Page 54 of Flirtasaurus
“Okay. Well, it was one of those dreams where your teeth are incredibly loose and swinging back and forth in your mouth like mini white doggy doors?”
“Surrrrrrrre,” he says uncertainly.
Yeah, he clearly has never had that recurring dream.
“So, my teeth are swinging back and forth, back and forth, and I’m walking through this town I’m not familiar with, constantly running into brick walls and needing to change directions. Every time I turn around, I come face-to-face with a different person who wants to talk to me. Every time I see one of them, my mouth fills up with all this… I dunno… flesh? I can’t speak. My mouth is too full of all this… crap. It’s heinous, and it’s scary. But the weird thing is, I’m not really worried about my health in those moments. I’m terrified these people will see me looking all weak and vulnerable with my swinging doggy door teeth and my fleshy filled-up mouth and think I’m… I dunno.
“Anyway, one by one, I wave people off. I find a dirty spoon in a dumpster, then literally scoop out my mouth when they can no longer see me. I do this over and over again, person after person, spoon after spoon… until I see you. Whenyouwalk around a brick wall and start walking toward me. I automatically smile, totally forgetting about my teeth and my mouth. Then I remember, and I slam my lips shut and cover my face with my hands. But I realize, when I saw you, and you started walking toward me… everything got better. My teeth are strong again. I can speak freely again.I feel… like me again.”
I turn to look at him, certain he tuned out at some point during that bit of ridiculousness.
He didn’t.
He’s staring right back at me.
His face gets serious. And let me tell you something. Serious Ralph is just as beautiful as smiley Ralph. Maybe even more so because everything gets stripped away, and all I can feel are those honest, soulful eyes gazing into mine, seeing things I’m not so sure I want them to see.
Also, I still can’t believe I’m crushing on a guy named Ralph.
“You’re something else,” he says softly.
Thump-bump.
Thump-bump.
Thump-bump.
I realize that we’re sitting a lot closer to each other than we were a few minutes ago. Did he move? Did I? Maybe we both did? And those heartbeat sounds. They’ve been happening the whole time we’ve been in here, right? So why do they sound so much louder?
I close my eyes, though I’m not entirely sure why. I become aware of the sound of his breathing now. So smooth and steady and…warm. Yup, warm. It breezes faintly against my ear, then brushes my face, giving me goose bumps. A big, warm hand cups my cheek, then gently turns my face so our noses are almost touching.
Thump-bump.
Thump-bump.
Thump-bump.
“Callie?” he rumbles.
“Hmm?”
“Look at me?”
I get brave and open my eyes, expecting him to say something. He doesn’t. Not with words anyway. His eyes, though. His eyes definitely ask me their version of “is this okay?”
I decide to leave words out of the equation too and just nod once, my eyes dipping down to his lips.
And in that last second before those lips inch forward and press softly against mine… I see them smile.
Chapter Twelve
Please don’t fire me, please don’t fire me, please don’t fire me.
Why would she move our advisor meeting up one day?
Oh right, because she’s going to fire me.
I lift my hand to knock on the sturdy oak door in front of me, but before I make contact, I hear a vibrant voice from inside say, “Enter!”
