Page 74 of Right Number

“I have no idea what you are doing, but OK.” I mean, kissing Mason was hotter than any other kiss I’d ever experienced, so it wasn’t like I was going to put up any resistance to his demand. I leaned in, and what started out as a soft and gentle kiss soon became intense and needy. Like every kiss with Mason, it lit me on fire and took my breath away.

All too soon, Mason pulled his lips away from mine. “That,” he whispered breathlessly against my lips. “That’s how I know we’ll make it work.”

I started laughing as I realized what he’d done. “Did you just use my own words against me?”

Mason joined in my laughter. “Well, we don’t have the rain pouring down around us…” The rest of whatever Mason was going to say was lost as I quickly pressed my lips against his.

He was right. We would make it work.

“WATCHA DOING?”

I rubbed my eyes as I read the message from Mason. I decided to take a picture instead of explaining in words. I quickly held my phone up and snapped a selfie of me laying in bed. When I looked at the picture, I laughed. My hair was a tangled mess that had fallen out of the ponytail I’d thrown it into the night before. I also had visible, dark circles under my eyes, partially because I’d done a piss-poor job of washing my makeup off the previous night, and partially because I was so damn tired. I went ahead and sent the picture. “Wish you were here,” I wrote.

“Fuck…me too,” was his immediate response. It was quickly followed by, “I’m going to get in trouble for receiving super sexy pictures of my girlfriend in bed while I’m at work.”

I laughed. “I’m not super sexy. I’m tired. I was up until four this morning writing that stupid English paper.”

“First of all, you in bed anytime is hot as hell.” Mason was sure to include a series of fire emojis in his message. Him and those damn emojis. “Secondly, did you get it finished?”

“I did.” I couldn’t help but chuckle as I awaited his response. The paper wasn’t actually due until the following Monday, but there was a very specific reason I’d been up late, busting my ass to get it done.

“So…does that mean your weekend is free?” Mason followed his text with a winking emoji.

“Sorry, busy this weekend,” I texted back with a smile on my face.

“You’re going to be gettin’ busy once I get there.” I laughed out loud at his cheesy response, but I also couldn’t help but squeeze my thighs together and wiggle a little as I thought about seeing Mason for the weekend. It had been almost a month since the Spring Art Show, which meant it had also been almost a month since the last time we’d seen each other in person. Actually, it had been twenty-eight and a half days. Or six-hundred and eighty-four hours…or forty-one thousand and forty minutes. However you chose to look at it.

“I think I might be able to pencil you in.” I sent him a second message with a pencil emoji. I was such a smartass. Good thing Mason appreciated it.

“You’d better do more than pencil me in. We have celebrating to do.”

I sat up in bed as I read his last message. I waited for a moment to see if another message came through explaining what it was we were supposed to be celebrating. When nothing popped up on the screen, I quickly typed out, “You can’t leave me hanging like that! What are we celebrating?”

“Maybe I’ll just keep it a surprise until my flight gets in.”

I quickly took a picture of myself making an exaggerated kissing face and flipping the middle finger. He knew I hated surprises and was going to torment me as long as possible. As I looked at the picture on my screen I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. For so long I’d been worried about sending Mason a picture of myself and there I was, sending him pictures like it was nothing. That was the thing about my relationship with him… I’d come to realize he liked me just as I was, whether it be in my pajamas having just woken up, dressed up to go out with the girls, wearing my daily uniform of jeans and a black shirt, or just making silly faces. He liked it all because he liked…well, me. It was an incredible feeling.

I looked down at my phone and saw there was a picture message from Mason. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open like he was shocked. I laughed as I scrolled through my phone until I found the perfect puppy meme to send him. Even I had to admit the puppy in the picture was adorable as it looked up with its big brown eyes. It had “I’m sorry” written across the top and “Please forgive me” across the bottom. If anything was going to get Mason to spill his secret about what we were celebrating, it was going to be a puppy or kitty meme.

“You’re forgiven.” That message was quickly followed by a second message. “You know I can’t resist a puppy meme.”

“It’s my secret weapon. Now, tell me what we’re celebrating.” I was growing impatient. It had to be something big or he wouldn’t be drawing it out. I waited while the bubbles popped up on the bottom of the screen indicating he was typing, then disappeared and reappeared. I pulled my lower lip between my teeth as I waited for his response. When the bubbles disappeared for the second time, I quickly typed out, “Mason, you’re killing me! Just spill it!”

“I got a promotion…a big one.” I let out a little squeal of excitement as I quickly pushed the button to call Mason.

“Hello?” he said with a chuckle.

“Mason! Congratulations! Tell me everything!” I was so excited for him. The actual, technical aspects of his job still completely mystified me no matter how many times he tried to explain it. When Mason went into detail about software engineering, it sounded like he was speaking an entirely different language. I did know, however, he was incredibly talented and worked really hard for the company that employed him.

Mason chuckled again. “Well, it’s kind of funny…”

“What’s funny about you getting a promotion?” I interrupted. I was failing to see how news that good could be funny.

“Well, remember the project I was working on right before we met in person?”

“Oh, you mean the evil project that caused you to miss your flight?” I said casually.

Mason let out another chuckle. “To be fair, there was the accident on the freeway…”

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