Page 42 of Seeking Stars
"Tell him I had a terrible date!" Ely's voice came from the phone, loud enough to sound clear in the middle of the night. "And that I process by making fun of it!"
"You heard her?" Ana tracked the amused angle that appeared on Liam's lips. "Sorry."
"Gimme." Pushing his hand forward, palm up, he asked for the phone. Ana's bed was close enough to the door that she only had to stretch her arm to reach him; she placed the phone in his hand.
"Hey, Ely," he said. After saying that, he put the phone on speaker.
Ana bit her lip not to laugh. This was the first time Ely and Liam had a conversation with each other.
"Hello, Liam."
Ely sounded confident, as she always did. Ana knew her well enough to know that, inside, she was squeeing.
"You're on speaker," Liam informed her.
"Perfect."
Ana burnt time as her best friend and her... and Liam talked on the phone. She forced her eyes off him and focused on herself instead. She straightened her pajama shorts down, suddenly wishing they were longer; she loosened up her sleeveless shirt around her breasts, trying to hide that she wasn't wearing a bra. Upon inspection, she learned the attempt had been unsuccessful.
"I'm sorry about your date," Liam said, eyes checking the result of her efforts.
Looking away, she lifted her arms to undo her messy ponytail, and used her fingers to rake her hair free of knots and braid it.
"Me too."
"Ana tells me you're amazing."
Unconsciously, she tried arranging her shirt again, stealing a glance at Liam. He leaned against the door frame with his shoulder; his hips were cocked to the side, one foot crossing over the other. He seemed to be paying attention to Ely's words, except for his eyes: they followed the movements of her hands, roaming over her torso and her legs.
The room had a warm atmosphere; she'd covered the lamp shade with one of her shirts, aiming for diffuse soft light. It reflected on him with a muted glow. He didn't seem to realize that she looked at him. Seemed he didn't even know he stared at her, too.
"She's right. Ana is just as amazing," Ely commented.
"Yeah, she's cool." He smiled at the general direction of her thighs. She stopped fussing around with her clothes and stared at the dark window, torn between wanting him to look at her that way, and scared of what it meant. He added, "but we're talking about you and the loser who's going to miss out on you. What did they do?"
"The whole thing doesn't bear repeating, but I'll give you the highlights: he texted to say he would be a few minutes late, turned out it was twenty minutes. He showed up with a friend. They talked about a business project they had and the lady that was blocking their venture, which is the polite version of what they were saying. I decided to leave after one drink; they'd been so busy ranting that we hadn't even ordered dinner yet. He insisted on walking me to my car. Once there, he tried to kiss me and after I refused, he asked what my problem was, that he'd paid for my drink after all."
"Oof, what an asshole."
"Right? He didn't even notice I had left a twenty on the table."
Liam chuckled. "You're better off without him. Ten minutes was more than enough to write him off and good riddance."
"Agreed. What a waste of my time and twenty dollars."
"I hope you blocked him. Just get ready to sleep, forget about him, and move on. Isn't it at least a couple of hours later over there?" He came to sit at the corner of Ana's bed.
"Yep, it was a really bad date, but I should go to sleep. I'll regret staying up so late. Some of us have to get up early tomorrow. Let me say bye to Ana?"
"I'm listening." Ana lifted her legs and rested her arms on her knees. "You need a private word?"
"No, it's fine. I just need you to remind me of what just happened next time I decide to give dating apps another chance. I love you and go to sleep soon."
"Love you too."
"I can't say that I love you, Liam," Ely said, "but sleep well."
He laughed. "You too."
