Vulnerable: Book 1 of the Magic Mutations Series | ✓

7: Blushing Idiot

On Saturday, I sat in the lunchroom on my break when a text came through.

Ben: What are you doing after work?

My eyes narrowed as I typed a response.

Me: Eating then sleeping.

Ben: What if we watched a movie, had dinner together, and then you went home to sleep?

A drum pounded in my chest as I typed my reply.

Me: Are you asking me on a date?

Ben: Not exactly...

And my heart sank, heat overcoming my face. While everything during the week screamed 'he likes you! He totally likes you!' obviously, I had been wrong to jump to the conclusion.

Just because I was falling head over heels for his sharp jawline, the way he sometimes pressed his lips together as he thought deeply, and the little freckle gracing the corner of his mouth on his left cheek didn't mean his feelings towards me were in any way romantic.

Just because we held hands that time walking around Hyde Park...

But before I could continue thrashing my confidence with my never-ending self-doubt, a couple more texts came through, lighting up the screen I held limply in my hand.

Ben: Some of my friends are coming.

Ben: They have insisted on meeting you.

Meeting me...

Does that mean that he... talks about me to others?

My stomach knotted and I tried to think of ways out of it, biting my lip as I stared at my phone. I certainly wasn't ready to meet his friends, but, at the same time... I wondered how he'd treat me in front of them. It may give me some clarity on where we stood.

Suddenly, another text came through when I hadn't replied.

Ben: What do you think?

Me: What movie?

Ben: >.> A good one?

I stifled a giggle as I read his emoji. I could hardly imagine him typing it.

Me: Oh. Have you seen it?

Ben: No.

Me: Then how do you know it's good?

Ben: I just do.

Me: I'm not agreeing to see a movie before knowing what it is.

Ben: Fine. It's Homecoming.

Me: Spiderman?

Ben: Do you have something against Marvel?

Me: Not exactly... Just didn't peg you as the type...

Ben: Am I not a teenage boy?

Me: Debatable...

But then he didn't respond. The three dots appeared and disappeared, until they didn't show up at all.

Yet as I started to wonder if I had messed things up with my comment, my boss called into the back room, "Olivia, your break is up."

Sighing, I slipped my phone into my bag and went back to work.

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

After a couple of hours of ringing up orders, recommending novels, and tidying stock in the backroom, I got to have my final break for the day.