Emerald

Ch. 5

That night Virgil stared at his phone anxiously.

Should he be the one to make the first move? He had already established himself as an assertive person (despite the fact that he wasn't), so it was probably his job to get a conversation started, right?

And he was the one who asked for Roman's number, therefore implying that he wanted to talk to him. So, it must be his job to say something first, yeah?

But what to say?

Does he call? Was that too soon? What if Roman didn't like phone calls? God--What if Virgil didn't like phone calls?! He hadn't called anyone in like eight years! The last person being his father.

What if Roman had given him a fake number? What if this was all some elaborate scheme to make him look like an idiot? He could name several people who would do that kind of thing to him. Dennis Troper, Janus Orm, Susan Wojcicki (just so she could swoop in and be his knight in shining armor). There were many more, so the possibility of the number being fake wasn't unlikely.

He frowned. What would he even say to him? He had already made a complete fool of himself in the cafeteria while trying to sound cool, he would probably just do it again.

Virgil took a deep breath. At this rate, he would probably end up freaking out and just not contacting Roman at all. He needed to just do it and get it over with.

hey

Virgil nearly gagged the moment he sent the message. He wasn't ready. Maybe there was still time to unsend the message?

The message was marked as read.

Virgil paled. Nope. Nevermind. This would happen now, apparently.

There were a few moments of silence, lasting for practically an eternity.

Oh god, he wasn't responding? Virgil had crossed the line, hadn't he? He's ruined his chances. He knew it was too soon, why was he such an idio--?!

Ro: Hey

Virgil's heart leapt to his throat, and he practically raced to type out his response.

you left me on read for a second

my heart stopped beating for a sec lmao

Virgil regretted everything. Roman had definitely not needed to know how anxious those two seconds had made him, so why did he send that? Was he stupid?

Ro: That's the point

Ro: I'm keeping you on ur toes ;)

Virgil flushed.

well it certainly worked

what r u up to?

Was that too soon? Was he allowed to ask that yet?

Ro: Dinner, at the moment

Virgil blinked. So Roman wasn't too busy, it seemed. He frowned.

cool

No. That was dumb. He quickly deleted that.

what r u eating? :)