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And, finally, and most importantly, if Mel figured out what was going on, his friendship with her was toast.
“God,” he whimpered, adding nothing to his prayer. He couldn’t ask God for help when he was embarking on a massive deception of his best friend, all because he was too scared to man up and tell her how he felt. Again.
His phone vibrated, light illuminating the dark room. He reached for the device on his nightstand, his heart scampering to his throat.
Could it be her?
Sure enough. A notification from Holy Appimony. Not letting the cringy name deter him, TJ tapped the app with a trembling finger. The messenger icon indicated an unread message.
“Let it be her. No, don’t. But please…”
It was her. The tiny thumbnail beside her name in the chat window displayed the glorious photo he snapped of her at the beach last year. It was so good, he texted it to her later.
TJ closed his eyes. Lying to Melody was wrong. It made him feel ill. But maybe this was the only way he could get close enough to win her heart. It wouldn’t be a permanent falsehood. Only temporary.
Temporary. He shoved aside his guilt for the umpteenth time and let his eyes feast upon the message, no matter the glaring typos.
Hi Jeremy thanks for the message. I wasn’t expecting anyone to see my profile so fast. I was very nervous about signing up for this. I never tried online dating before and I’m not sure if it’s for me I guess we’ll see. I’m no fan of winter weather so don’t ask me what I’m doing in Michigan. Every spring when the sun shines again and I go to the beach I decide surviving winter is worth it. What do you do for work? – Your new friend, Melody
He absorbed the message slowly, reading it three times. It was so Melody, and yet so much more. Around him, she guarded her weaknesses like buried treasure. He never heard her admit to being nervous about anything. He saw it in her eyes plenty of the time. But hear her say it?
Never.
His eyes traveled over the message again. Her punctuation was atrocious, her grammar not much better. She hinted at the struggle in middle school shortly after they met, but he assumed she had figured it out as she progressed through high school. It seemed she was hiding it from him all along.
No wonder she kept her text messages so short. As a line editor, his eyes picked up the mistakes like a high-power vacuum. Didn’t matter a bit to him, though. She had talent in spades in other disciplines. Like music.
He read her words again, relishing her frankness, wondering anew what had brought her back to Silver Lake City when she had a master’s in music performance. She could live anywhere.
His eyes lingered on her closing question. He had planned to say he was a writer. Vague enough to satisfy her curiosity and true enough to pacify his conscience. But seeing her message littered with errors, he was certain that would scare her off. What now?
He decided to sleep on it, no matter how much his fingers literally itched to respond to her message without delay. It was a good idea to wait. Otherwise, he’d come off too eager. No sense making her think he was desperate. He was supposed to be casually seeking connections on a dating app. Not stalking his best friend.
“Lucy, what did you do to me?” he groaned, tempted to call his twin this minute. If things went south, she’d be the one having a hard talk with Melody. Not him. Melody probably wouldn’t speak to either of them again.
The thought made his chest tighten as if a vise was holding him in place. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to play this right. He couldn’t lose Melody.
His sleep was fitful, and in the morning after shaving and eating a bowl of Honey Nut Chex, he sat down at his laptop. He needed to leave for work, but not before replying to Melody. He had considered his response much of the night, and he didn’t see any way to answer her question honestly.
Gritting his teeth, he typed quickly.
Good morning! I’m glad you wrote back. I’m leery about online dating, too. This is my first time, but it seems promising so far. I mean, I met you!
Have you lived in Silver Lake City your whole life? What keeps you here? I was born and raised here, and my family all lives close by. So, like you, I endure the winter for a better cause. I enjoy the first few snowfalls of the year. By then, I’m over it—but winter isn’t!
Work. Ah, work. Not my favorite topic. I’m in business. I don’t want to bore you to tears. I’m sure your employment is more fascinating than mine. Tell me what it is, and we’ll find out who has it worse. ;)
I hope your day is a good one, and you find some sunshine to light your way. – Best regards, Jeremy
He caught himself as he typed TJ and backspaced to put the only thing he’d allowed Lucy to use. Jeremy was close enough to his middle name that it didn’t feel like an outright lie.
It still is.
He blinked away the thought, read his message once to catch any mistakes, and hit send. What was done was done. There was only one way out of this mess he’d created, and that was to keep going forward. Anything else would risk total rejection by Melody.
He didn’t know if his heart would stand a second round.
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