“Goodnight, Ashlyn,” he said, lightly touching my fingertips before he stepped back, forcing another smile from me.
“Goodnight, Daniel Daniels.” My heart was getting lost in a world of yearning, and I allowed it to travel to the unknown territory. I reached into my purse and pulled out his CD. “Oh, and just so you know…I’m taking you to bed tonight.”
“Well, damn. I’m one lucky bastard.” He winked at me, and I felt my world being rocked. Running his hands through his hair, he smiled big. “I think this is when we exchange numbers.” He reached his phone out toward me and I gave him mine. After typing in my number, we switched back.
“I probably won’t call you first because I don’t want to look desperate.” I grinned.
“And I won’t call you first because I want you to explore the idea that there might be other girls I’m talking to.”
Ohh how he makes me feel. I hadn’t felt this way in so long. “Well obviously there aren’t other girls. Have you seen yourself? You’re pretty hideous.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Girls don’t like charming smiles, muscular arms, or delicious four-pack—” He quickly took my hands and ran them across his stomach. I sighed lightly, feeling my thighs ache from the touch of his physique. “Six-pack abs.” My cheeks blushed over, but I hoped he didn’t notice.
“So what is it that girls like?” He crossed his arms.
“Ya know, the normal things. A little hair under the nostrils. Some extra chins to kiss. An extra nipple or three. Just the normal things.”
He laughed, and I wanted to snuggle against him to feel the laughter ripple through his body. “I’ll work on those things. I don’t want to be... What word did you use?”
“Hideous.”
“Right. I would hate to be hideous in your eyes.” There was one last round of smiles before he turned away and I began to walk in the other direction.
“Hey, Ashlyn!” he shouted, making me twirl back around in his direction. I waited for his comment, sending him a wondering gaze. “Would you want to have another really weird f**king night with me again sometime? Like, maybe even, Tuesday night?”
Yes! Yes! For all things righteous, YES! “You know what? I think I can pencil you in.”
“You know the library on Harts Road?”
Nope. I didn’t. But I’d be searching the internet right when I returned home to find out where it was. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good. Figure it out around, say, six p.m.”
“It’s a date.” I realized my words and paused, slamming my hand against my side. My cheeks heated up and my hands curled around my waist. “I mean, it’s a… It’s… I’ll be there. I’ll see you then.”
He laughed and turned away. “Okay, sounds good. It’s a date, date.”
He used a double.
And I was officially smitten.
I entered my bedroom to find Hailey stretched out on the floor, lying on top of her yoga mat. There was music playing that sounded like the rainforest bouncing from her speaker system.
She was inhaling deeply and exhaling through her slightly parted mouth. Just seeing her weirdness brought a small grin to my mouth.
“Uh, Hailey?” I muttered, closing the door behind me.
“Shh,” she hummed, patting the spare yoga mat that was lying right beside hers.
I took it as a weird invite and accepted. Taking off my heels and tossing my coat and purse onto my bed, I lay down on the yoga mat.
“Close your eyes,” Hailey instructed, her eyes already shut. I cocked a brow and looked at her as if she were a nut job and the corner of her mouth turned up. “Don’t give me that you’re-batshit-crazy look. Just close your freaking eyes.”
I closed them and took in a deep breath. There was a cold breeze in the room and my arms instantly received goose bumps. I peeked toward Hailey and watched her still inhaling deeply and exhaling with relief.
“Do you feel the difference from just a few seconds of lying down and connecting back to the world? All of that negative energy exiting through your fingertips and toes?” Hailey asked before going back to her humming.
“Um, no?” I said with confusion in my sounds. I just felt like I was lying on a yoga mat in a dark room, listening to thunder and the jungle from a CD player.
Hailey’s humming paused and she sat up on her elbows. “Hmph. Me either. I’m telling you, I’ve been giving this meditation thing a try for the longest time, but I just don’t get it.”
I giggled and sat up on the mat, crossing my legs. “Then why do you bother?”
“Theo…” She reminded me of her boyfriend before she laid back down, tossing her hands under her head. “How was your time out?”
My lips turned up. Hailey noticed.
“You met a boy!” she squealed in a whisper.
I turned her way, shocked. “How…?”
“Ashlyn, you left the house pissed off and you came back smiling and blushing. You definitely met a boy.”
She was wrong—he was no boy at all. I lay back down on the yoga mat, staring at the painted clouds on the ceiling, listening to the chirping birds and monkeys from the CD player. “I had a very good time out.”
We talked for a while longer before my new roommate grew sleepier and sleepier. After a while of lying on the mat, I listened as Hailey began to lightly snore. Standing up, I grabbed a blanket and laid it over her body.
Around two a.m., my phone lit up. A grin ran across me at seeing Daniel’s name.