AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fanfer fim,” Cody garbled through a mouthful of romaine lettuce, disgusting me.
Even if Cody were into girls, I could never date him. His table manners, or lack thereof, were a deal-breaker. I’d even told him this once, but he’d clapped back and said my TV habits were his.
Just because I liked subtitles.
Turning my phone over to “answer him,” which was what Cody had tried to say, he doubled down on his poor etiquette by leaning over the table and trying to snoop, but I evaded him by cradling my phone against my chest and batting him away.
I opened the chain of messages from Vinh, keeping the phone so close that I probably looked cross-eyed as I read them.
Vinh
Made it to Gulf Shores. I know we left things weird, Bree. I want to fix that. I will fix it. I have a lot to say to you when I get back. Which will be soon.
But for now, I’d like to tell you how I can still taste you on my lips, but only just. It’s not enough.
I could feel Cody’s smug smile from across the booth as my neck and face flushed. Where had he been when he sent that? His condo? Shaking my head clear of that round-robin of thoughts, I moved onto his last text.
I hope you’re having a nice time with Cody. Can you call me and tell me about it if you feel up to it later?
My lips twitched slightly at that idea. Maybe talking on the phone would be a good way to get to know each other better without being distracted by… other things.
Maybe this distance was good.
And maybe we could interact without him finding me or one of my family members in some kind of crisis situation.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
How’s your ankle?
I typed my reply immediately, ready to connect in a small, easy way.
I paused before sending that text, unsure if I should add an emoji at the end. Vinh had never used one before, and the implied pressure to match texting etiquette had weighed on me enough during our previous text exchanges that I’d held back on using them. It felt like higher stakes than a “lol” vs. “haha” decision. Sighing, I went back and added a salad emoji and sent it. In the words of Audioslave, “To be yourself is all that you can do.”
And I was an eager emoji-user.
My ankle feels a lot better, mostly thanks to you. And Cody is a pain in the ass, but also great. We’re doing some emotional eating at Dawn’s. *salad emoji*
He replied instantly.
Are you okay?
Humming the song that was now stuck in my head, I replied.
Short answer? Yes. We had a lot of stuff we needed to work out.
Can I get the long answer during that phone call later?
I smiled at his persistence.
I paused again. Would a heart emoji make me look like a fourteen-year-old with her first crush?
Before I could second-guess it, I added the heart and sent it before immediately laying my phone face down on the table as if it were a snake that could bite at any moment.
Yes. Promise. *heart emoji*
But the problem was that there was a coiled snake, and he was sitting across from me.
I slowly raised my chin, eyes raking up the table until they landed on Cody. His hands were interlaced under his chin and his mouth curved in the shittiest of all shitty grins.
