Page 59 of Not Another Yesterday
“Yep.” I return to my bed and retake my seat.
He still doesn’t retreat, leaning against the doorframe, settling in. “Trouble in paradise?”
My eyes flit to my dad, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing Ronan and I hit a rough patch. “Nope.”
My phone begins to buzz again. Even though I’m still mad, the second I see his name on my screen my heart does that stupid flip it always does. And just like that, I’m smiling—against my better judgment. I pick up my phone, push the answer button, and demonstratively move my phone to my ear.
My dad gets the hint and shoves off the doorframe so I can speak with myboyfriendin private.
I take a deep breath. “Hey.”
“I miss you,” Ronan says.
And just like that, I fold into myself. “I miss you, too. But I’m still mad.”
He chuckles dryly. “I figured as much. Thanks for picking up this time.”
“I left my phone downstairs. I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose. Well, your last four calls at least,” I say with a giggle.
“I deserve that.”
Ugh, why does he have to be so self-sacrificing?I’d deserve for him to ignore me, too.
I decide against dredging up our argument over the phone. “What are you doing?”
“I just got to Murphy’s. Shane’s sick as a dog.”
“What? Oh no!”
“Yeah. He looks like death himself. Just before I left he started coughing so hard I thought he was going to throw up,” Ronan says. “How about you? What are you up to?”
Our conversation feels stilted, chilly even, but what do I expect? We need a second to rewarm to each other. “Just doing some school stuff. Do you… I probably shouldn’t come over then and wait for you tonight, right? With Shane sick?”
“No, definitely not. I don’t want you to catch whatever Shane has. I already texted Tori, too. I doubt she’ll stay away from her sick guy, but I at least had to give her a heads-up.”
“What if I don’t want to stay away from you?”
He chuckles, and I smile. He sounds like himself already. “Then you can come see me at Murphy’s anytime you like, but I’d prefer you not go to the apartment right now.”
“Okay. Want me to stop by tonight?” Relief eases the ache I hadn’t realized I was feeling in my bones.
“If you’re asking me if I want to see you, the answer is always yes. But I gotta be honest, I don’t know how much time I’ll have tonight. From what I can gather, Shane’s not the only one sick. Whatever is going around has me down three waiters,” Ronan grumbles. “We might have better luck tomorrow.”
It’s not perfect. But it’s a start.
Saturday, January 28th
Cat
Saturday morning, I call Ronan on his way to Murphy’s. “Please tell me Shane’s finally feeling better?”
Shane’s “plague,” as Ronan called it, has had him down all week. Even Tori warned me to steer clear of the apartment.
“I’m relying on the random coughs I hear from Shane’s room to assure myself he’s still alive,” Ronan told me during our phone call while he was on break at Murphy’s. Because of Shane’s sickness, Ronan has been filling in for Shane, working crazy hours, going straight from class to Murphy’s where he works until closing the place down, then does it all over again the next day.
I made it a point to stop by Murphy’s on Thursday and again last night just to catch a glimpse of Ronan. But we barely had a minute to ourselves, and we still haven’t had a real conversation about the fight. The unresolved tension gnaws at me, even though he’s been sweet, stealing kisses like nothing ever happened. But somethingdidhappen. And I need us to stop pretending it didn’t.
Ronan chuckles. “Well, he did finally emerge from his bedroom this morning looking a little less like the undead, so I’d say he’s on the up and up. He actually told me he’s feeling well enough to work tonight. I think he might just be going stir-crazy, but I sure as fuck ain’t going to fight him.”
