The Stranger on the Train

Chapter 9: Walks and talks

Pov y/n 

Once again my finger hovers over the send button, debating if I should send the message I just wrote.
Would it be too much or unnecessary? I mean, we're not quite friends yet but I kinda want to tell her.
My head falls back onto the pillow before I look at my phone again.
I mean, what should happen if I send this one text? The worst thing would be she ignoring me. With a deep breath, I send the message.

Y/n: Hey, I got a job at the aquarium. Thank you for the tip. :D

Okay but, is the smiley too much? Or too less? Should I have sent more than one?

After all I'm really, really happy about it. But would a second smiley make it better or make it seem desperate?

God, here I go again with the overthinking. I should just put my phone down and distract myself. And that's what I do.

At first my eyes dart over to the phone on my nightstand but soon I'm occupied with sorting out apartments.
Some of them are a little too far away or too expensive and in the end I narrow it down to three. I write an application email to all of them, hoping I can get at least one of them.

When my phone vibrates, I shortly look over but concentrate back on finishing up the last email before grabbing my phone. My heartbeat quickens when I see it's from Scarlett.

Scarlett: Congratulations! That deserves to be celebrated. Do you have any plans tomorrow?

Y/n: Thank you. And no, I just wanted to work my shift at the coffeeshop but I'm free in the afternoon.

Scarlett: Great, how about 3 pm at the lake we were with Rose the other day?

Y/n: Sounds good, see you then.

Scarlett: C U :)

My heart is racing right now, I'm going to see her again and she didn't seem to be annoyed by my text message. Joy bubbles up inside me. We will meet tomorrow and I get to spend some time with her alone.
Wait, alone or will Rose be there as well?

I scroll through our chat. Scarlett didn't say anything about Rose. Maybe she's still in school?
Wait, no tomorrow is Saturday, there's no school then. Maybe it's obvious that Rose will be there too?
I slowly nod, agreeing with myself. I will just expect to see Rose as well and if she isn't there, that's also okay.

Wow, Scarlett really got my mind spinning. I sigh and fall back into the pillow.
The rest of the night is calm, I just watch a little Netflix before falling asleep.

It's a little hard to concentrate on work the next day because I'm excited to see Scarlett again. But since it's Saturday, Jesse doesn't work today.
I really like him and talking to him but right now it would just make me even more nervous if he asked me about today.
He would ask if it was a real date today and that's something I don't want to think about because I'd just get my hopes up and when it turns out it's not a date, I would be disappointed.

So, I'm ignoring that thought and concentrate on brewing coffee.
Since it's the weekend, we have more customers and I have my hands full with work. In my short break I look at my phone and get excited, one of the apartments owners answered and suggested a day for me to look at the apartment.
It's in the morning and I have to see if I can get a few free hours from work but it's amazing news.

So, in my next break I go to speak to Ms. Miller and she gives me the day off to go see the apartment. I thank her with a huge smile and go back to work. It's all slowly coming together and that makes me genuinely happy.

After work I quickly go back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and brush my hair again. It doesn't look bad, just a little messy and I want to make a good impression on Scarlett. She did see me twice already but I still want to look good for her.
When I check the mirror, I'm satisfied with how I look and grab my keys, wallet and phone before leaving my room.