Chapter 4 #3
Steffi pressed her lips to his cheek, her hand cupping his cheek on the opposite side of his face.
She felt his cheeks widen as he smiled, smiling at the weirdness of this whole thing, and picturing the image in her mind.
Her weird neighbor was coordinating a fake photo for their fake engagement… for his mother.
Backing away slightly, Drake turned his head slowly to look at her. Their eyes met, and she felt something spark between them as she gingerly let her feet fall to the floor. He was looking at her in confusion, wonder, and something else as she swallowed nervously.
“Did that photo work?” she began hoarsely – and saw his slight nod, before he turned the phone to hold it up.
There, on the screen, were the two of them in what anyone would think was an embrace.
Their faces were close together. Her lips pressed to his cheeks while he stood there looking so deliriously happy in that moment.
She had a slight secretive smile on her lips, cradling him to her, and his eyes seemed alit with a fire from within.
It was a tender photo, a beautiful yet simple picture taken at a candid moment…
or as far as anyone knew, it was ‘candid’.
“That’s… nice,” she admitted.
“It’s perfect,” he nodded, and his tan cheeks reddened slightly, causing her lips to part in surprise. Was he blushing? “I’m gonna have my agent use this instead of the plunger photo to talk about our engagement.”
“It's much better – isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
They stood there for a moment, the silence hanging between them.
“Did you need anything else?”
“Your keys to your car,” Drake nodded, tugging on his collar. “I just need your keys, and I’m outta here.”
Nodding, she grabbed her keys and pulled them out of her pocket before looking at him.
Angling her head, she paused, waited, and then said the unthinkable.
In another world, she would have never dreamed of talking with him because he seemed out of her league, untouchable, yet she’d seen some of the strangest moments mixed with miscommunication that two strangers could share…
and yet, they were still here, still standing.
“You should let this part of you out more,” she said nervously, looking at him with a wariness as she braced herself for another random comeback or crack at her, just anything to take her down a notch – or twenty. “You can be nice when you try.”
He reached for the keys, leaned forward, and met her gaze head-on.
Their eyes held, and she could hear their breath between them as the intensity grew.
He was inches from her lips, and she’d just kissed his cheek.
What would it be like to actually be friends with him, to be in a relationship, or to just give in and kiss him until they were both breathless and senseless in each other’s arms.
“Yoink,” he breathed, grabbing the keys from her – and ran.
Steffi was so startled at the abrupt change that she stood there for the second it took for him to get to the front door, before she turned.
Sure enough, the man was running for his life.
He sprang out of the entryway with all the grace of a ballerina – or maybe Wylie Coyote – and then scrambled like Scooby Doo, trying to make a sudden right back to his house before she could stop him.
It was so out of left field, so sudden, that she burst out laughing wildly at his antics as the storm door on the house slammed shut.
She walked over to the door, saw he was definitely gone, and closed the front door, shaking her head.
That was the last thing she expected, the oddest thing that could have happened in a moment where she thought he might take things in a different direction… and paused, smirking.
“Well, I guess that he sorta did just that…”
Chuckling, she went back to the kitchen where she had been putting away her things and smiled.
Two hours later, she was sitting in the recliner with an FM radio nearby, listening to music with her eyes closed and humming – because curse him – Drake was right…
again. Her favorite thing to do in the evenings when she was bored was doomscrolling on social media until she nodded off.
She laughed at TikTok, shopped endlessly on with a wish list that was staggering, and simply gazed at photos of people living their lives…
and wishing for a little magic like that for herself… only to hear a knock on her door.
Lifting her head off the recliner, she turned to the door like she could see through the wood – and glared.
No one ever knocked or came over – except Drake.
She was not ready for round two with the infernal man who was likely to do something crazy just to get a rise out of her after ‘yoinking’ her keys from her hand and running away.
He could have been sweet, maybe even congenial or romantic, but what would forever be known as the ‘Great Yoinkening’ was highly… childish.
“Go away…” she called out – and heard a knock again – muttering wildly to herself as she got up and stomped toward the door.
“My goodness, don’t you ever listen? Obviously, you’ve had your butt kissed a little too much by society and needed to get told no more often because you are…
” and she yanked open the front door to see him standing there with a bag.
“I get told ‘no’ more than you realize,” he offered sheepishly, smiling at her. “Hi.”
“What are you doing here – and what’s that?”
“A new cell phone for my fiancée,” he shrugged, handing her the bag. “Oh, and there are a few goodies inside that seemed appropriate for us, you know, because we’re engaged so… g’night now, Steffi.”
And he pivoted, put his hands behind him, and sauntered off toward his house – whistling like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“You…” she sputtered, staring in the bag – and sure enough, there was an iphone box down inside along with a few other packages. “Wait, Drake – hold on… you got me a cell phone?”
He turned, looked at her, and continued walking backward to his house – grinning.
“I missed you sexting me.”
Her mouth dropped open – before she exploded. “I was not sexting you – I would never sext you! Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. “YOU WERE?”
“No, but I wish I had taken a picture of that face you just made. I bet that’s your ‘O’ face in bed…” and then he threw his hands up over his face like she was going to hurt him. “Don’t be mad, it was a joke!”
“You’re utterly disgusting.”
“I’ve been told that before – yes – but usually I have a shrimp hanging from my nostril or chopsticks…”
“Oh my gosh,” she muttered, not quite sure what to make of him anymore. One moment he was sweet, and the next, he was putting her back on her heels with an enormous amount of sheer stupidity that was staggering. “You’re not right in the head.”
“I think we’ve already touched on that, which means that maybe because you keep bringing it up, you think I have a particularly pretty head on these shoulders.”
“Says Marie Antoinette…”
“Ouch,” he chuckled, putting a hand on his heart and wincing. “I’m trying to be nice, remember?”
“Thank you for the phone.”
“You’re welcome, my dearest fiancée…” he grinned, gave her a slight bow, and then winked at her. “I programmed my phone number in there for you, too.”
“Gee,” she said flatly. “Thanks so much.”
“Talk soon,” he chuckled, disappearing inside his house as Steffi looked at the bag once more. Walking back into the living room, she moved toward the kitchen area where her card table was set up and emptied the bag – and flinched.
There was a magnet holder on the back of the phone – that was a gaudy-looking wedding ring. Opening the other box that was labeled ‘Cell phone case’ she groaned, seeing the photo of them printed on the case, holding the plunger right in the center.
“I guess that’s where my new ring will go,” she quipped sarcastically and let it plunk onto the case with a click because of the magnets, before reaching for the cell phone.
Opening the box, the screen lit up with the slightest movement, and she saw the photo that they’d taken. Her lips were pressed to his cheek and his smile was priceless.
She couldn’t help the tender smile that touched her face as she flipped up the screen to go look at the phone number – and cracked up laughing as ‘Douche Wanker’ was the only name in the system. Clicking edit, she paused and saw one more box in the bag.
Pulling it out, she hesitated – and held her breath as it hit her like a ton of bricks. Her hands were shaking as she slowly opened the box to reveal a single solitaire glistening against a black velvet backdrop.
He got her a new cell phone – and a ring?
Slipping the ring out of the box, she drew in a trembling breath as she slipped it onto her finger.
It fit perfectly as the diamond glistened in the fluorescent lights above in the kitchen.
Was he expecting her to get upset, to bite his head off, to…
what? she thought, her mind absolutely struggling to keep up with this crazy man.
Why would he do something like this?
Because he said he would, her mind answered automatically.
She’d mentioned the phone, and he’d scooped up the issue, solved it, and was now depositing it into her capable hands as if to say ‘Here, let me care for you’ – and she had never, ever had anyone do something like this.
Everything in her life had been a struggle, from her mom’s doctor’s bills and visits to funeral expenses.
Life was not exactly easy for some and she was one of those ‘some’ who could use a little encouragement not to give up or throw up their hands in defeat.
Holding up her hand before her face, knowing that her eyes had to be red from unshed tears, she took a selfie and sent it to him – with a simple ‘thank you’. Three dots appeared – and she braced herself for whatever comeback was bound to come her way.
And waited.
And waited.
Those infernal dots appeared and reappeared several times, but he never responded except to send a thumbs up almost a minute later.
“That’s it?” she gaped, stunned. “The dude gives me a phone and a diamond ring – and then lobs an emoji as if to say ‘cool’ like this was nothing?”
She left ‘Douche-Wanker’ as his name on her cell phone.