Sɪᴄᴋ⁻⁻Jsᴄʜʟᴀᴛᴛ//Fᴇᴍ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9

As I dry my hair after my shower, I sit on the toilet seat and open my phone.

I have a few messages from Korine wishing me a good shift and telling me that there's dinner in the fridge. Ted texted me saying he might come down and visit, but it's not definite yet. I have some Baylor friends asking about homework, but there's one text in particular that I'm looking for.

When I find it, my heart does a little "yay," and I cringe. I told myself I wasn't going to let this "crush" crush me. It's not even a crush if I think hard about it; I like Schlatt's attention, and he likes mine. We are just...good friends.

Olive, you are a big fat liar, my brain jabs.

I open Schlatt's SMS message.

I'm editing the stream for the vod channel rn. You look cute when ur flustered.

My body tenses up and I sit up right away.

What do you mean?

I ask, knowing exactly what he's talking about.

I kissed you on the head for views

Your face is like

tomato red

tomato red olive

I feel a not-so-pleasant twinge in my chest. I bite my lip and hover both my thumbs over the keyboard.

Yup, sorry about that. I didn't know how to react.

Nah its fine

You did look really cute

When Schlatt texts me things like that I feel the bitting in my mouth of all places. It's almost itchy and causes me to bite my lip repeatedly to ease the feeling.

You know me! Doing anything to help a friend out. Money is pretty cool.

My shoulders slump and I make my way to my bedroom. I sigh and toss my phone on my bed, getting my outfit ready for tomorrow and slipping my books into my bag. When I retrieved my phone, I tried not to get disappointed.

Yup

YUP?? WHO SAYS YUP?? YOU'RE SO STUPID. I slam my phone into my pillow and bring my knees to my chest to bury my head in them. What did I expect? I set him up for a half-assed response. I fucking friend-zoned the guy.

Why did I expect him to contest it? To go against what I said and reestablish where we stand?

I groan and tuck myself into bed. I don't go to sleep immediately even though I'm exhausted from a busy day at work. I wait.

I wait until I hear the familiar ding signaling that Schlatt texted me.

...

When my alarm clock wakes me up I check my phone instantly. I know that if you pretend you don't care about something the Universe gives it to you because you don't want it. Simply: whatever happens happens and it will happen to me.

I open my phone and check my messages.

I stare back at the yup. The text seems to say "Wow! Look at you! You're a moron! Ha Ha!"

I grumble and start my day, trying not to think about Schlatt or the way his hair grazed my thighs or the way I could smell his woodsy and spicy cologne on my clothes after our hang-out.

...

Shit I'm so sorry i didn't text you gm this morning.