Page 95 of Exactly What I Needed
Locking my phone, I quickly put it away as the bell rang, signaling the next period was starting. I’d barely had a chance to touch my food as Elysia stood from her seat.
“Don’t worry. He’s obviously head over heels for you. You’ll be fine through all of this.” She smiled, walking toward my door.
“I’m more worried that Sydney might figure it out.”
“Eh, she’s oblivious to you unless she needs you. I doubt she has a clue.” Elysia flicked a hand, waving away the worries, and then disappeared out into the hallway. I shoveled down as much food as I could before my students started filtering in.
I took my sweet time driving home. One, I didn’t want to end the phone call with Asher. He was obviously upset that I wasn’t coming over, but he understood. He offered to come see me but then remembered my situation with my roommate. So, we just chatted. About anything and everything. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Teasing each other, flirting, some dirty talk as well, were of course mixed in with everything.
And somehow, I was pulling into my driveway sooner than I’d hoped. Even after taking the long way home, making it so the sun had set, I was here.
“I’m home,” I whispered, and Asher sighed.
“Check your email when you have a minute, okay, Princess?” he replied.
“Okay?”
“It’s nothing bad. In fact, you should probably look at it before you talk with Sydney,” he quickly said.
“Okay,” I quietly murmured, my shoulders sagging.
“I’ll see you soon. I promise. Everything will be fine. Especially after the concert. Everyone will forget about the pictures.” His voice was soft and tender.
“You know, I don’t get why everyone is calling me the slut. You’re the one with your hand in your pants,” I grumbled, and he laughed. Someone in the background laughed.
“Right? The internet should be calling Asher a horndog,” Kieron shouted through the speaker, and I giggled.
“How’d he hear that?” I asked.
“I put you on speaker for like one second because I needed both my hands to put food on my plate for dinner,” Asher sheepishly said, and I giggled again.
“Thank you for having my back, Kieron,” I replied loudly.
“I’ve got you, girl!” he shouted in response.
“Let me know if anything interesting happens with Sydney,” Asher cut back into the conversation.
“Sounds good.”
Silence.
More silence.
“I’ll see you soon, Princess. I miss you,” he whispered tenderly.
“I miss you too.” I couldn’t believe those words were coming out of my mouth. I saw him this morning. Man, was I this clingy? No, it was just the circumstances feeling so up in the air.
“Asher?” I quickly added before he could hang up.
“Yeah?” His voice sounded desperate, excited that I had something more to say.
“You know I don’t want any clout, right? I didn’t do this.”
He chuckled. “I’m very aware that you would never do this. Even if I think at some point, you should dosomethinglike this. You know, concerning something else that should have some publicity with it.”
Duvaldi. He was telling me to go public with my identity.
“Ha. Ha. You make the funniest jokes,” I taunted, and could hear him roll his eyes.
