Chapter 15 #2
“Well, shit.” I look over at Goonie, his cat eyes judging me from his perch on the counter. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
Outside, Ryder’s truck rumbles to life.
My cat looks at me and chirrups, which I take as a definitive yes.
With a sigh, I head upstairs to shower and get dressed, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in my chest. Is it ridiculous to miss someone who’s been gone less than a minute, especially when that certain someone shouldn’t even exist?
As I step into my panties, my phone buzzes with a text.
SASHA: CALL ME IMMEDIATELY YOU TRAITOR. I NEED DETAILS. ASAP.
Rolling my eyes, I tap the call button.
She answers on the first ring. “It’s about damn time!” she huffs in my ear. “I’ve been dying over here!”
“Good morning to you too,” I chuckle, wedging the phone between my ear and shoulder as I pull on my jeans.
“Oh no, don’t you ‘good morning’ me, missy. You have a hot fictional guy in your house who just happened to materialize in your kitchen, not to mention you’ve ghosted me for days!”
“Hey. As I recall, after I called and told you what happened, I asked for your help and all you did was laugh and hang up on me!”
“And I stand by that decision!” Sasha cackles. “But seriously. In my defense, it was either laugh or call the paddy wagon. I figured laughing was the safer option for our friendship. Now. I need all the juicy details. Have you slept with him? Please tell me you at least made out.”
Putting the phone on speaker, I tug my sweater over my head, and check my reflection in the mirror. “We’ve kissed. Twice.”
“TWICE? And you didn’t call me immediately after? What kind of best friend are you?”
“The kind who’s probably having a complete mental breakdown,” I mutter as I grab my phone and head back downstairs. “Sash, things are getting weird. Like, really weird.”
“Good weird or bad weird?”
I pour myself another cup of coffee and take a seat on the couch. “His truck showed up in my driveway yesterday, out of nowhere. And now he has an entire closet full of clothes, his wallet, keys to an apartment and a tattoo shop he owns that actually, before last night, never existed.”
Silence.
“Sash?”
“I’m… processing,” she answers slowly. “So you’re telling me that not only did you manifest your fictional book boyfriend, but now you’re manifesting pieces of his life?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“Holy shit, Noia. That’s either the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard or the most terrifying.”
“How about both?” I groan, flopping onto my side against the cushions. “He left this morning to go to his tattoo shop—which again, shouldn’t even exist—to work on a client he’s technically never met but somehow remembers designing the tattoo for.”
“And how do you feel about all this?”
I turn onto my back and stare at the ceiling. “Scared,” I sigh after thinking about it a moment. “Excited. Confused. I’m starting to fall for someone who, for all I know, could disappear at any moment.”
“Sounds to me like you’re finally letting yourself feel something real for the first time in years.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what? Tell you the truth? Noia, when’s the last time you talked about a guy the way you’re talking about him right now? Or the last time someone made you this excited?”
I shut my eyes in defeat. “Never.”
“Exactly. So maybe stop overthinking it and just... see where it goes.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one falling for a fictional character.”
“Honey, from what you’ve told me, he doesn’t sound so fictional anymore. In fact, he sounds pretty damn real to me.”
My phone buzzes with a text and my heart skips.
RYDER: I made it. You were right—this is fucking surreal. Everyone here knows who I am, and apparently, I have appointments booked out for the next three weeks!
I read the message to Sasha and I can hear the smile in her voice when she says, “Noia, I think you need to accept that whatever this is, it’s happening. So. What are you going to do?”
“What am I supposed to do, Sash?” I stare at the text. “Write him a happy ending? Write myself into his story and hope for the best?”
“First of all, you are his story. And second, I’m coming to see this hottie for myself.”
I nearly drop my phone. “What? No!”
“Yes. I’ve got some vacation days saved up. I’ll be there Friday.”
“But—”
“No buts! My best friend manifested a hot book boyfriend into existence. I need to see him with my own eyes, make sure he’s treating you right, and ask him about any other fictional hotties he might know. Maybe he has a friend.”
I groan, pressing my palm to my forehead. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me for it. Text him back, clean up whatever disaster zone I know you’re living in, and prepare the other guest room.”
My voice sounds small when I ask, “What if he’s gone by the time you get here?”
Sasha’s voice softens. “Then we’ll figure it out together. But I have a feeling he’s not going anywhere.”
After we hang up, I text Ryder back.
ME: That’s incredible. How do you feel?
Three dots appear, disappear, then reappear.
RYDER: Better than expected. Gotta go. TTYL.
I toss the phone on the coffee table and lie back on the couch.
Goonie saunters in, meows, leaps onto the couch with a grunt and pads his way up my body, kneading his paws against my stomach before making himself at home on my chest.
“Oof! Damn, fur ball. You’re getting heavy,” I grumble. Sliding my hand over his soft fur, he starts to purr and I begin to relax.
I stare up at the ceiling, watching the patterns of sunlight shift across the plaster.
“Guess we’re running with the punches from now on, huh, boy? And between you and me? I sure hope it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”