─── • ───

class, my art professor pulled me aside and asked how my overdue project was coming along. I assured her with one more hour in the studio, I'd be able to push through the finish line and turn it in. She seemed pleased I would finish before the extended due date. I was also pleased, considering that marked halfway through the semester.

I trudged across campus to meet my friends for coffee.

Reva already ordered my drink and held it toward me as I took a seat beside Iya. Dark lip-stick stains covered the lid, an obvious attempt made by Reva to wipe her sneaky sips away. I chuckled.

"Hey." I sipped the warm beverage, relaxing on the couch. "How was class?"

"Good. Have you started the new studio project yet?" Reva asked, biting into a croissant. My stomach growled at the sight, considering I hadn't eaten breakfast. She must've seen the hunger in my eyes because she tipped the treat toward me, silently offering a bite, but I shook my head. No sugar.

"Yes, it's much better than the portrait," I said, relieved. "Iya, has the theater department announced a new show yet?"

She nodded and filled us in on the new show plans after last week's fiasco, and Lucy told us about her upcoming engineering exam. I loved hearing about their majors, because despite us all going to the same college, we had such different academic experiences.

Amidst the conversation, my phone buzzed against my leg.

───────────────────────

[email protected]

s[email protected]

Good Morning

This would be easier with your number.

I also never thought I'd be ghosted over email. That hurt a bit.

───────────────────────

I laughed at his message and looked around when I realized how loud I was. Lucy and Iya didn't seem to notice, but Reva narrowed her eyes like a suspicious mother. Not wanting to feed her curiosity, I shut my phone off and pretended I didn't get a message.

But my phone buzzed again.

───────────────────────

[email protected]

[email protected]

Ouch

I can see you ignoring me.

───────────────────────

The hairs on my arm stood, and I raked the room until my gaze landed on a booth in the opposite corner. Elijah was looking at me, lips stretched as he waved two fingers. His teammates sat together in their baseball uniforms, drinking coffee and laughing like they were in their own bubble. But Elijah popped it by holding up his phone and frowning.

I already knew what he was alluding to. He was relentless, but part of me enjoyed watching him pine, so I mocked him by grimacing.

He looked at his phone again, and I fidgeted with my cup, waiting for the next notification.

"Is Penelope coming out with us onFriday?" Iya asked.

"We're going out?" I said, surprised.

Lucy gaped. "Of course we are. The frat is throwing a party on the beach."

It's nice Lucy uses her sorority connections to get us into frats, but I have no interest in going out. Not even to the baseball house, which I've yet to tell them we were invited to.

I've spent the last couple of weekends on the go and have had little time to myself. Though I wasn't planning on telling the girls I'm staying in and kill the mood today.

───────────────────────

[email protected]

[email protected]

Still ouch

You're making me look desperate, Van Gogh.

───────────────────────

Chewing on my cheek to stifle a smile, I speedily typed—

───────────────────────

[email protected]

[email protected]

Man up

All I did was not reply. The rest you did by yourself, Eli.

───────────────────────

I glanced over my shoulder. His mouth was ajar, but there was an amused look hidden behind his dampened expression. Their entire table stood, including Elijah, and he didn't look in my direction as they exited the cafe.

Like metal to a magnet, I stared at his ass.

His white baseball pants clung to his legs and accented each cheek as if the fabric was painted on his body. I made a pained sound under my breath. Why was I thinking about his ass?

───────────────────────

[email protected]

[email protected]

haha

You replied. I win.

PS: Eli? I like that.

───────────────────────

"Who are you texting?" Reva asked, and I jumped.

"Just Lee." The lie came out faster than I expected. I'm not sure why I said my sister's name. I didn't know what to tell Reva about Elijah, so keeping it private sounded like the best option. Especially since the girls would poke fun at me for emailing him and Lucy would say I'm missing out on a good orgasm.

I pictured us in the studio yesterday; Elijah's hand brushing my thigh and his breath tickling my ear, and my entire body tensed as if I was experiencing it again. I was truly losing grip on reality. At this point, I needed a good fuck, or a vibrator.

The girls parted ways for their afternoon class, and I walked back to our apartment to get ready for work.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I knew it would not be a peaceful afternoon by the way the servers were running around like chickens with their head cut off. My manager stood behind the oak counter, pouring cups of coffee and piling chocolate chip cookies on a plate for the couple that sat at the coffee bar.

I didn't want to ask what was wrong, so I asked how his day was. He waited until we were in the staff room to say, "Not great. I'm glad you could pick up a shift." He exhaled through pursed lips. "You're covering tables six through eleven."

My eyes almost bulged, but I stopped them with a smile and tied on my apron.

We must've been understaffed. Five tables on a Wednesday at Ruby's were rare. Maybe the extra tables meant I'd get good enough tips to buy more oil paints.

I made my way from booth to booth, cleaning, taking orders, and plugging them into the computer. New customers sat at table eleven and I walked over to take orders.

"Pong partner." Dustin, from the beach party, beamed. "Remember me?"

I thought I returned a smile, but my expression may have been more shocked than excited. Of course, I remembered Dustin and his shaggy blonde hair. I also recalled him shoving his tongue down my throat and the way his mouth tasted like beer. I'm sure he remembered too.

"Ah, yes. The guy who wears shoes on the beach," I said. His frat brothers looked me up and down, like a lion sizing up its prey. I swallowed dryly, self-conscious about how I looked in my uniform.

"It's Sadie, right?" he asked.

"You got it." My superficial enthusiasm didn't match my internal stoicism. "What was your name again?"

I knew his name. I just wanted to see him squirm.

"It's Dustin," he reminded, flatly. His friends looked amused.

Perfect.

"Oh, yes! What can I get you guys to drink?"

They ordered, and I made sure to put an extra sway in my hips as I walked to get their drinks. He looked much different in the light compared to the bonfire. He was still cute—if that's how you wanted to describe his perfectly disheveled appearance—but it made me wonder what I looked like to him. Was I still as attractive sober? I glanced at my reflection in the metal soda dispenser and heaved a sigh. Not in this outfit I wasn't.

Each time I walked past his table, his mouth quirked into a half-smile.

I avoided looking in his direction the best I could, but somehow always felt his eyes on me.

When I would check in on them, he studied me. His eyes screamed 'I wanna fuck' by the way he stared directly at my chest—as if I couldn't notice—but that was the last thing I wanted to do with him.

Although, I was surprised by his behavior. From what I remember and was told by my friends, he didn't seem too happy about my pong game win with Elijah. He stormed off that night and I hadn't seen him since.

The rest of the afternoon, I dashed from table to table, not taking any breaks. The moment my shift ended, I hiked out of there faster than my manager could say goodbye.

I tugged my jacket around my torso to avoid the cold whiplash from the wind. As I grabbed my door handle, someone shouted.

"Sadie!" Dustin ran over and stood in front of me. I could tell he was trying to block the wind as he asked, "How come I never see you on campus?"

I laughed. "I'm not sure. I'm usually in the art buildings, and I don't think you're an art major or I would've seen you by now."

"Makes sense. I'm business, so we're on the opposite side of campus. Your brother-in-law is Mason Collins," he stated.

My forehead wrinkled. He was my soon-to-be brother-in-law, but I said, "Yes, how'd you know?"

"He's an incredibly successful CEO and we've talked about him in lecture."

Oh, he totally looked me up. I do not share the last name Collins, and there is no reason he would know Leila. It's not like Trumbullen University school of business walks around boasting that Mason Collins's sister-in-law goes here for art.

I adjusted my purse. "I'll have to tell him you've talked about him in lecture."

His eyes lit up. "Man, that's so cool you can just talk to him."

Curt laughter spilled out of me from his fangirling. "Yeah, he's pretty great. I have to get going though, it was nice seeing you, Dustin."

"Before you go I wanted to say, our frat is throwing at the beach on Friday and you're more than welcome to come."

The party Lucy was talking about? I didn't realize it was his frat throwing. I told him thanks for the invite without giving a definite answer, then climbed into my car and drove away.

When I opened my apartment door, nobody was home. My feet ached as I hurried to my room and stripped out of my uniform covered in crumbs and tomato soup stains from table six. I ran across the hall naked and got into the hot shower, letting the water beat down on my face.

As I recalled my entire day, my heart throbbed in my chest.

I was the root of my loneliness.

I couldn't muster up the courage to give my heart over to anyone, no matter how kind they were. Despite Dustin or Elijah seeming trustworthy, I didn't know their true intentions. What people say didn't always match their inner feelings. I was guilty of that, and it wasn't fair for me to penalize others over my fears.

Or to penalize myself.

When I was finished showering, I got into sweats and laid on the couch. I pulled out my phone to check my notifications, but they were empty. So I called my sister.

"Hey love," she answered.

"Hey," I sighed.

"That was unenthusiastic."

"Sorry, I've had a weird day."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Just overthinking everything like usual. But something happened that was funny. I ran into a business major who said he knew my brother-in-law was Mason Collins. He told me they talk about him in their lecture."

Leila cackled. "Are you serious? They talk about Mason?"

"Who talks about me?" I heard Mason say in the background.

"Business students at Sadie's college," Lee answered.

"What did they say?"

I could tell Leila put me on speaker.

"He was fangirling and said it was cool I could talk to you."

Mason made a euphoric sound. "I'm famous."

Lee and I were both laughing now. "You were already famous," she said.

"Maybe I could come and talk as a guest speaker," Mason said.

I clicked the TV remote to turn it on, and the game flooded the screen. It was the fourth inning, Trumbullen was winning by two points and Brant was up to bat. Elijah was on third base and the wind was blowing his jersey.

"I'm sure that every business major would orgasm over that," I said, unable to take my eyes off the game. Mason excused himself and said he had to make a phone call, leaving Leila and me alone again.

"So who is this business major you were talking to?"

"I served him at Ruby's today. His name is Dustin."

"Ooo, Dustin," She cooed.

"Not like that, he's a frat boy."

"You are so picky with guys." She exhaled. "What happened to that baseball player?"

I stared at that very baseball player crossing home base. The camera panned to the crowd, who jumped from their seats and screamed. Some held signs saying "Go Lions!" and others held cutouts of the players' heads.

"We talk here and there, nothing more."

"I know you're lying missy."

I smiled, albeit annoyed by how well she knew me. "He tried getting my number and I wouldn't give it. So, he found my email and spammed me."

"That's pretty romantic. Have you talked to mom about him?"

"Hell no," I choked. "She would go all therapist on me."

She paused. "I think that's what you need. Speaking of, how have you been doing with food?"

I froze, then vigorously picked a callous on my finger until it flaked off onto the floor. The TV droned on in the background. The quiet cheering of fans filled the room even though the volume was at three. "Yeah, I've been fine."

"You know, if it ever gets bad again, you can call me. I won't tell mom and we can work something out instead of her trying to get you to come home."

Tears welled in my eyes, and one hot droplet trickled down my cheek. "I'm okay, but thank you."

"Always. I've got to go, but I love you. Call me sometime this weekend?"

I told her sure, and we hung up.

I turned my attention to the screen, which focused on a closeup of Elijah and his teammates, beaming and high-fiving in the dug-out. Then I reread the last email he sent and wiped my tears on my sleeve.

━━━─── • ───━━━

QOTD: What is your name & your nickname?

My updating schedule may get a tad weird or will be every other week instead of weekly due to school. Keep an eye out for chapter announcements though by following my instagram or me on wattpad!

╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗

annasteffeyy

vote • comment • follow

╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝