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Chapter Four
Trent
Even though he’d given the ok, I still feel a layer of tension after Mason leaves the room, and I wonder if I’m making the right call. I’ve been pining after Elizabeth Addison since I first laid eyes on her as an 18-year-old college freshman, but is that worth risking the best friend I have?
I genuinely cannot picture my life without Mason. He’s the easiest person in the world to talk to, and I think he honestly knows me better than I know myself. I know eventually we’ll probably get places of our own, but there’s a reason I haven’t exactly rushed that.
We’re both single guys, no reason not to save on the expensive California rent by rooming together, right? Just makes sense.
So even though my heart is screaming for me to just pull the trigger and call Lizzy right now, I end up hesitating.
I procrastinate for a while, telling myself that she might still be sleeping anyway, and make myself some breakfast and another cup of coffee. Then I do the dishes, which leads to me cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.
The tasks let me zone out and clear my mind, going completely blank as sweep a mop over the tile. I lose myself in the marbled monochromatic field of grey until finally I’ve reached the very last corner.
I sigh and plunk the mop into the bucket, then sit back down at the table. My phone rests on the surface, and I reach for it. I unlock the screen and open up my text app, then back out and pull up her contact, my thumb hovering over the “call” icon.
Mason said he wanted to see both of us happy, right? Maybe I’m just worrying for nothing, and I should listen to what he’d actually said to me.
He gave me the ok, and I know if I don’t do this, I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been. So, I take a deep breath, swallow my pride, and press the icon.
It rings in my ear: once, twice, and then in the middle of the third, she picks up. “Hey, you!” she answers cheerfully.
“Hey, how’re you holding up?”
She chuckles, and the sound flows over me like warm honey. I fucking love her laugh. “I’m all right, how about you, old man?”
“After sufficient caffeine, I’m not doing too bad,” I reply, pleased when it makes her laugh again.
“Sorry we kept you so late,” I add.
“You didn’t keep me, I was right where I wanted to be,” she insists, “We just all lost track of time. But neither of you had to work this morning or anything, right?”
“No, no,” I assure her, “We’re off, you’re good. We probably would have kicked you out long before then if we had to be up for anything.”
“Glad to hear it,” she chuckles, “So, what can I do for you?”
“Well, I hope this doesn’t sound too crazy, given our history or anything, but I was wondering if I could take you on a date,” I say, cutting right to the chase.
It’s not as smooth as I would have liked to be, but it could have gone worse.
There’s a brief silence before Lizzy speaks again. “You’re messing with me, right?” she asks.
“Not even slightly,” I tell her sincerely, “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
She hesitates, and the weight of her consideration is so heavy on my chest it’s almost hard to take another breath. Finally, however, she gives an answer that makes my heart start beating again, racing in my chest.
“Sure, then. I’d like that. When?”
“How about Thursday night, after all of your interviews?” I suggest, “That way you’ll be able to tell me about how you aced every single one of them and you have too many job offers to choose from, and I can help give you advice.”
Lizzy laughs. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. And actually, that works perfectly, I don’t pick up the key to my apartment until Friday anyway, so it’s not like I’ll have unpacking or anything to do. So, Thursday night it is. 6?”
“Sounds perfect. And of course, you know our door is always open if you want to hang out before then or if you get sick of the hotel or something.”
I can hear the smile in her voice when she speaks again. “Yeah. I know, Trent. Thanks. I’ll see you Thursday, if not sooner.”
“See you,” I reply, then slowly draw the phone away from my face and hang up.
She said yes. I pump my fist in the air, flooded with pure glee. After all this time, all these years, I’m going on a date with the woman of my dreams.
And while I know it has the potential to cause tension with Mason, I remind myself that we’ve been friends for nearly ten years. Surely a friendship that strong can power through something like a little bit of jealousy, right?
It’s not like we’ve never had issues, or fought with each other. We’re only human, after all. And if he really wasn’t ok with this, he knows he could have said so. Sure, I wouldn’t exactly have been happy about it, but I’d rather have them both in my life as friends than sacrifice one for the other.
But Mason had given his blessing, so for now, I’d take him at his word and cross whatever bridge came up next as I came to it.
