The next morning, I'mlying in my pajamas on the couch with my phone next to me, going over our date last night, and wondering if he will call me. Honestly, I’ve been out of the actual dating game for far too long and have no idea what the proper etiquette is. Are you supposed to wait a certain period of time before texting someone? Ugh. Whatever, I will just wait patiently until his name shows up on my notification bar. Until then, I’ll watch some of the True Blood TV series. I’m not really sure what attracted me to start it, but glad I did. One thing that caught me off guard is how much sex is in it. Is there an episode without it? Nope. Not so far, and I have three seasons to go.

Now that I’ve met Liam, he reminds me a little of Alceid from the show. He’s not as tall, but has scruffiness. And then my mind takes over, and starts imagining him as an alpha werewolf. Why do we crush on men that are vampires and werewolves? I think it's being drawn to something unknown. If these things were real, it wouldn’t be this way. Yet, I let my mind wander anyway.

After watching four episodes back-to-back, I contemplated calling Liam myself, but what do I say? Or will he even answer? The more I think, the more I talk myself out of it. I should just wait for him to call, right?

Fuck it... the line starts trilling and with each passing ring my anxiety raises. Three... four... voicemail. Are you serious? Now he is going to see that I called, and didn’t leave one.

I need to get out and clear my head. So, I text Tessa.

Me: Wanna meet up at cafe?

I head straight to the bedroom and open the closet to rummage through until I find a t-shirt and some leggings. I’ve got to get out of here. Maybe I can wrap my hand around this while eating a quiche and sipping on a mocha.

Tessa: Be there in 5.

The walk is short to the cafe, and after ordering, I find a table toward the back so everyone doesn’t overhear me talking about my date. The mocha latte is the perfect temperature, just how I love it, and I sit my phone on the wooden table so I can hear it vibrate if he calls. God I hope he does.

I barely slept last night. Sometimes, I hate being a woman because you never know what the men are thinking, and it drives me nuts. Did he enjoy our date? He did say he would love to take me out again, so I would assume. Or did he just say that to make me feel better?

“Hey girl, what crisis are we in today?” Tessa says, setting her bag down next to the table. “Take it, the date went bad?”

I wrinkle my nose. “No, actually it went great, or so I thought, but he kissed me on the damn cheek like we are twelve. Weird, right?”

She nods, taking a sip of her Frappuccino with extra whipped cream. “What did you wear? Something not too revealing, but just enough, right?”

“I wore my silver dress. The one you helped pick.”

“Okay, so it wasn’t the clothing. It could’ve been something you said, or he’s just one that likes to move slow. Why are you stressing yourself out already? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet.”

“He hasn’t text or called.”

“Again, it’s not even been a whole day. If it went as good as you say, then he’ll reach out. Give him time. Men aren’t like us. Chill.”

She has a valid point. Maybe he’s busy at work, or doing something else and he plans on calling me tomorrow or something. “That’s why I have you to keep me sane. I love you.”

Instead of making this coffee date all about me, I inquire about the wedding, and should’ve known better. She whips out this binder filled to the brim of her ideas, and layouts. Tessa has really been obsessing over this, and if she continues down this path, she might not make it to the wedding.

“I don’t know which one to pick. This venue allows outside vendors, whereas this one requires you to use their list. They are around the same price, but they are both so beautiful. I can’t decide anything else until this is set in stone.”

“Is it still August 31st?” I ask.

She nods, still flipping through the photos of the venues.

“I say go with this one. It’s got more of an elegant look to it, unless you want to go more rustic, then this one is perfect.”

“See, it’s hard, right? If I don’t make a decision by the end of next week, I might just have you close your eyes and point. Damon says he doesn’t care which one it is, as long as I’m standing at the altar next to him on the wedding day.”

“You truly found a wonderful man. Hopefully, I’ll find mine. I can feel my eggs drying up as we speak,” I say.

“Oh, stop being ridiculous, you’re like thirty. You’ve got plenty of time to make babies. Enjoy life before you jump into baby making.”

Tessa knows about being a mom, especially at an early age. She has a seven-year-old daughter who she raised for the last four years by herself. I truly am lucky to have met her when I did. Good friends are hard to come by.

“I’m gonna head home. Damon and I are making homemade Chinese food tonight. Call me tomorrow,” Harper says.

By this time, I thought Liam would’ve called by now, but the fact he still hasn’t, left me wondering if Tessa is right. Did I say something to him that could’ve offended or changed his mind about me? Up until the kiss on the cheek, I thought we were having a great time. However, I do usually overthink things, so maybe I’m just blowing this all out of proportion and everything is fine. Time will tell.

I pick up my phone and purse, and head back to my house to work on my lesson plans to keep myself busy instead of obsessing over what could’ve gone wrong with Liam. Stop freaking out.

Once home, I gather my papers, turn on True Blood, and remain on the couch. It was meant to be background noise, but soon I find myself sucked into the show when Eric’s character is introduced and it starts showing his slight obsession over the main girl character. I keep watching, barely able to look away from the TV, until my eye catches the time of 12:05 a.m.

This show might not be good for me to watch when I have things to do. I have a feeling that this is going to be a binge worthy show already.

I grab my phone to check it, and still no missed calls or text messages. Why hasn’t he called me?


Tags: Ashley Zakrzewski Rough Edges Romance