I said nothing. I jerked my head in acknowledgment of what he’d said and held the cushion back against my body again.

A few seconds later, the front door closed, leaving me alone once again.

He had a point. I knew he did. I had, after all, spent years winding up both Preston and Halley about their lack of action with their feelings for one another. Yet here I was, doing the exact same thing.

Being a huge pussy.

“Ugh!” I snatched up my phone and opened the message thread with Noah before I changed my mind.

ME: I need to tell you something.

Now I had to sit here all damn evening, waiting for his reply.

Actually, no. I didn’t.

Instead of doing that, I scrolled to the group text with Halley and Ava.

ME: I did it.

Their responses were quicker than Noah’s as-yet inexistent one.

AVA: You texted Noah?

HALLEY: It’s about time. What did he say?

ME: Nothing yet. I said I needed to talk to him and he hasn’t replied yet.

HALLEY: That’s hardly telling him.

AVA: That’s not asking him out.

ME: I didn’t want to blindside him.

HALLEY: I’m going to blindside you one of these days.

ME: HEY!

AVA: She’s right. You just need to get on with it.

ME: I’m waiting for him to reply. It’s hardly me stalling.

AVA: Yes, it is.

HALLEY: You could have just started off with asking him out.

ME: I’m regretting texting you two.

AVA: As you should.

ME: Mm.

HALLEY: Did he reply yet?

ME: No. I would tell you if he had.

AVA: He’s slow.

ME: No, we’re all just abnormally attached to our phones.

HALLEY: I’m not going to argue that.

HALLEY: Hey! Betty had her babies last night.

ME: How do you know that?

AVA: Because she’s the raccoon whisperer.

HALLEY: You’re right. This was a terrible idea to start this conversation.

I nodded, even though neither of them could see me. The only time the group text chat ever worked was when we were out drinking and we lost each other in the bathroom or something equally ridiculous.

For general talking purposes? It was a stupid thing.

I was about to type a response agreeing with Halley when a bubble popped up at the top of my screen.

NOAH: What’s up?

I tapped on it, bringing up his message thread instead of the group chat. My thumbs hovered over the screen, and I drew in a deep breath as I readied myself for my admission.

This. Was. Ridiculous.

I was ridiculous.

Jesus.

ME: It’s kinda weird.

NOAH: I’ve come to expect a certain level of weirdness from our conversations. I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t a hint of it in every chat.

ME: Good to know. That makes this easier.

NOAH: Shoot.

ME: You know when I was in the fire?

NOAH: You were in a fire??? When???

ME: Omg. Shut up.

NOAH: Hahahaha. Sorry. Carry on.

I took a deep breath and huffed it out. Insufferable man.