Page 74 of A Lot to Unpack
‘I didn’t ask Pete out on a date,’ I say eventually.
‘He said you were talking on WorkM8,’ he replies.
‘Yeah, and we were,’ I continue. ‘Just about work and stuff, until earlier today, when you called me new girl – that’s my username on there – so I stupidly assumed I had been talking to you, and that was your way of letting me know.’
He doesn’t respond at first. He just looks at me, his expression totally unreadable.
‘I swear, I wouldn’t have…’ I break off, shaking my head as I try to find the right words. ‘I wouldn’t have made a plan with Pete knowing that it was him. I really thought it was you. I thought we were… picking up where we left off last night. That’swhy, when you mentioned it to me in person, I gave you the same time and location. I felt even more sure it was you.’
‘So, for no reason other than me calling you the new girl, you assumed you had been chatting to me on an app?’ he checks. ‘You didn’t know the name of who you were talking to?’
‘Well, only the username – MrLoveByte,’ I reply.
He tilts his head slightly, still not really giving much away.
‘You really thought that I would have the username MrLoveByte?’ he says in disbelief.
‘Okay, when you say it like that…’ I rub my face with both hands. ‘I didn’t really think that bit through.’
Finally, a flicker – the slight curl at the corners of his mouth. I narrow my eyes at him, trying to read him. Eventually he starts laughing.
‘I am on WorkM8, but under my actual name,’ he tells me. ‘MrLoveByte wouldn’t make a great name for the boss, would it?’
‘Probably not,’ I reply. ‘So… you’re not mad at me?’
‘Mad?’ he says. ‘Why would I be mad? You’ve explained, it makes sense, all good.’
‘All good?’ I say in disbelief.
‘Do you want me to shout at you or something?’ he asks. ‘Get really jealous and punch a hole in the drywall?’
‘I mean, to the second one, kind of, yeah, because that sounds hot as hell,’ I reply. ‘I’m surprised, that’s all. You’re taking this really well. In my experience, things don’t usually go smoothly. Or end well. It’s just my luck, to have things go tits up, and really unlikely that they’ll simply go right again, by magic.’
‘Well, perhaps this isn’t your luck,’ he replies. ‘Perhaps it’s mine.’
I smile at him.
‘Maybe,’ he continues, walking slowly towards me, ‘it’s not going right by magic. Maybe everything is fine – better than fine. Great, even.’
The air between us shifts. It doesn’t just warm – it heats up rapidly. He’s close now – not too close, but close enough that my breath feels heavy.
‘It’s only a misunderstanding,’ he replies. ‘One that is easily explained. It doesn’t need to be a thing, just, you know – MrLoveByte? Really?’
I laugh.
‘I really thought it was you,’ I insist.
He stops in front of me.
‘And here I was thinking I was special,’ he continues.
‘You are,’ I say immediately, too honest to stop myself.
He watches me, his eyes darting back and forth between mine and my lips. ‘I thought you’d be able to tell. That if you were talking to me, you’d know…’
‘Looking back, there really was no reason to think it was you,’ I practically whisper. ‘But maybe that was just… wishful thinking. I mean, everything so far has felt like a fairytale. And wouldn’t it have been the most magical thing, if it was you?’
He laughs softly, shaking his head.
