The Dip and the Resurface

Part 9

"You have got to be kidding me!" I said when Josh opened the door with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," he tried with a strained expression.

"I literally had her topless and ready in front of me, and then you show up and suddenly she's not in the mood anymore."

"Sorry, my face tends to have that effect on people," he joked before his expression fell into a more serious fold, "but in all honesty, I had no idea that you'd be here. I thought you were going to her place?"

"We decided on here. Didn't think you'd be home this early. You never are.."

"What can I say? Sometimes, I get tired too," he shrugged, "Dude, I'm sorry I ruined your night."

"You should be," I replied, still angry with him, "This could have been my one shot with her."

"She didn't leave a phone number or anything?"

The phone number! I had actually forgotten all about it.. Quickly, I scooped up the notepad from the table and read the ten digits she had scribbled down.

"Is that a 6 or an 8?" Josh asked from behind my shoulder, "and is that a 1 or a 7?" He pointed to two digits on the piece of paper.

"Damn, her hand-writing is shit," I groaned.

Why did everything with this girl have to be so complicated?

-

The next morning I was debating whether I should text this girl right away or if I should hold off a bit as to not seem too desperate.

"If you text her now you'll either come off as the nicest guy ever, making her happy that she gave you her number - or you'd come off as a clingy dude that can't leave her alone," Josh said with his mouth full of scrambled eggs, "On the other hand, if you text her later you'll either spark her interest even more because she's been anticipating a text from you - or you'd come off as an asshole who waited too long to contact her, making her lose interest," he shrugged.

"Wow, you're a great help!" I muttered. I ran my hand through my hair, "what would you have done if you were in my situation?"

"Well, for starters, I wouldn't have texted her at all," he laughed while pointing his fork at me, "Never get attached! That's my motto" He chimed with a grin on his face but soon continued, "I'm kidding! Just kidding! I probably would have texted her today. Maybe not right now but later. I'd rather come off as clingy than as an asshole," he shrugged.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll give it a try later," I said to him, delving into my breakfast platter.

We had spent a good thirty minutes, trying to decipher the message she had left me on the notepad and had eventually agreed that the first digit was a definite 6 whereas the other digit must be a 1.

"Since we have the day off today, I was wondering if you'd like to do something fun?" Josh asked me.

"What do you have in mind?" I looked at him suspiciously and added, "I'm not doing a tour of another one of those Chupa Chups factories ever again if that's what you're thinking.."

"Don't worry," he laughed and pulled out a pamphlet, "there's this escape room that sounds pretty cool - It has a Se7en-theme going on! And I've never been to London before so I thought we could do some touristy stuff too....Also, I know where to find a Taco Bell!"

"SOLD!" I slammed my palm onto the table before I pointed to him with my index finger, "to mister Joshua Dun for the reasonable price of a Taco Bell taco combo! You're the winner of a day with your best friend - congratulations!"

He shook my hand as if he'd won the main prize in a game show, "I can't believe I won," he said and acted as if he teared up, "Locos Tacos Combo here we come!"

-

Josh and I had walked around the city all day and had now returned to our hotel room where we decided to download the Se7en torrent.

Half-way through the movie (when Josh was sound asleep beside me with his mouth hanging violently open) I decided to text her.

Several times, I typed up a message just to delete it seconds later because I thought it sounded stupid.

Eventually, I settled on:

'Hey Ivy,
Had fun last night!
Was wondering if you might want to meet up tomorrow for a cup of coffee?
I hope this is the correct number - if not, please ignore the fact that I just invited you, a stranger, out.
...Though, if you like tacos and have an aversion to chick flicks and Katy Perry, I'm sure we'd hit it off.'

I was quite sure that I had the correct number, and just added the last part to seem more chill than how I was actually feeling right now.

'Shit,' I muttered to myself as I realised that I had forgotten a pretty important part in the text. In a hurry, I managed to open the app and type: 'This is Tyler from Fifty Six Pilots, by the way'

I pressed send and tried to turn my attention towards the TV where Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman were having a heated discussion.

I was having a hard time concentrating on the movie playing in front of me, and kept checking my smart watch to see if a message ticked in.

I had to wait for 28 excruciating minutes before I felt a buzz from my wrist accompanied by a buzz from my phone lying on the table in front of me.

Text message received at 9.36 pm from Ivy:
Hi Tyler from Eighty Three Pilots.
I also had fun last night.
To be honest, I'm not really a coffee drinker.

I felt my heart sink into my stomach as I read her text. So this really was the end of it. She didn't want to see me again. Had I blown it? Or was it because of Josh' interruption? I sent him an angry look - He was still snoring loudly beside me and I had to suppress the urge to stuff dust bunnies in his open mouth.

That was, of course, until I felt another buzz from my phone.

Text message received at 9.38 pm from Ivy:
...But I will let you take me out to dinner.