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“Tess?” I hear Ant say seconds after he pulls the front door of my apartment open.
At first, I think I’m hearing things; there’s no way he just said what I think he said, but then he opens the door wider I damn near hit the floor at the sight of her.
Tess…
She looks so fucking beautiful in a pale yellow sundress, her hair falling around her shoulders. The sight of her takes my breath away, as cliché as that sounds.
I’m standing in the kitchen which is open to the rest of the apartment, unable to move a fucking muscle. I feel paralyzed, in complete and utter shock. Seeing her standing inside of my apartment is absolutely the last thing I expected.
“Hi, Ant.” She gives my friend a small smile, purposely keeping her gaze on him as he closes the door and joins her in the living room.
“What are you doing all the way out here? I thought you were still in New York.” He gives her a quick one-armed hug, meeting my gaze over the top of her head.
“I’ve been at Bree’s the last couple of days. She only lives about an hour north of here.”
“I didn’t realize she was so close,” he quickly adds.
“Neither did I.” Her gaze darts around nervously.
She couldn’t look more uncomfortable if she were standing on a rug of hot coals. It’s painfully obvious that she’s terrified to be here right now. She looks around the space, her eyes touching my face for only a brief moment before she sets her gaze back on Anthony.
Ant looks almost as uncomfortable, glancing at me and then back to Tess who knots her hands in front of herself, not saying anything else.
The tension in the room so thick it’s damn near suffocating.
“Uh…” Ant rocks back on his heels, finally breaking the awkward moment. “I’m gonna…” He looks between the two of us. “I’m gonna take off for a bit, let you kids catch up.” He shoots me a knowing look before grabbing his wallet and keys off the breakfast bar. “It was good seeing you, Tess,” he calls over his shoulder as he makes his way toward the door.
“Yeah, you too,” she offers, watching him exit the apartment without another word.
It feels like an eternity from the point that the door latches closed to when her gaze finally finds mine, by which point I’ve grown extremely anxious.
“I didn’t know he was staying here.” Out of everything she could say, I didn’t expect those words to be the first out of her mouth.
“Yeah, he’s been here a few months.” I shrug, not sure what else to say.
“It must be nice, having a familiar face around I mean. Does he plan on staying in California permanently?”
The last thing I want to talk about right now is Ant, but I force myself to answer her anyway.
“I don’t think he’s a hundred percent sure at this point.”
“I see.” She looks around the apartment, doing everything she can to avoid my gaze.
As much as I want to let her work her way into telling me whatever it is she’s doing here, if I have to exist in this awkward in between stage for even a second longer I just might fucking burst.
“What are you doing here?” I don’t mean for it to come out as harshly as it does. It leaves my mouth on a rush, and I immediately suck in a sharp breath preparing for her answer.
“I needed to see you,” she offers apologetically.
“How did you even know where to find me?”
“Your mom.”
“You called my mom?” I can’t help the impressed grin that pulls at my mouth, but it does nothing to quell the uncertainty inside me.
She shrugs. “You didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“I didn’t realize you needed a choice,” I answer truthfully. “I thought you had already made yours.”
