Golden Hour

Chapter 18

"Oooo-oo-ooo, someone stayed up late last night." Emily eyed me while I stumbled toward the espresso machine shortly before ten. Too excited to sleep anymore. "Guess your date went well."

My cheeks flushed crimson. "Hope we didn't keep you awake."

"Nope, I invested in a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones."

"Em! We didn't do anything like that."

"Pics or it happened."

"Isn't it supposed to be 'pics or it didn't happen?'"

"Yeah, well." Emily shrugged. "It's you we're talking about here."

"Hey!"

Emily gave me an evil cackle.

With a tired groan, I reached for the giantest mug I could find. Triple espresso. Topped up with two rounds of froth. And two shots of vanilla. Normally I was a black coffee, black tea, no nonsense kinda girl unless I went to a fancy café.

But today was not that day. 

Neil and I had stayed up until four in the morning chatting. I repeat: four in the morning. I'd never connected so well with a human being that I'd passed out talking to him.

"Sooo, spill!" My best friend flashed me a wicked smile before taking a giant sip of tea. "Is Neil dreamyyy?"

"Oh, Em." I slouched against the kitchen island and started munching on some dry children's cereal. The kind that had way more sugar than fiber. "He's...he's amazing."

She squeed.

"We ate. Played games."

"Did you kick his ass?"

"At Scrabble? He held his own, actually."

Emily whistled. "Good for him. I can barely keep up with you, and we both studied English."

"Right?" I sighed in utter ecstasy as I took a hit of sweet caffeine. "But I could barely hold my own against him in Cribbage."

"Cribbage?" She furrowed her brow. "Isn't that a grandma game?"

"Nope, you're thinking about Bridge. And he can play that too."

"Well, that's the whole package."

"Hey, cut the snark!" I hissed. "I grew up with grandparents, remember. It's nostalgic for me."

"Kidding, kidding." Emily held up her hands in mock surrender. "Look who's being all protective of her Neil."

"He isn't my Neil." I guzzled some more coffee. "He's his own Neil who happens to want to spend his whole night with me."

We both burst into a fit of giggles. 

"So what did you do that whole time if you didn't..." She weighed her words carefully. "You know...get it on?"

"We talked."

Emily gave me a blank look. "You talked?" She paused for effect. "For six flipping hours straight?"

"Yeah..."

"You never talk for six hours straight."

"Well, I did with Neil."

"About what?"

"About everything." A smile spread across my face while I recalled our deep discussions in a flurry of disconnected details. "His past. My past. My life in America. His childhood. What we think about the world."

"What you think about the world?"

"Yeah, you know...politics, religion, philosophy."

"And?" she asked with twinkling eyes. "What's the verdict?"