t want to see anyone.”
I let out a sigh of relief before realising that he might have heard it.
“Our fake dates are enough for me.”
I don’t know how to take that. It didn’t come out very well for him, either.
“But thanks.”
“Mmm?”
“For thinking of me.”
“I didn’t want to be a dick – not even a pretend one.”
