Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“Oh, shit,” I mutter.
Charli looks confused. “What?” she asks as Earl, Petey, Teddy-Two-Toes all rush between us and start awkwardly twitching, gyrating, and shaking their butts at me. Earl is doing some kind of approximation of beat boxing as he reaches to lift his shirt–which also blasts all of us with a hefty wave of body odor.
“Guys, guys,” I say, standing and trying to move them out of the way. “I said only if I give the signal. Did I give the fucking signal?”
Petey and Earl stop dancing and at least look a little embarrassed as they move their attention from me and then to Charli. Teddy is still dancing, hands on his hips as he’s getting more and more into it by the minute.
I laugh a little nervously and rub the back of my neck. Then I unbutton a few of my buttons and show Charli a hint of the ridiculous leather get-up I’ve been wearing under my clothes every day. It’s a bikini-style one-piece, similar to what I convinced Charli to wear to the Halloween mixer. I called in a favor to have that friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend make one in my size. “That was my ‘break in case of emergency’ plan. I get a lap dance wearing this ridiculous suit from the boys. Uh, for you,” I add, when she’s looking at me like everything out of my mouth has been pure insanity.
“Your plan was to wear a leather dominatrix suit and get a lap dance. For me?” she asks.
“I told him it was stupid!” Margaret helpfully lobs from the bus stop behind me.
My recently acquired friends are all watching with wide eyes and no apparent sense that we might want a little privacy for this conversation. I guess they probably feel like they deserve to watch the drama after they’ve waited with me out here day after day. Teddy Two-Toes gives up his dance, produces a bagel from somewhere, and takes a big, noisy bite. I glare over my shoulder at him and he pauses mid-chew, then smiles with his teeth full of cream cheese as if to say, “sorry, Boss, I’ll keep it down.”
“This isn’t going the way I planned it,” I say.
“Oh,” Charli says. “I could go back up to my room and keep watching you from the window if you prefer?”
“No,” I say quickly. So she has been up there watching me the whole time? I knew she was sneaking out the back exit because my growing group of friends have been acting like a network of spies. I didn’t know she’s been watching me. “This is good. I would apologize for the crowd, but I heard you might be the reason they’re here.” I hook a thumb over my shoulder and see Earl flash Charli his single-toothed smile.
She smirks. “It’s okay. So, um, what are you doing, exactly? Other than being ready to get a lap dance for me, that is.”
“Well,” I turn around and hoist the big bag, then gesture quickly for Margaret to hand me the book she has. “At first I was just going to give you as many signed books as I could. I noticed you were collecting them at the convention in Arizona. I got bored the first day waiting to give them to you so I started to read. Then I realized some of them weren’t very good, and I thought it would be a pretty shitty gift if I gave you a signed book that wasn’t even a good read. So I started reading to decide which ones were good enough to give you.”
Her smile is crooked. “So you’ve been out here reading these books every day to decide which ones are good enough for me? That’s… actually really sweet.”
I try not to smile. This is good. She’s talking, for starters, and it’s not angry talking or flower stomping. She’s standing still and talking to me. She’s hearing me out, so I had better not screw this up. “I was also planning to tell you what an idiot I was if I got the chance. And how I’ve spent every day thinking about how I’d do anything to change what I did and get you back. The book thing was more of a… gesture.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” She says the words so quietly I almost don’t let myself believe I really heard them. Then she starts speaking again and it’s like she’s letting out something she’s had bottled up for weeks. “I had a lot of time to think about what happened. I mean, you were trying to get me to admit my feelings for you were real the whole time. You were open about how you felt. And I kept pushing you away. And you have this company full of people to worry about and I was just this girl you met a few weeks ago. All that, and you were still planning to tell me the truth, even if you didn’t do it right away. So I–”