He burst out laughing and it was a good time for me to make my leave. “See you Monday,” I said, walking away. And of course I only made it halfway across the park before I turned back around to get one last look. And he was smiling, biting on his bottom lip, and my heart banged against my ribs.

Waiting until Monday just might kill me.

Chapter Seven

Jordan

“I swooned. I fucking swooned.”

“I thought you were going to say it was a friends-only thing?” Merry asked. She was wearing a blue knee-length skirt, a yellow cardigan, white tights, and red shoes. The ensemble could be described as a dropped Rubik’s cube, but she managed to look adorable. She had her hair done in two braids, her dark fringe framed her face perfectly, and her bright red lipstick was warning enough for all to beware.

I handed her the berry iced tea and kept the lemon one for myself. “I did! I told him that meeting him with the boundary of friends-only would eliminate the chances of me having a major meltdown if I thought it was an actual date date.”

“But you ended up with his number, another date, and you swooned.”

“He said I was great and he’d had a great day, and he did that thing.”

“What thing?”

“You know, when they’re walking away and if they look over their shoulder?”

“Lemme guess. He looked over his shoulder?”

“He totally did. And throughout the day he kept looking at my lips, and he said he has so many more questions, and he was fun, and he’s smart. And he’s not an undercover cop or in the witness protection program. He’s some internet ninja who gets paid a shitload of money to be an internet ninja.”

Merry tilted her head and squinted at me. “What the hell is an internet ninja?”

“I don’t know. Big corporations pay him to hack into their business websites and tell them their weak spots.”

“How is that even a thing?”

I shrugged. “Fucked if I know, really. But I accused him of making it up and he promised me it was actually a thing.”

“So have you texted him yet?”

“No.” I tried not to look so horrified.

“How many times have you thought about texting him.”

“Shut up.”

“Jordan, I’m pretty sure if he gave you his number and told you to text him, he wants you to text him. And if he doesn’t give out personal information as a general rule, that would make you the exception.”

“What would I say to him?”

“That you had a good time yesterday,” she suggested. “I don’t know. Just be yourself. Remember, if he doesn’t like the real you, he’s not good enough.”

“You could totally get a job writing messages in fortune cookies.”