Chapter 27
Otto
She Ghosted Me
The days of seeing Mia all the time are over, but I didn’t think she’d ghost me after the fundraising project was completed. I thought we’d at least try to build a relationship and see where it went. But every time I try to contact her, there’s no response. I’ve called and left too many phone messages to count, and I’ve sent a raft of texts and emails. Her silence speaks volumes.
Joey stalks into the kitchen with our latest DoorDash delivery and confronts me. “You’ve been acting like a grouch ever since the gala. I apologized for my fight with Emma, but you’re still giving me the cold shoulder. What’s up with you?” The contents of the bag smell delectable as he drops it on the table and retrieves a couple of sodas from the fridge.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
He snorts. “You owe me ten dollars,” he says, nodding towards the food.
We eat in silence. Joey ignores me and I ignore him. After a few minutes, I decide to rip off the Band-aid and admit why I’m so grumpy. “She ghosted me,” I say.
Joey stops mid-chew and looks at me. “Who ghosted you?” he says after he swallows.
“Mia.” My pent-up feelings come gushing out, like water from a broken pipe. “I thought we had a future beyond that dang project, but obviously not. She won’t answer any of my phone calls, text messages or emails. I’ve tried everything! Her silence is sending a clear message that she never wants to see me again—” My voice trails off. My shoulders sag as feelings of frustration and defeat flow through me. I’ve lost her and I don’t understand why.
Joey takes a swig of soda and says, “Maybe she’s scared.”
I snort. “Of what?”
“Her feelings about you,” he replies.
“Mia’s not scared of anything,” I scoff.
Joey shakes his head. “Why would she suddenly cut off all contact with you? I saw you two kissing at the end of the gala. That wasn’t a woman who isn’t in to you.”
My hand stops short of my mouth and instead of taking another bite of my burger, I ponder Joey’s suggestion. Could Mia be scared because she has too many feelings for me?
“What would cause her to become scared?” I ask in a confused voice.
“You need to ask her that,” my friend says.
“How do you propose I do that when she’s ignoring me?”
Joey laughs. “Otto, you’re a smart and creative guy. Certainly, you can figure out how to bump into her so you can talk this out.”
My face brightens. I feel a little silly that I didn’t think to do this sooner. Truth be told, I was miffed at Mia for ghosting me, so I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her in person. But if I don’t do that, I’ll always wonder what could have been between us.
“I need to find out her schedule at the bakery.”
Pointing to my phone, Joey says, “Call Emma. She’ll tell you.”
Grinning, I swipe my phone and place the call. “Emma, I have a favor to ask,” I say as Joey gives me a thumbs up.
~*~
My palms sweat and I feel slightly nauseous as I head over to the bakery the next morning. My plan is to win Mia over or fail so spectacularly I’ll never let myself fall for another woman again.
It’s been over a week since the last time I saw or spoke to her. We had so much fun at the gala that I was sure we had a future together. Her cold shoulder really threw me for a loop. Even if I don’t win Mia back, I need to know why she dropped me like a hot potato.
When I get to the bakery, Emma is standing behind the bakery case, but there’s no Mia in sight. Emma spots me and her lips tip down.
“Sorry, Otto, but Mia isn’t here.”
“What? Did she know I was coming?” I gripe.
“No, she switched her shift so she could do some research. I didn’t know she wouldn’t be here until a couple minutes ago when Tory showed up for Mia’s shift.”
A sense of defeat slams into my heart. I had my speech all prepared and was ready to beg her to give “us” another shot. “When is her next shift?”
Emma looks up the work schedule on her phone. “Next Tuesday during lunch. With classes starting up again, Mia has backed off her work schedule to only fifteen hours a week.”
Mia’s focus on school sends me a strong message—she doesn’t want work or a relationship with me to interfere with her grades.
I set myself a reminder to catch Mia at the bakery next Tuesday—which feels like weeks from now. The days drag on without Mia in my life. Hopefully this is only a temporary glitch.
~*~
“I talked with Blake about renting a room here,” Joey says the next morning.
“Excuse me?” I reply, not fully listening to his words.
“We have an extra room since Levi moved out, so I rented it to the new goalie, Blake,” Joey explains.
I set my coffee cup down with a loud thump! “He seems like an okay guy, but I wish you would have talked about it with me first,” I reply.
Joey gives me a stink eye. “I mentioned to you about meeting Blake on Monday at the student union to discuss renting out Levi’s room, but you never showed up. I figured that your absence meant I had the greenlight to rent the room to him.”
My Mia daze needs to end soon. I walk around like a Zombie, only half listening to the conversations around me.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “Thanks for renting the room. The extra income will help with my finances.”
Joey shrugs. “You need to quit stewing over Mia and win her back or move on, my friend. She’s really gotten into your head.”
I nod. “Next Tuesday is D-day. I’ll either win her back or go down in flames,” I reply, trying to act upbeat and confident.
“Do you have a plan for a grand gesture? Women love grand gestures,” Joey says with a smirk.
“I don’t know how grand it will be, but it’s something I think she’ll like.”I think back on my first attempt at asking her out—bowling and an all-you-can-eat buffet—I’m not going to make that mistake again! Mia is the type you wine and dine, so that’s my plan.
But will it win her back?