Finn:Deal.
I shove my phone into my pocket and rise off the couch. I step onto the balcony and close the sliding door, leaning against the railing as I wait for her. My breath gets caught in my throat when I hear the door open behind me.
I spin to face her. She has her black hair up in a loose bun, wearing a white tank top and blue pajama pants with clouds on them.
“What do you want?” She folds her arms over her chest, rubbing them as if to ease the goose bumps covering her skin. It’s cold out. I wish I had a jacket to give her.
“To talk about what happened.” I move closer.
She arches an eyebrow, backing away from me. “There’s nothing to talk about. It was fun. End of story.”
It feels like she just gutted me in the stomach.
“So, that’s all it was to you? Fun?” I make myself cringe.
This is the kind of conversation I’d have with girls before I met Dia. Except I was the one telling them it was just fun, and they were the ones picking up the pieces of their ego.
“Isn’t that the point of casual sex?” she scoffs, ridiculing me.
That’s how she wants to play it, huh?
I cross the space between us so fast that she backtracks into the glass doors. Holding her gaze, I press my palm to the door, caging her in. “Okay. Then look me in the eyes and tell me what we did meant nothing. Tell me to give up. Tell me you’ll never forgive me and I’m wasting my time.”
She’s been so detached and unattainable so far that I almost believe she’s going to do as I say, crushing my hopes for us once and for all, but she doesn’t, opening her mouth to speak and then closing it. Joy floods my chest at her reaction. Seeing her lose her composure when we’re close is my only way of knowing that I still mean something to her.
“I…” She clears her throat, collecting herself and pushing me off her. “You can’t just show up here after a year and expect a few hookups to fix everything! You say you’ve changed, but for all I know, this ‘new you’ could be a load of crap. I don’t even know where you went. Or what you were doing. How am I supposed to trust you when I don’t know anything?”
“Then let me show you!” I cup her face with my hands, letting our eyes meet. “Let me show you what I was doing. Let me introduce you to the people that helped me. Let me prove to you that I wasn’t lying.”
Her lips part at my suggestion.
“Just give me one day… One fucking day… And if you still don’t understand why I left afterward, I’ll promise I’ll never bother you again.”
I can see the war she’s battling through her eyes, and the best part? She’s losing.
“Okay,” she breathes out after five long seconds.
“Okay?” I can’t conceal my happiness. “Okay, as in yes?”
I think I see her fighting a smile. “Yes.”
I nod, and she turns to leave, only stopping once she’s opened the glass door.
She shoulder checks me. “I’m free tomorrow.”
I don’t miss a beat. “Be ready by ten.”