Page 46 of Absolutely Not in Love
Ican’ttext Gracie. I don’t have her number.
I lean back into my couch in frustration. Except,wait.I do have her lease agreement.
Somewhere,anyway. I’m not sure I ever printed it out, but I did save it in a digital folder on my laptop. I move to the desk in my bedroom and sit down, booting up my laptop. It takes a couple minutes of searching, but I finally pull up the lease agreement and find the number.
I scribble it out on a post-it note and carry it back into the living room, where I stick it to the trunk full of my grandmother’s vinyl and sit down.
It is not lost on me that I’m in a standoff with a post-it note.
And it feels like I’m losing.
I open the trunk and pull out a record—Copland’sAppalachian Spring—and load it onto the turntable. Music fills the room, immediately calming my nerves, but making me no less certain about what I should do here.
Probably nothing.
I’m overthinking.
“To hell with it,”I mutter, reaching for the post-it. I quickly type the number into my phone and send a text.
Felix:Hey. Sorry if this is weird. I grabbed your number off your lease agreement. Just wanted you to know there are leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry. And the key on the counter is yours.
Felix:Assuming I’m already in bed when you get home.
Felix:Not that you need to rush. Wherever you are is cool.
Felix:I mean, I hope it’s cool?
Felix:I’m going to stop now.
I read back over my texts and groan. Could I sound any more ridiculous?
When the dancing dots show up at the bottom of my screen, I jump up, then sit down again. She’s typing. The dots disappear. She’snottyping?
They appear again.
I scrub a hand across my face and wait.
Gracie:Hey! I’m so glad you found my number. I’ve been wanting to text you all night.
Okay.That has to be a good sign.
Gracie:I’m actually at the hospital with my dad.
Felix:Is everything okay?
Gracie:We think so. He had some chest pains, and they’ve done a bunch of tests, but so far, everything has come back normal. They want to monitor him for another hour or so before they let him go.
Felix:I’m glad it’s nothing serious. How are you holding up?
Gracie:I feel like maybe they need to monitorMEfor an hour, but I’ll be okay. I get a little stressed hanging out with my family, but it’s nothing I’m not already used to.
Felix:I know that feeling.
Gracie:It’ll probably be late when I get home. But I promise I’ll lock up.
Felix:Will you let me know if there’s anything I can do for you?
Gracie:If you’re serious about the leftovers, that will be more than enough. I never did get dinner.
