Tightrope

15

NOW

BECCA

I plucked off a bunch of dog hair from my clothes as I stared at the fridge, trying to figure out what to eat for dinner.

It was a Friday night, and I was alone. I had spent the day with Julie over at her doggy daycare, playing with the dogs, which were so incredibly cute, I simply couldn't get enough of them. I had spent hours and hours just playing with them and petting them, as Julie actually worked around the place. It had been a good day, but now I was back in my apartment, staring at the fridge not knowing what to eat.

Some of the things that I had bought from the supermarket at the beginning of the week were staring right back at me, but I couldn't seem to care about actually looking at the meat or fish, so I settled for ordering takeout.

Chinese?

Probably Chinese.

I pulled the take-out menu from the kitchen drawer, and sat down on the couch, pouring myself a big fat glass of red wine.

Friday night alone didn't seem so bad now.

Nevertheless, my phone chimed with a text message as I was browsing my contacts for my favorite Chinese food restaurant takeout number.

It was an unknown number, and I was really curious about who could be texting me this late.

I almost dropped the phone when I read the first sentence of the message.

"Hey, Becca. It's Will. I was just wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight? I thought we could talk."

I stared at the phone in silence for a long minute, before I typed my answer.

"Hey, Will. I'd love to! What should I bring?" I texted back, hoping it sounded light and casual, and not uncomfortable and stressed as I was actually feeling.

"Just yourself. I've got it covered." Will texted back, and he sent me a link with the directions and the time I should be there.

I changed out of my sweatpants, and put in a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt, and black heels. I fixed my hair and redid my makeup, and by the time I was done, I was about to be running late.

I practically skipped down to my car, so exited I couldn't even contain myself. I couldn't believe that Will had actually invited me to dinner, to his house. It was like something had shifted between us, giving me an opening to enter his life again.

I liked it.

❈

I drove in silence towards Will's address and parked in front of the big apartment building. The lobby was absolutely gorgeous, and elegantly decorated while showcasing the luxury design.

I found Will's apartment soon enough, but I stood outside his door for more than five minutes, just trying to convince myself to knock. All I had to do was gather up the courage to knock.

"Come on, Rebecca. You can do this. Just knock." I whispered to myself as I brought my hand up, and knocked twice.

My heart raced as I waited for the door to open. I considered that maybe I should have just texted Will that I was there. Maybe he didn't hear the door, maybe he had music on or something.

I was pulling out my phone to text him when the door suddenly opened.

A kid, who looked quite a lot like Will but looked around seventeen or maybe eighteen opened the door.

"Shit," I thought. "Will has a kid." But I corrected myself, reminding myself that this kid didn't look young enough to be Will's. He would've had to have had him when he was like six or seven, and not only was that just not possible when it came to Will, but I knew for a fact that he hadn't even kissed a girl until he was 13. Plus, I had known him all his childhood, there was no way he had a kid.