“Yes, but it’s not my mother’s cooking. I mean, don’t get me wrong, her food would be a close second. Her tiramisu might be one of my favorite things in the world. Buttacos.”
He laughs. “I get it. Tacos are pretty great. Your secret’s safe with me.” I’m sure if I could see him, he’d be winking at me.
“What would your choice be?”
“Hmm, it’s a tough decision. Tacos sound great, but that was yours, so I’m going to pick something else. Maybe pizza? Yeah. Pizza.”
“That’s a solid choice,” I reply, closing my laptop and rising from my bed, officially giving up on my movie. “You’d certainly be more likely to earn Mom’s stamp of approval with pizza as your pick.” I walk over and drop the computer on my desk and climb back into bed, this time under the covers. “Dream travel destination?” I ask.
He hums thoughtfully and I can almost see him tapping his chin in the most exaggerated thinking position. “I feel like this is going to sound so lame, but honestly, either Hawaii or I’vealways wanted to do Oktoberfest in Germany,” he answers with a chuckle.
That makes me laugh. “Oktoberfest? Seriously? Why does that make the most sense for you?”
“Hey now! Don’t stereotype me. It just looks like such a great time, and we’re always so deep in the season, gearing up for playoffs so we miss out.”
“Alright, aright. I think my answer would be Australia. It’s one of those places that fascinates me but is also so far out of reach. It’ll probably be one of those one and done trips. I’ve done some different location shoots in the past, but nothing way out there. Plus, when you’re working, you never have enough time to actually enjoy the place like you would on a vacation.”
“That’s fair. I feel like I travel so much already for my job that I prefer to use my time in the offseason to kick back and relax. See my family.” As he explains, I try to fight back a yawn but fail. He falls silent. “Did you yawn?”
“I—no. Definitely not,” I lie.
“Were you actually trying to sleep when I called?” I can hear the worry in his voice that he overstepped.
“No, I was watching a movie. But it is nearing my bedtime.” I chuckle.
“I’ll let you get to sleep then, firecracker.”
“How kind of you,” I joke.
“Can’t wear out my bestie so soon!”
“We’re not friends, Fletch.”
“We will be. Just you wait and see.” I can hear his smirk.
“Whatever you say.”
“Goodnight, Isa.”
“Goodnight… Ryan.”
I end the call and slump back into the pillows. It might be harder to fight being his friend than I thought.
TEN
IT’S A FINE LINE
RYAN
I can’t believeshe called me Ryan. Again. She does it so sparingly that it holds more meaning when she does. Like she almost sees me as a regular person, not a commodity. Maybe even a friend? If I’m lucky.
I tip my head to lean against the window with a stupid smile on my face.
“Dude. Who the fuck were you on the phone with?” Cooper asks, his voice heavy with sleep. He has a sleep mask pushed up into his short brown hair, eyes squinting against the passing headlights.
“Fuck, sorry man. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Guilt shoots through me.
“Nah, it’s cool.” He leans forward so he can peek out the window. “Looks like we’re nearly there anyway.”
