Page 76 of Come Back to Bed
17
Matt
I guess I’m Emoji Guy now.
I didn’t want to say what I have to say to Bernadette in a text, and I didn’t want tonotrespond. So I literally just played emoji roulette, and when I saw that I’d sent her a fucking red high heeled shoe I thought, “well at least it wasn’t anything cute.”
And then I spent half an hour mentally kicking myself because I’m a fucking stud and I just sent the woman I’ve been having sex with an emoji of a shoe.
The next half hour was spent walking Daisy and explaining to her that we’d probably have to go back to living in a hotel for a while.
And now that I’ve opened up my laptop to check out some housing options, I get a text from Bernadette:Are you home? Are you up? Can I come over?
I think about it for a few seconds, before replying with a zombi emoji.
Because she’s created a monster.
She responds with a hot dog emoji.
I guess this is fun.
I can see through the crack under the front door that she’s lurking outside and doesn’t want to knock.
I’ve completely unbuttoned my shirt, and I’m not doing it up again. If she wants to talk to me, she’s going to have to deal with my thoughts and my feelings and my abs. All of them.
I open the door and rest one hand against the frame, one on the doorknob. Thankful that she’s still wearing that dress, but probably not revealing it in my expression. “Good evening.”
She stares directly at my pecs, blinks twice, and then says: “Hello.” She clears her throat. “Do you have time to talk?”
I allow her to step inside, but stay near the door instead of leading her to the living room. “What’s up?” I cross my arms in front of my chest.
“I’m sorry if you…if you didn’t have a good time at the party. I wish I could have left with you, but you know. I had to stay a bit longer. Work.”
“I know.”
“Nothing…I mean, in case you were wondering, nothing happened with Sebastian. He was just in a weird mood. He isn’t usually like that with me. At all.”
“A dress like that can do that to a man.”
She frowns at me as she places her fists on her hips. “I think…things have gotten weird between us.”
“I agree. I actually felt jealous when I saw you laughing with that good-looking guy friend of yours tonight. Not a good sign.”
She smirks. “Who—Tommy? He’s gay.”
“Well, I know that now.”
She searches my face for clues as to how I feel, but she’s not going to find anything. People rarely do. But I like to watch her study me. She’s really looking. She sees more than most.
I take a deep breath before saying: “This situation of ours isn’t working anymore.”
She appears to be completely crestfallen. I’m glad.
“Yeah. I think so too.” Her voice trembles. “We should end it now.”
“What I mean is,” I say, as I reach out for her hand, “we should stop pretending this isn’t a real thing between us. I can’t tell you that I’m not going to fall for you anymore, because I have, and you’re falling for me too, and I say we just fucking go for it.”
I pull her in towards me and wrap my arms around her.
