Page 14 of Electric Blue Love

“I think confused is a better word. I am too. What was that all about?”

“You don’t want to be too available.”

“I thought you said I needed to be around or he’d find someone else.”

“That’s true, but it needs to be a little bit of a challenge. He should be texting you any minute.”

“I don’t think so. Todd doesn’t do that.”

I rolled my eyes at the shit this dude had been filling her head with. “He doesn’t text? Bullshit. Maybe he says that as an out for blowing people off, but everyone texts when it suits them.”

“I feel like I just completely screwed up any shot I had with him. What if that was my one chance?”

“Trust me, 8B.”

The line crackled with what sounded like Bianca letting out a breath.

“I –”

Silence and then I heard Bianca gasp, and I knew. Iknewshe’d just received a text from Todd. Feeling like I’d just hit a grand slam, I raised both hands in the air, mentally taking my bases before I put the phone back to my ear.

“Oh my God. It’s him.”

“What’d he say?”

“It says, ‘Way to leave a guy hanging’ with a wink smiley face.”

God this guy grated on me with his every move.

“What do I text back?”

“Nothing. He texted you because he realized he isn’t your top priority. He doesn’t like that, but he respects it. If you text him back you’re negating that. Listen I gotta go. Good job, Bianca. Remember, no texting him back until tomorrow.”

I hung up the phone and nodded to Leika who was already sitting at our usual table in the back of the bar. Her boyfriend, Jeff, sat next to her and for a moment, seeing them together and happy, made me pause in appreciation. Too much time at work, rubbing elbows with people that had no clue there was a life outside of their penthouse and seemingly-never-ending cashflow, made me itchy and claustrophobic, but Leika and Jeff were good people and I could always relax around them.

“Look at you all fancy and shit.” Leika stood and eyed me with a smirk.

Loosening the tie around my neck, I wrapped my free arm around her and she molded her petite body into my side.

“I just got back.”

She pulled back and gave me a wary look as we took a seat across the table from each other.

“How’ve you been?” I asked as I poured a beer from the pitcher sitting between us.

Leika leaned back into the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. Dressed in jeans and a U2 t-shirt, she looked younger than thirty. She ate that shit up, taking full advantage of people underestimating her.

Pushing her red-framed glasses up with one hand, she narrowed her gaze on me. “I’m fine. Good. The same. Work is busy, blah blah. What’s up with you? You look like shit. Are you really going to keep going to Connecticut to work for that man?”

Quirking an eyebrow up, I took a long pull from my glass before I responded to the mouthful she’d just shot at me.

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” I purposely avoided her other questions.

“How’d it go?” she pressed, and I didn’t miss the concern hidden in the question.

“It was fine. No, it was good. He invited me to his wedding reception next month.”

Leika’s eyes went wide. “Please tell me you’re not going.”