Quickly washing my hands at the sink at the back of the room, I draw in a breath. The nerves I have now could only mean one thing. Even after everything that happened this weekend … I want the person interrupting my day to be Micah. Probably pretty dumb of me, but there was something about the way he’d looked at me this morning that made my heart clench in my chest. My head knows it could be dangerous to trust him again. My heart wants to run straight back into his waiting arms.
With a glance over my shoulder, I see Ms. Simpson is occupied helping someone with a piece of clay on the wheel, so I withdraw my phone from my pocket and thumb it open.
A weird pitter-patter feeling hits me in the chest as I begin to read.
Daph’s Dream Dick:Please give me a chance to explain myself.
Daph’s Dream Dick:I’m afraid you’ll never hear me out face-to-face.
Daph’s Dream Dick:I don’t expect you to say anything back.
Daph’s Dream Dick:But I need you to know that what you saw wasn’t what it looked like.
Daph’s Dream Dick:I didn’t know how to tell you. I hadn’t thought much of the promise I’d made until Alora insisted we had to make it look “real.”
I blink rapidly. What the hell do I say to that? Not only am I inexperienced in every facet of having a relationship, I’m also unpracticed in the art of how to respond when someone is close to groveling. But he needs to know exactly how I’m feeling.
Me:Do you have any idea how badly you hurt me?
Me:Micah, WTF? We slept together.
Me:I don’t trust easily but I trusted you.
Me:And you tore my heart out when you walked in there with her.
Me:You kissed her, Micah. In front of EVERYONE. I was humiliated.
Daph’s Dream Dick:I know. I’m so sorry.
Daph’s Dream Dick:It never should have happened
Daph’s Dream Dick:I deserved watching you with Griff.
Daph’s Dream Dick:And I deserved it when you slapped me, too.
Me:Absolutely fucking right, you did.
There’s no response for well over a minute. I bite the corner of my lip, squeezing my eyes shut. Well, there’s no doubt about me being pissed as hell. If we have any chance at all, he has to be honest with me and own up to his mistakes. The tickle of the phone vibrating in my hand jars me out of my thoughts.
Daph’s Dream Dick:I felt pretty fucking stupid when you kissed Griff.
Daph’s Dream Dick:Daph, it fucking killed me.
Me:Not my fault.
Daph’s Dream Dick:You’re right. It’s all on me.
He goes quiet again, and I know I can’t stand here at the back of the room much longer without Mrs. Simpson noticing. With my phone jammed back into the pocket of my skirt, I turn around to find Scarlett’s already gone to one of the potter’s wheels with her clay, so I prepare to do the same. Maybe the feel of the clay sliding through my fingers will calm the stuttering in my heart.
It’s not until the end of class after cleanup that I have a chance to check my texts again. Sure enough, Micah finally responded. I don’t know whether it had taken him so long because he was in class or because he didn’t know what to say. But as I read through the texts, I feel his jealousy, his torment, seeping from the words on the screen.
Daph’s Dream Dick: Does he mean something to you?
Daph’s Dream Dick:Do you want to be with him?
Daph’s Dream Dick:Seeing his hands on you was torture.
Daph’s Dream Dick:And it made me realize what a mistake it was to go along with what Alora wanted and not say something to you.
Daph’s Dream Dick:Daph?
Daph’s Dream Dick:I’m really sorry.