My Way Back to You

Chapter 6 | Her Text

Anthony

I come out of a daze from the sound of Cody's "You've got that look in your eyes."

I put my phone down, "What look?" I smirk.

"Like you got a million things going on up there." Cody finishes.

"What? No."

"Yeah, you do. What's going on in the tiny brain of Andy's?"

My eyes furrow as I roll over to face the wall next to my bed. Our beds are on opposite sides of each other with a window in the middle.

A smile leaks onto Cody's face, "Is it a girl?"

"Uhhhhh."

"Who!" Excitement fills his voice.

I pull my blanket up to my face, "Fuck you and your psych degree."

"Tell me who." Cody demands.

"It's a girl I saw at the game last night. She asked for my autograph and when I asked for her name, she said Lydia. And now I'm thinking about my ex figure skating partner. There's no way that was her right? I'm getting side tracked, but long story short, I gave her my number."

Cody was beside himself, "No shot."

"I did." I confirm.

Just then, my phone dingged. My heart jumped to my throat. Cody jumped out of bed and tackled me for my phone.

"Let me see!" He croaked.

"Fuck no!" I laugh.

Eventually I got him in an arm lock against the floor. I picked up my phone and read the text.

Lydia: Hey, is this Anthony Vernon? This is Lydia. I was hoping we could go out sometime.

Anthony: Yes, this is Andy. What time works best for you?

Cody was looking over my shoulder, "You called yourself Andy already? Man, you must like her." I shoved Cody in response.

Lydia: I was thinking tomorrow night, around 6? Is that ok with you?

Anthony: Sounds great to me, where would you like to meet?

Lydia: How about the sushi place on West Peterson? That way we both only have to drive 30 minutes.

Anthony: I love sushi, that sounds amazing :)

Lydia: Great! I'll see you then ;)

Cody smacks my back, "Buddy! You got yourself a date!"

My heart was still beating out of my chest, "What if it really is Lydia from high school?"

"Then you finally get back what you lost. You loved her then and you do now, if she texted you, she probably feels the same. If it was her, she would have recognized your name on your jersey. This is no mistake on her end." Cody mentioned.

I gasped, "Holy crap, I didn't even think of that. I honestly didn't get a good enough look at her to see if it was genuinely her either. All I noticed was that she was gorgeous."

I worked on homework for the rest of the day since it was Saturday. But it was hard to focus on homework when I had my first date the following night. I did great on the tests for the week, so I did my best to treat myself and relax.

When Cody and I finished our homework, we sat down to watch a movie. I fell asleep on the couch and when I awoke it was 6am.

I got up and laid down in my bed. Cody was already in his, all snuggled up like a bug in a rug. I slept for another 2 hours before deciding to get up for the day.

It's Sunday morning, meaning the cafeteria is serving homemade waffles. Me and Cody walked through the cool crisp air across the parking lot to the cafeteria building. We stood in line for a few minutes, scanned our id cards, and grabbed our waffles. Cody got blueberries on his, and I got strawberries.

After eating breakfast, we went back to the dorm. Cody stopped me once we shut the door, "So what's your plan?"

My eyes furrowed, "What are you talking about?"

He shrugged, "Well, eventually you two are going to have to address the abrupt 'parting of ways' that happened 3 years ago"

"Yeah," I sighed, "I'll have to tell her what our coach told me. Which is that he tried to force me to date her, and after that I was constantly uncomfortable."

Cody continued, "Then she's going to end up asking you why you want her now."

"Because I really did want to date her, but I didn't want it to be forced. And now it doesn't seem like it's forced... right?" My lips flattened.

He was right, this date might end up awkward. But Lydia came up to me, she must feel the same way I do about her.

5 o'clock had rolled around, and I changed into some black sweatpants and a yellow hockey sweatshirt. I left 30 minutes before I should have so I could stop at the florist shop before it closed.

I wanted to make a good first impression after 3 years, and I alway see social media posts of girls asking for flowers. So I hoped this would do the trick.

When I arrived there, I spent a few minutes looking around before picking out some Gold Medal roses. I decided to use Anastasia Chrysanthemums as filler around the roses. To tie it together, I wrapped the bouquet in brown paper.

I carefully set the newly put together bouquet on my passenger seat, even putting the seat belt over it.

Turning onto West Peterson street and nearing the sushi place made my heart jump to my throat. After parking I took my bouquet and sat on a bench outside.

It quickly ran through my head that she could just not show up and I drove 30 minutes and spent $50 on flowers for nothing. But I trusted that she would show up. Lydia had a special look in her eyes when she came up to me Friday night asking for my autograph.

Just like clockwork, Lydia pulled into the parking lot just a few minutes later, at 6 o'clock sharp.

She jumped out of the car with a little purse and walked over to me.

I handed the bouquet to her, "These are for you." I smiled.

She smiled back, "Thank you."

Her eyes glimmered like the October night sky. Her hair, a deep strawberry blonde that complemented the orange changing leaves.

This was a new beginning.

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Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment and vote! Next chapter will be the date itself.