Olive’s face dug into the desk in front of her hospital computer in the emergency room nurses’ station. She swept a few stray dog hairs off her black scrub pants. Gus hadn’t left her alone since she’d gotten back yesterday, demanding constant snuggles. She’d only made it out of bed long enough to walk him and eat some dry cereal before work.
Derek smacked the back of her head, gently reminding her they were having a conversation. “Then what happened?”
“I took some promotional photos for Disney with the man whose life I saved, who was wearing a Mickey Mouse costume—he was super nice, by the way, Frank Feldstein is his name—and then I drank around the world at Epcot, vomited into several shrubberies, and passed out next to the Frozen ride. A security guard had to tell me to leave at closing time.”
“Dignity. Always dignity.” Derek shook with silent laughter.
“Fuck you.” Olive poked his shoulder. “And then I threw Jake’s wristband into the water.”
“Why?”
“It felt right. Like scattering ashes or something.”
“But—”
Joni dropped into the seat beside her, putting her stethoscope around her neck. “What’d I miss?”
“The existential tragedy that is my adult romantic life.”
She smirked. “Darn. Can we rewind, please?”
“Nothing happened. She left. The couch smelled like lilacs and vanilla the rest of my trip.”
“You smelled the couch?” Derek wrinkled his nose.
“Um. Of course not. Who would do such a ludicrous thing?” Olive scratched at the bushy bun on top of her head. “None of it matters. I don’t have her number.”
“I still don’t understand how you never got her number.”
“Because I’m an idiot.”
Joni patted her back once before turning back toward her computer to log on. “Could you message her on her Instagram or something?”
“Ooooh.” Derek whipped out his phone. “What’s her Insta?”
“Stellaflies.”
He swiped around.
“That’s a cute handle,” Joni said.
“It’s so fucking cute. She’s so fucking cute.”
“Damn, O. She really is hot.” Derek adjusted his glasses. “The uniform.”
“God, I know.” Olive sucked in a breath. “Don’t you think if she wanted me to message her, she would have left her number?”
“Maybe she thought if you wanted it, you would have asked for it.”
“My phone was dead by the time I thought of it. I planned on getting it before she left, but she was gone when I woke up.”
Joni handed the phone back to Derek. “I feel like it’s not that risky to message her and ask.”
“She has twenty thousand followers and practically no photos. I bet she never checks her DMs. She probably gets a million spam ones a day.”
“Ask her if she needs a sugar daddy, I hear that’s the best way to get an influencer’s attention.” Derek crossed his arms, swiveling back and forth in his chair.
Joni chuckled. “Maybe say hello and tell her you’d like to see her again.”
“Where does she live anyway?”
YOU ARE READING
Fly with Me: a novel by Andie Burke
Romance(Books you want to read but don't want to buy) A sparkling and steamy Sapphic romance, Fly with Me by Andie Burke is filled with sharp banter and that sweet, swooping feeling of finding "the one" when and where you least expect it. A one-way ticket...
