In His Kiss - Ava Alise Page 0,5
the button on the side of my phone, hoping it has enough juice to power on. The phone lights up but I’m met with the annoying lightning bolt symbol, letting me know that it needs to charge more.
Damn it.
I wait about sixty seconds and try it again. After two failed attempts to get my phone to power on, I give up and dash to the bathroom for a quick shower and shave. Water from my body drips to the floor as I walk from my bathroom back to the bed to try my phone again. It powers on this time and the second I get the screen unlocked my phone buzzes with three missed calls from the car repair company and two texts from Felicia.
Felicia: Where are you?
Felicia: I’m getting hungry, do you want this duffle bag or what?
Felicia: Whatever. I’m going to get my nails done.
Fuck. I call the repair company, secure a new drop-off time, then text Felicia. The scheduled delivery for my car was supposed to have been this morning at nine fifteen. On top of that I was supposed to meet Felicia thirty minutes ago uptown to get my duffle bag from her car. It has my wallet and school ID inside. Two things I’ll need in order to get on campus. When she doesn’t immediately respond to my text, I hit the call button and press the phone to me ear, praying to hear her voice on the other end.
It’s silent. Too damn silent. I've been fixated on the entryway to our apartment complex. Pacing, and staring, pacing and staring. There's one entryway which is hidden around the corner of the building that I'm facing. Roman and I have stayed in this apartment for about two years. We’ve been fortunate to be able to secure the same apartment at the end of each term but we’ll be moving out at the end of the summer. That’s if I don’t kill him first.
This apartment complex is small. It has only two buildings facing each other with a parking lot in between and it’s surrounded by grass and oak trees. The apartments are more like tiny townhomes, with the common areas on the bottom floor, and the bedrooms on the top. The entry gate is on the opposite side of the building I’m facing so I can't see who's entering the complex until they turn the corner toward my building, but I can hear the gate.
I’m listening to the damn birds right now. When’s the last time I heard a bird and are they always this loud?
“Man up,” I tell myself, and bounce on my toes, attempting to shake out my nerves. “It’s going to be fine. You've worked your ass off. You've played the game. You’ve earned this interview, you will get the job. And you’ll find out you got it as soon as this fucking tow truck arrives.”
I'm sure my neighbors are thinking I’ve lost my mind. I don’t make a habit of giving myself pep talks out loud, but today is an outlier. I’m usually more at ease, I’ve faced some of the biggest linebackers in our college games at CHU and never blinked an eye, but this meeting has pulled all the bitch out of me.
The sound of a tire screeching, followed by the distinctive squeak of the gate arm, rings through the air, making me feel like I could jump five feet.
“Please be them, shit.” I’m fixated on the small street, praying to see the truck that will finally set my day in motion. Instead of my damn dreams coming true, I have to bite my tongue as I watch my neighbor Kelly’s little pink car turn the corner as she slowly heads toward our building.
It feels like my nerves have taken on a whole new life. I’m trying not to curse. It might be time to call an Uber, but I really need to get my car. It’s Friday, and if I don’t get it now I’ll be stuck waiting until their next delivery slot on Monday. I have too much to do this weekend to prep for finals, and the guys would kill me if I didn’t show up for our end of season party. I’m officially stepping down from the football team. I have no choice. I fucked my knee up really badly last season and I started to have issues with it two months ago. My doctor told me it was time to give it a break, but