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Liam seemed to like hearing that because his face broke out in a big smile. “I’m glad you had a good time. I think you got some really great shots to add to your portfolio.”

I nodded my head as I removed my beanie and put it in my coat pocket. “Thank you. I’m going to try to get it turned in this week. I know the deadline isn’t until the following week, but I want to get it done so I can stop obsessively worrying about it.” I gave Liam a small smile and chuckle so he’d know I was joking…well, kind of joking.

Liam smiled back and took a big step towards me. Was he going to kiss me? It felt like it could be that kind of moment. Did I want him to kiss me? Why was I not more excited about the idea of him kissing me? Shouldn’t I be freaking out with excitement? I mean, we had a moment on the beach. It had to count for something, right? Were we building up to the sparks?

Liam reached forward and touched my cheek as he continued to stare into my eyes. “Good night, beautiful Anna. When can I see you again?”

“Do you want to get dinner sometime this week?” I knew we both had really busy schedules, so dinner seemed like an easy option. Plus, I was always down to eat.

“That’d be great. Text me about what nights work for you, and we’ll make plans.” Liam dropped his hand from my cheek, to my shoulder, and then down to my hand giving it a quick squeeze as he pulled away. “I’ll see you soon, Anna.”

Why wasn’t he kissing me? Was I upset he wasn’t kissing me? Or was I really fine with it? Why wasn’t I feeling crushed with disappointment? What the hell was I actually feeling? Ugh! Why was I suddenly so confused about what was happening with Liam? Being with Liam had been so easy and enjoyable. Why did I suddenly have so many questions? I tried to push the racing thoughts out of my head as I walked over to shut the door behind Liam. “Good night, Liam. Thank you again for today.”

Liam gave me a wave as he started down the walkway to the stairs. I could feel a small smile slowly creep up on my face as I shut the door. I leaned up against the closed door for a moment as I thought about my day with Liam. All things considered, it had been a really good day.

For the first time, I realized the apartment was completely silent, which meant Bree and Sarah were out somewhere. I briefly wondered where they were as I took my photography equipment back into my bedroom.

It wasn’t until I flopped down on my bed that I remembered I’d turned my phone off and stuffed it in my purse earlier in the day. I assumed there would be messages from Bree and Sarah about what they were doing. We always tried to check in with each other so someone would know where we were. I quickly got up and went back out to where I’d hung my coat and grabbed my phone from my purse. I powered it on and returned to lay on my bed. It wasn’t too long until the familiar chime rang out indicating there were messages.

Sure enough, the first message was from Bree. “Not sure when you’ll be home, but Sarah and I are going to the movies if you want to come.” It was followed immediately with a second message, also from Bree. “Tell Liam no need to rush you home.” The message included several winking and kiss face emojis.

I rolled my eyes as I opened a message from Sarah. “We’re on our way to the movie. We’ll bring home some popcorn with extra butter for you. Hope you’re having a good time with Liam!”

My girls were so good to me. I started to wonder what movie they’d gone to see when my phone let me know there was another message. My heart started racing when I saw it was actually two from Mason. I sat up on my bed and crossed my legs under me as I opened the first message. “Best way to fix things after making them totally awkward?” I didn’t give myself any time to think about the first message before I opened the second one. “Asking for a friend who may have completely screwed things up with a really great girl.”

My stomach fluttered. Was he talking about me? Was I the “great girl”? Is that what he thought of me? If so, where the hell had he been all weekend? I quickly typed out a message before I could completely overthink the entire situation. “Are you sure I’m the one you should be asking advice from? My relationship history isn’t stellar.” I hit send then realized there was no reason to make the situation any more complicated than it needed to be and quickly sent a second message. “Maybe your friend should ask the girl if they can just move forward?”

I stared at my phone for a few minutes, and when there was no response, I got up and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Staring at the completely blank screen was making me nervous and I needed something else to do. When I came back into my bedroom and looked at my phone laying on my bed, there was a new message. “Can we please move forward?”

Holy shit…he was talking about me! I felt my face break into a huge smile as I sat down on my bed and typed a response. “Of course we can, Mason. That’s the great thing about someone you’ve never met, no reason to hold on to the past.” I included a smiling emoji to let him know I intended the message to be lighthearted. Mason’s constant use of emojis was starting to wear off on me.

Mason’s response was almost immediate. “Good. I missed talking to you these past few days.”

I felt my pulse speed up. “Yeah? Well, I have to admit, it was awfully quiet without my phone constantly dinging with new messages.”

“I’m going to take it that you missed me too?”

I could feel my smile get even bigger. “Maybe something like that.” Dammit! What was I doing? I’d just spent the day with Liam and not even an hour after he’d dropped me off, I was starting down the flirty text path with Mason. I decided I needed to switch the conversation to a much safer topic. “So, what have you been doing the past few days?” I asked.

“Working.”

I waited for another message with a bit more elaboration, and when it was clear there wasn’t going to be one, I decided to just go ahead and ask about his work…stay on the safe topic. A friendly, non-flirty topic. “All weekend? That sucks! Why did you have to work all weekend? Big project?” I didn’t remember him mentioning anything big, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something.

I could see the bubbles pop up indicating Mason was typing something before they would disappear and come back up again. It happened a few times before his answer finally came through. “Was trying to get my mind off of something so I did it to keep busy.”

“Everything OK?” I quickly asked back as I ran my tongue over my lower lip before gently biting down on it.

“It seems to be getting better.” Why was he being so vague? Was he referring to us not talking? Or something about our last conversation? Surely that couldn’t be it…or could it? Why was I feeling so excited about the possibility it was? My phone buzzed with another incoming message. “What did you end up doing this weekend?”

“Worked on putting my portfolio together for the Spring Art Show.” Shit. Looked like it was my turn to be vague.

“Did you see him?”

“Who?” I typed back even though I knew exactly who Mason was talking about. I sincerely hoped he’d just drop it. This was the kind of territory I didn’t want our conversations wandering into.

“The coffee date guy,” Mason persisted.

Oh fucking hell. My stomach dropped and I could feel my palms getting sweaty. The conversation was about to take a really bad turn. I could feel it. “Why are you asking, Mason?”

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