Page 26 of Right Number

I sat down on my bed. “Do you really want me to answer that?” I asked.

“You realize by answering that way, you’re saying yes.”

I took a deep breath in. “Mason…don’t make this a thing.”

“Why?” was all he wrote.

I wrinkled my face up in confusion. What was he referring to? “Why not make it a thing?” I typed out.

“No. Why are you going on a date tonight?” That message was quickly followed by, “Is it Coffee Guy or someone else?”

Mason’s questions made me feel uneasy. I knew based on past experience, the conversation had a high likelihood of going to a dangerous place. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I was also starting to feel like it was none of his damn business. Mason and I weren’t in any type of committed relationship. He was my friend who lived on the other side of the freaking country. “Do you really want to know?” I tried to give him an opportunity to drop the conversation.

“Yes,” he quickly replied. So much for dropping it.

I sighed. I really hated the way the conversation was going with Mason, and Liam was going to be there any minute. I didn’t want to get into a sticky back-and-forth with Mason, only to have to bail when Liam arrived. However, I wasn’t going to hide what I was doing. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. “It’s Coffee Guy,” I confirmed.

“Are you dating him?” Mason asked.

I didn’t really know how to answer. Liam and I weren’t in any type of relationship or exclusively dating, but we had been out a few times. I should’ve cut the conversation with Mason off before it had gotten that far. I took a deep breath. “Mason, I don’t like talking about this and I’m done with the topic.” A few minutes ticked by with no response. That wasn’t good. He had been responding ultra-fast all evening. “Mason? Are you OK?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“That’s what people say when they’re not fine.” Screw it, I decided. If he wasn’t going to let it go and keep pushing, then I was going to push back. I had to ask him, what seemed to be, the big, unspoken question hanging in the air. “Mason, are you jealous?”

“No,” was his immediate reply. That was followed shortly by, “Maybe?” then by, “Would it matter if I was?”

I ran my fingers through my hair as I stared at the phone. “Mason, I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

“That you’re not going out with Coffee Guy tonight.”

“I can’t do that.” I quickly hit send after typing out the message. I was growing increasingly irritated at Mason and the direction of the conversation. I’d been up front with him about what was going on in my life, and it was starting to feel like I was being pulled in two different directions. There was Liam who wanted to date me, and Mason who I was friends with, who apparently didn’t want me dating Liam. I could feel my frustration level growing at the whole situation. Why did Mason keep pushing the conversation? And how could he be jealous?

“I’m sorry. I was totally out of line saying that,” Mason wrote back. “I think I should go. Have a good time tonight.”

Dammit! Ending the conversation that way didn’t feel right. I didn’t want Mason to be pissy, but I also didn’t know what he wanted from me. “Mason! Don’t end the conversation like this!” I waited for a response. Nothing.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at my bedroom door. “Anna, Liam’s here,” Bree’s voice came through the door.

“Thank you! I’ll be right out!” I shouted back to her.

I stared at my phone for a little longer. It was clear Mason wasn’t going to respond. Double dammit! What was he doing? Why was he acting like that? We’d never even actually met each other—how could he be jealous?

I tried to take a few deep, calming breaths and shake it off. I quickly applied another coat of lip gloss before I walked out of my room. After a few steps into the hallway, I stopped and turned around. I went back into my room and tossed my phone to the middle of my bed. I didn’t want any distractions, especially if I was going to give this thing between Liam and me an honest try.

AFTER A FEW MOMENTS of small talk with Bree and Sarah, Liam and I were in the car pulling away from my apartment building. Bree and I were still at an uneasy peace. We’d tried to talk it out, but ultimately it came down to us agreeing to disagree over the whole Liam and Mason situation.

“You look really beautiful tonight, Anna,” Liam said as we stopped at a red light.

I realized I’d been silently staring out the passenger window the entire time, which officially made me a terrible date. I took in a deep breath to try to re-center myself before turning to Liam. “Thank you,” I told him with a genuine smile. “You’re looking pretty good yourself.” It was true. Liam had replaced his usual well-worn jeans and flannel shirt with slacks and a crisp light blue button-down that made his eyes seem even more brilliant. It was one of the few times I’d seen him without a beanie, and his curly hair had a messy, tousled thing going on that was perfectly suited to him. “So, what’s the plan for tonight?” I asked as I realized I had no idea where we were going.

“Do you like Italian food?” Liam asked as he glanced over at me.

“There you go again with more of that sexy food talk,” I said as I playfully gave him an exaggerated wink.

Liam laughed. “I’m going to take that as a yes. There’s a really good place downtown I’d like to take you to.”

“That sounds great. And yes, I do love Italian food.” I leaned back in my seat as Liam continued to navigate through traffic towards downtown.

---