Page 54 of Love in Development

Chapter 17

Ishook my head, steppingaway from the computer with each thud of my heart.Anger reared its ugly head, a boss that only showed its face now that the fear was gone.He wasn’t dead, and he wasn’t ghosting me...what had happened?Was I just a total loser who had panicked over nothing?Had he and the guys forgotten about yesterday?He wanted to chat as if nothing had changed.

The back of my knee hit the bed, and I thumped back down, bouncing on the soft bedding.The screen lit up my desk, watching me across the room.

Charisse grabbed my arm.“What is it?Is it him?Is he okay?What are you going to do?Talk to me.”

I must have looked less forlorn since she was back to her normal speech patterns.But I really didn’t know what to feel.My worst fear had been proven wrong, and in hindsight, it seemed way over the top.In less than a day, how could I go tohe’s deadsimply because he hadn’t shown up to one meeting?Sure, he’d always made every other appointment and had only been late that one time...but dead was pretty extreme.

And now, because of that, I had to deal with the fact that I was in love with the idea of a person.How could I face him now?“He wants to talk.”

“Great!See, he’s fine.And now you can tell him how you feel.Remember?Do you want love or tragedy?Everyone is afraid of getting their heart broken, but if we don’t put it on the line, then we can never have love at all.”

Her words made some sense.But—

“We had an appointment, and he didn’t show up.He didn’t even message.You think that’s okay?”

She clicked her tongue.“Of course not.You should definitely punish him for stepping out of line.He needs to know who he is dealing with.And we need a chance to vet him.But now you have an opportunity to take this relationship to the next level.”She batted her eyes.

And I suddenly recalled...

“I can’t meet him now.”I put a hand to my head.I was a mess.I had raccoon eyes from not sleeping well, my hair was all over the place, and my clothes...I grimaced as I pulled the faded T-shirt away from my body.Of course, I was assuming.The message could say that he never wanted to see me again.

“Then tell him you want to meet tomorrow.Or some other day.”

“I should make him wait.Then,hecan worry.If I don’t respond when I’m obviously logged on, he’ll know there’s a problem.He might not think I’m dead, but he’ll rack his brain to figure out why I’m not talking to him, the jerk!”

“That’s right!”

I glared at my computer as the screensaver came on.A willow’s tendrils blowing in the breeze next to a babbling brook.We both jumped at the pounding on the door.Had the dragon decided to invade our cave?

Charisse shook her head, refusing to answer.But the pounding came again.

Rising, I inched toward the door, twisted the knob...and Lin stood there, arms folded.

“Did either one of you plan on telling me what is going on?”

Oops.She wasn’t happy.

I looked over her shoulder, expecting to see my sworn enemy lurking, hoping to find me at my lowest, but the hall was clear.I pulled Lin in and shut the door, then sank back down into the softness.I wanted to lie all the way back and sleep, wrung out from the emotional rollercoaster I’d been on.

Lin stood in front of us.Arms folded.Foot tapping.