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He pulled the phone away from his ear before she busted an eardrum. “Yeah, I did.”
“What did he say?”
“Not much. That he needed time to think. He also warned me that bringing her home would be a ‘challenge’.”
“I expected worse than that. Maybe they’ve lightened up.”
Luke thought of his father and shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Anyway, if you should be spending time with anyone right now it should be Michelle. Call her, Luke.”
“Maybe.” He could feel Ashanti glaring at him through the phone. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.”
He hung up and headed inside. On his way up the stairs, he read through his old messages with Michelle.
Their conversations ran way into the night. Ignoring her this weekend had felt odd. After such a short time, he’d grown used to texting her intermittently through the day and for a solid four hours after he’d locked up the shop at night.
At that moment, his phone glowed with a text from her.
MICHELLE: Hey, Luke.
His heart thumped as he waited for another text. It came a second later.
MICHELLE: It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you.
MICHELLE: Is something going on? If you don’t want to share, I understand but…
MICHELLE: I really like you and I thought you liked me too. Please tell me if I read you wrong or if you’re not interested in me like that.
MICHELLE: I’d rather know the truth than be left in the lurch.
Feeling like a jerk, Luke texted her back.
LUKE: I’m kind of dealing with something right now. It has nothing to do with you. I’d just like to… step back for a bit.
He chewed on a fingernail as he waited for her to respond. A few hours passed. He did some push-ups. Cleaned up around the apartment. Did the accounting for the café. Watched a few videos online.
Nothing.
The next morning, he woke up to find a text. Luke scrambled to open the message, but his heart sank when he saw only two letters in the blocks of white space.
MICHELLE: Ok.
Luke puzzled through her response for the next few days. By the time Thursday rolled around, he was no closer to decoding it.
A few days later, Ashanti breezed into his café and took her usual seat by the counter. He immediately poured her a cup of coffee and slid her mug over. She eyed him over the rim as she took a sip.
“What’s with the special treatment today?”
“I need your help. What does this mean?” He showed her Michelle’s messages.
Ashanti screwed her lips as she read.
He studied her brown skin, her nose, and the plumpness of her mouth. For a second, he felt a zip of attraction but brushed it off. Ashanti was way too much personality for him to handle. “Well?”
She gave him his phone back and in a clinical voice said, “You’re screwed.”
