Page 55 of Our Secret Moments

I lock eyes with Catherine when I’ve finished my rant, her brown eyes soothing me. “That was a good answer, Connor. Thank you,” she whispers before dropping her eyes to her laptop.

“You’re a fucking poet, Bailey,” Wes exclaims, clasping his hands on my shoulders, shaking me. “You, like, completely spoke to my soul just then. I’m in awe.”

“Shut up,” I mutter, pushing him off me.

He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m serious, bro. You’d probably have Cat drooling over you by now if you talked like that all the time. Or try sexting or something, you’d probably get more action that way.”

“You’re so fucking stupid. You know that?” I murmur. He grins at me, triumphant.

He shrugs. “I’m just saying. She’s a journalism major. She probably gets wet over words alone.”

“Don’t use the word ‘wet’ when you’re talking about my girl,” I say, scrubbing my hands against my face. I swear I’m getting a headache just by being in his presence.

“Sorry,” he laughs, clutching his chest. “Did you just say, ‘my girl’?” He continues laughing and I just blink at him. “You’re down bad way more than I thought, Connie. You’re in some deep shit.”

I shake my head at him, turning away. As good as a friend he is, his morals are loose, and he has this I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude that is bound to cause him a lot of problems later on in life. His advice is always a little blurry, so he’s never the first person I go to for advice.

Ever.

TWENTY-ONE

CONNOR/CAT

“DON’T GET SHY FOR ME NOW.”

CONNOR

After the shortinterviews are done, I head back to my dorm instead of following the guys to the gym like I usually do. As much as I wanted Wes’s words to completely evaporate from my brain, I can’t help but think that I’ve been going about this whole Cat situation the wrong way. Would she really want me to sext her?

Do people still do that, or is that what people in those cheesy rom coms do at sleepovers? There’s no way she’d enjoy that. Or maybe she would. I’m beginning to realise that I have no clue what she’s into and how to find that out.

I slouch back in the chair at my desk in my room and call my dad for some rational advice. I know he’s not busy today as Tuesdays are his usual days off from teaching, so he picks up on the third ring.

I hear his heavy breathing before his voice actually comes into play. “Son! What’s up? Are you being attacked? You know what I’ve told you. Don’t get into a white man’s car just because he says he knows your mom and I from the New Parents group.You’re two hundred and forty months old now. We don’t go to NPG anymore.”

That happened one time.Onefucking time. “I’m fine, dad. I was calling for some advice actually,” I say. He lets out a few sharp breaths. “What are you doing? I’ll call you back if you’re busy.”

He groans. “I’m just doing lunges. You’d think I’d be in better shape after carrying you and Nor in my stomach for a whole nine months, but they say postpartum catches you off guard.” His words cut off with another round of pants. I can only imagine that he’s swiping the sweat off his forehead. “Your mother is putting me through hell with these workouts. Anyway, what’s up, son?”

I shake my head with a laugh. I swear this man needs his own TV show. “I just wanted some advice on…. Girls. Well,agirl. I know you and mom hit it off right away and I wanted to know how you, uh, managed to do that. I know times were different back then, you know, in the nineteenth century.”

My dad’s breathing starts to normalise as he scoffs. “Okay, watch it. We’re not forty for another two years.Thenyou can consider us old.”

“Dad,” I press, rolling my eyes. “I’m desperate.”

“Okay, okay,” he chides. I hear the clicking sound of the refrigerator over the phone and my dad sighs. “Who’s the girl, then? Does she know that you exist?”

“Yes, she knows that I exist, dad,” I groan. “I can’t tell you who she is, for the sake of anonymity. You run your mouth too much.”

“So, it’s Nora’s friend, then, huh?”How the fuck did he….“I’m not an idiot, Con. I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at her since you were kids. From what I’ve seen, she likes you too. She’s probably just nervous. Breaking those friends to more boundaries is scary.”

I let out a shaky exhale. He’s right. Of course, he’s right. I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I’ve watched enough romance movies with my sister growing up to know that what my dad is saying is true. As much as I’ve flirted with Cat over the years, we’ve never crossed the line that we’ve firmly put up. Until a few days ago.

“What did you do with mom? You were friends before you got together, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, but your mom was obsessed with me before I ever made a move,” he says easily. Something hard hits the screen, causing my dad’s phone to drop a few inches away from his ear and all I can hear is a muffled argument between him and my mom. Typical. It’s like I have teenagers for parents. “She’s violent too,” he mutters into the phone before clearing his throat. “Anyway. If my daddy senses are correct, she’s probably just waiting for you to make the first move.”

I shudder. “Don’t ever say the words ‘daddy senses’ ever again.”

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