Page 32 of Wildfire
“I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t want to see me again and now she can’t escape me. We’re in the same group.”
JJ sighs heavily. “Did she tell you she didn’t want to see you again?”
“I haven’t actually talked to her. Like I said, I’ve been staying away. I don’t wa—”
“Want to make her uncomfortable, yes, you said that. Oh, Russ. You are so hopeless, but I love you anyway.”
“Thanks? I think?”
“It’s not true unless she said it. Unless she actually tells you she doesn’t want to see you again, then you’re just making assumptions.”
Fantastic. “So what now?”
“Well right now you look like some guy who got what he wanted and is now ignoring her, and you’re not that guy. You’re the good guy who doesn’t realize sometimes people leave after hooking up and that doesn’t have to mean anything dramatic. You’re not going to have a chance with her if you ignore her, genius.”
I really am hopeless. “I’m not looking for a chance with her. I don’t want to get fired.”
“So why are you calling me about the girl you don’t want a chance with?”
“I just want to know how to be around her, since we have to work side by side for weeks.” I scratch my jaw, feeling pretty clueless about women right now. “She was pushed up against me yesterday—stop looking at me like that, it was during a team activity—and she was so close to me I could smell her shampoo and, well…”
Quickly turning down the volume on my cell phone, I check once again that I’m still alone, while JJ does what can only be described as cackle. He eventually calms down and I feel like my entire face is on fire. “It happens to the best of us, buddy. Does she know?”
“Well it was digging into her stomach.” Sighing, I run my hand down my face as I prepare for the cackling again. “When she moved away, she winked at me.”
I count all the way to thirty-three before JJ finally stops laughing. “The real reason you wanted to talk to me.”
“What do I do?”
“You accept that you completely misjudged the situation and you talk to her instead of avoiding her like a dick. Be around her by doing just that, being around her. It’s easy.”
The doors open behind me and I look over my shoulder to spot Xander walking in with the dogs. “I gotta go, but I appreciate you, man. Thanks for hearing me out.”
“Bye, lover boy, keep me updated,” JJ says, disconnecting the call.
Now that my phone has service again, my notifications have come through while I’ve been talking to JJ. The last thing in the group chat is a picture of Mattie, Bobby, and Kris at the beach in Miami and one of Lola, Stassie, and Joe on their flight to New York.
I take a video as Trout scrambles up the outer side of the beanbag chair and slides down into my lap and send it to the chat. I’m about to close my messages when I spot more from someone I was hoping to avoid hearing from.
DAD
How are you?
Did you see my request??
Then a few hours later.
Too good to text back now?
Think you’re better than me do you
Too good for this family
“I’m fucking beat, man.” Xander groans, throwing himself into the giant beanbag chair beside me, causing me to lock my phone immediately and put it into my pocket. “This sun is a killer.”
It takes me longer to process what he’s said because my heart and brain are racing after seeing the messages from my dad. “Yeah, it’s brutal. Where is everyone?”
He kicks off his sneakers and stretches his legs out fully. “Tanning, I think. I need to cool down before I melt.”
