Texting With the Enemy (Digital Dating #1) - Marika Ray Page 0,42

it.

I pushed off the table and struggled to slide out of the booth. I hated booths. A girl could never get out of one without exposing a body part or losing a strip of flesh on the vinyl on a hot day. There just wasn’t an elegant way to get out of a booth, and definitely not quickly. After a few squeaks of my thighs against the bench seat—because of course I was sweating by now—I made it out.

“I’ve gotta go,” I mumbled, grabbing my purse and refusing to look at Boston.

His hand found my arm and I flinched. He snatched it back, but not before begging me to stay. “Wait, El. I’m so sorry. I-I have never felt this way about a woman before and I handled things all wrong, but I want to make it up to you. I care about you, you have to know that.”

I looked up, anger fueled by shame making me able to finally look him in the eye. “You care about me? You’ve literally lied to me this whole time, and I was falling for you. Funny way you have of showing your feelings, Mr. Cunningham.”

I spun on my heel and stormed out of the bistro, my heart feeling like it was tearing in two. A tiny voice in my head that sounded a lot like Ashley congratulated me on my excellent exit. I stood on the busy sidewalk, watching all kinds of couples darting in and out of restaurants on a Friday night while I stood here alone with what felt like a broken heart. It all just made me nauseous.

“El?” Chad’s voice came from behind me. “Everything okay?”

I turned around to see Chad’s friend from earlier walking off, swinging his keys around his finger. Chad walked in my direction, that floppy smile still in place.

I took a huge inhale to try to reset, during which time Chad’s gaze dropped to my boobs, and I made a decision. A stupid one, probably, but I was making a lot of those lately. Like trusting Boston. Or thinking he and I had a future together.

“No, Chad. I’m having a really crap day. And I’m still hungry. Want to get dinner?”

Chad grinned wider. “Sure. I mean, I just ate, but I can always eat. Want a hot dog? I know this place that has an all-you-can-eat price. I bet I can eat more than you.”

It was work to get a smile on my face, but I managed it, knowing Chad was exactly what he claimed to be: a boy in a man’s body without a care in the world. It would never be a love match between him and me, but at least I’d know who I was talking to. And right now? That sounded like heaven.

I wrapped my arm around his. “Lead the way.”

15

Boston

* * *

Well, that had gone even worse than I’d feared it might.

I hastily threw a wad of bills on the table and rushed to the front door, hoping to catch El and explain things. Again. But in a way that didn’t make me sound like such a moronic idiot. Which, I realized, might actually be impossible.

The front doors swung open just as I reached them, a very large man essentially blocking my exit.

“Pardon,” he chirped at me, stepping inside with a small army at his back.

I wasn’t sure if he was hosting a family reunion at this restaurant or something, but the timing could not have been any worse. I stood aside as what appeared to be thirty people swarmed in the doors, making it utterly impossible to exit. They crammed into the small space before the hostess stand, smashing themselves together and pressing me into a corner.

“Excuse me, son,” an older woman said as her bosoms literally pinned me to the wall. “My, it’s tight in here, isn’t it?” The woman was almost as tall as her companion, putting her very large chest just about at neck height for me.

I gasped for air, trying to push my way back toward the exit without inappropriately groping a stranger.

“Sorry, sorry,” I said over and over as I swam through the sea of oversized humans toward El.

Finally, I managed to escape, sucking in gulps of the clean fresh air outside. There had been a moment there where I’d worried I might not make it out alive.

I scanned the parking lot for El, then realized I’d driven her here. Where would she go? Sprinting to the sidewalk just beyond the parking lot, I