Page 66 of Totally Played
Shit, this isn’t going to be easy. I check my flights and send off my reply.
ASH: I leave in a few days, and then I am not sure when I’ll be back. It’s an open-ended ticket. If it goes well, it won’t be long.
CALVIN: I guess we can just see when we are back in Savannah, then. They’re calling us onto the bus. Chat soon.
ASH: Have a great flight.
Calvin doesn’t reply, probably busy getting his shit onto the bus to head to the airport. Am I just worrying about nothing? He had to get to his flight. It’s not that he wanted to go; he had to leave. But he could have woken me. I would have been happy to get up early and have breakfast with him. I should have set my alarm and gotten up early and made him something or driven him to the field or to the airport. I could have dropped him.
I get to the office about the same time Calvin’s flight would be taking off. Duckie has posted a couple of shots on his feed of the team, all waiting in line to get through security and a selfie on the plane with a bunch of the guys in the background. I can’t see Calvin, though.
Fuck. I haven’t been this strung out over a guy in forever. But this is all new to him, and I really don’t want to scare him away. I spot Red grabbing a coffee downstairs at the coffee cart across the road and head his way.
“Hey, are we ready with that video yet?” I ask before placing my order with the barista.
Red shrugs. “It hasn’t crossed my desk yet, but he can’t be too far off. How was last night?” he asks, and I know he isn’t asking about specifics, but my reply is clearly not what he’s expecting because when I say, “We had sex and then I woke up alone this morning,” he spits out his sip of coffee.
“Umm, not what I meant, but okay. We can talk about that,” he replies, grabbing a napkin from the counter as the barista smirks and makes a start on my coffee. I couldn’t care less if she heard me. She’s probably had the same thing happen to her in the past. It’s not a new thing to wake up alone after a hookup, but I didn’t think last night was just a hookup. What is between Calvin and me is so much more than that. I saw that last night. I felt it. I am totally and completely in love with him.
“So, you… Did the thing and then he left before you woke up,” Red repeats slowly, like he’s trying to make sure he says it right.
“Yeah, he had to get to the field to meet the team.”
“Well, then that’s not just running away, he had to get to the field. If he was late, the coaches would tear into him, right?”
“I guess. But he could have woken me up. I sleep pretty light; he would have had to really creep out to not wake me.”
His brow furrows, and it’s like I can see the cogs turning in his head.
“He probably thought you looked too peaceful to wake. You should ask him. Did you message him this morning?”
“Yeah, but not about that. I mean, I don’t want to really just say hey, did you run away this morning because you regretted last night?”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t just ask a guy that.”
“Why not?”
The barista passes over my takeaway cup with a soft smile.
“I agree with your friend here. Just ask him. It’s better to know now before you are too deep into it.”
I give her a smile and nod as a reply, tipping her my change, which was probably way too much. I think I handed her a twenty. Oh well.
Red and I make a start toward the office doors.
“I think it’s too late,” I say, sipping the hot drink, the creamy milk coating my mouth and warming my chest.
“You can call him,” Red offers, but I shake my head.
“Not about that. I think it’s too late to know before getting too deep. I think I might love this guy.”
Red stops in the doorway and turns to face me.
“You love him?”
“Yeah, I do.”
