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I rummagethrough my bag for the third time, not that I expect my phone to magically appear when it clearly wasn’t here the first two times. Where the hell is it?
There’s a knock on my office door, and Joel peeks his head in. “Here are the questionnaires to hand out next week.” He holds up a thick manilla folder filled with papers. I still don’t understand why our participants can’t answer their final questions electronically.
“You sent me on a wild goose chase earlier looking for them.”
He gives me a sheepish grin, shrugging his shoulders up. “Sorry. I thought Kelly had them. Turns out she had given them to Dr. Price.”
I roll my lips between my teeth, not saying anything. I’d almost been late for my first participant after he’d asked me to go searching for them.
Things are still strained between us, but he’d at least apologized for his behavior last weekend. After we’re finished working on this study, though… It’s time to end this friendship. Something about him has changed.
“Everything okay?” he asks as I turn back to my bag.
“I can’t find my phone,” I mutter. “It should be in here.”
“Did you take it out? Maybe it dropped somewhere.”
Before I can tell him I don’t want his help, he’s searching around on the desk, messing up the piles of papers I’d neatly sorted. I sigh, letting him do whatever, and go through the folders in my backpack, wondering if it somehow slipped into one of the pockets.
Joel moves behind me and crawls under the desk, then says, “Aha!”
He hands me my phone, gratitude and confusion warring within me. How did it get under there? I swear I don’t remember taking it out of my bag.
“Thanks,” I tell him as sincerely as I can. “I wouldn’t have thought to look there.”
He nods, wiping the dust off his jeans. “No problem. And I want to say sorry again for everything that happened this weekend. You back in your place now?”
“Yeah, they fixed the door. I moved my stuff last night.” Not everything, but he doesn’t need to know that. Or that Austin will sleep over again after our date.
“Do you need help putting things back?” he asks, a hopeful note in his voice.
“I’ve got it covered. And I have plans tonight,” I add, before he can ask to hang out. I need to be more direct with him.
He doesn’t seem as put off as I thought he’d be, though, and surprisingly keeps mum about Austin. Instead, he simply shrugs, some kind of weird smile playing about his lips.
“Well, I’m available if your plans fall through.”
Right. Don’t think so, but okay.
“I’ll see you Tuesday,” I say, shouldering my bag as I exit.
Joel is quickly pushed out of my mind on the drive home as thoughts of my date with Austin take over. He told me to dress up for dinner tonight, so he must be taking me somewhere nice. I’ve never had a reason to go to a fancy restaurant before. And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather go with than him.
Butterflies float through my belly, and I let loose a stupid smile by myself in the car. As silly as it is, especially considering everything we’ve already done, it means a lot to me that he asked me out on something official like this. I swear he’d sounded nervous asking me, though that had endeared him to me even more. It’s a definite shift in our relationship, and one that’s very welcome.
I pull up to our complex, catching sight of him locking up his apartment. Is he ready to go already?
“Hey,” I shout, waving to catch his attention.
He pauses, but doesn’t respond as he glances over from his spot by the door.
I approach him, my steps slowing as I spy the workout clothes he’s got on under his jacket. That’s not exactly fancy attire.
“Are we still on for dinner?” I ask, pretty sure what the answer is based on his clothing, but needing to ask it anyway.
“No.” He leaves it at that, his jaw clenched. What’s going on?
“Did I get the days mixed up?” I’m pretty sure he said tonight, but maybe I misheard him in my postcoital haze.
