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There was a long pause before he finally sent a message. “Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we met?”

I sat up straighter. Holy shit. That was not the reply I’d been expecting. I mean, yeah, of course I’d thought about it, but more like in a fantasy way, not in a “really happening” way. I chewed my bottom lip as I responded. “What brought this on?”

“Everyone I’m out with is trying to meet someone. I want to meet you.”

I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. “Are you serious?” There was no way he could be serious, could he?

“Absolutely. I really like you, Anna. Why not go ahead and meet?” Oh boy. He really was serious. Shit.

I hesitantly typed out a response. “What if we meet and don’t click? What if we’re better just talking to each other?”

“What if we meet and it’s amazing?” Mason countered. His message was quickly followed by another. “I’m sitting in a crowded bar texting with you. I don’t want to talk to anyone here. I just want to talk to you.” I stared at the two messages, unsure of what to say next. I didn’t know the right answer and I was still shocked as hell he was suddenly talking about meeting in person. My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down to see a third message from Mason. “Am I totally off base here?”

I decided to answer honestly. “I like talking to you too, but that’s a really big and scary leap to take when things are as good as they are.”

“What if they could be better? What if this could really be something?” He sounded so optimistic…like it would all be so easy.

In my mind, the reality of the situation was far from easy. “So, what if we meet and it’s great? Then what? I have another year of school and a life here. You have a job you love and a life there. How would that work?”

“People do long-distance relationships all the time. We can make it work.” Jesus. Now he was jumping from just “meeting” to “in a relationship.” It was too much, too fast. Even under the best of circumstances, one of us was still ultimately going to have to uproot our life and move to be with the other person. We couldn’t just be long distance forever. For the first time in my life, I’d settled in somewhere. I had friends, a lease on an apartment that wasn’t month to month, and it was almost time to register for my last fall semester. I finally owned more than what would fit in a suitcase, and the address on my driver’s license actually matched where I was living. I wasn’t ready to throw all of that away to move somewhere and start over.

I decided to go ahead and put my fears out there even if it wasn’t spilling everything about my chaotic childhood. “To what end? Ultimately one of us is going to have to move and totally change their life. I’m not sure I can do that.”

“Why are you being so hesitant about this? Do you not want to meet?”

OK, so he didn’t take it how I intended it. I quickly typed out, “No. It’s not that. This is just a really big deal.”

“Does this have something to do with Coffee Guy?” I stared at Mason’s message for a moment. Did it have something to do with Liam? Is that why I wasn’t jumping with joy at the idea of meeting Mason? The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the answer was “no.” It didn’t have anything to do with Liam; it had more to do with the fact a sane, rational person wouldn’t just jump on a plane at a moment’s notice and be ready to start a relationship, would they? I chewed my lower lip for a moment. Actually, it was the exact kind of thing Bev would do, which was all the more reason why it was a bad idea. In fact, the last time I’d talked to her she was headed to the Southwest following some guy she’d met at the last restaurant she worked in. I was not going to be my mother. I’d already towed the line with Oliver, and I wasn’t going to do it again.

“Why would you ask that?” I finally messaged Mason. I wasn’t sure why he suddenly brought up Liam into all of it.

“Answer me, Anna. Does not wanting to meet me have something to do with Coffee Guy?” I didn’t like the tone of Mason’s message and it felt like the conversation was getting way off track.

“I never said I didn’t want to meet you,” I quickly wrote back to him.

“But you don’t seem excited about it either.” Before I could write anything back, a whole series of messages came in rapid fire succession. “Are things serious with you and Coffee Guy?”

“Does he know you talk to me?”

“Does he know you have dreams about kissing me?”

“Or does it not even matter because you are too busy actually kissing him?”

“Do you kiss him, Anna? Is he there with you right now?”

Dammit! Everything had gone completely off the rails. Mason’s messages were coming so quickly, I couldn’t even type a response before another one appeared on my screen. Finally, I managed to type a message and send it. “MASON, STOP!” My hands were shaking and I was breathing heavily. It was intense having the messages come flying at me. Once I caught my breath, I sent another one. “You’re sending messages so quickly, you’re not even giving me a chance to respond.” I waited for a few moments to see if he was going to send any more. When there was nothing, I typed, “Do you really want me to answer all of those?”

“Do you have something to hide?”

I was taken aback at his response. We’d always been open with each other and I didn’t like the implication I was hiding something. I furrowed my brows as I reread his message. “Why are you acting like this?” I finally asked.

“Like what? Asking questions? We ask and answer questions with each other all the time, Anna.”

“You’re acting like a total asshole,” I wrote to Mason. I was mad. I had no idea where his hostility was coming from or why he was acting the way he was, but I didn’t like it at all.

“I think the fact you’re not answering speaks volumes.”

I’d gone from mad to completely fuming. The way he was talking to me was unlike anything I’d experienced from him before and I wasn’t going to stand for it. “Don’t fucking talk to me like that, Mason.”

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