"Oooo-oo-ooo, someone stayed up late last night." Emily eyed me while I stumbled toward the espresso machine shortly before ten. Too excited to sleep anymore. "Guess your date went well."

My cheeks flushed crimson. "Hope we didn't keep you awake."

"Nope, I invested in a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones."

"Em! We didn't do anything like that."

"Pics or it happened."

"Isn't it supposed to be 'pics or it didn't happen?'"

"Yeah, well." Emily shrugged. "It's you we're talking about here."

"Hey!"

Emily gave me an evil cackle.

With a tired groan, I reached for the giantest mug I could find. Triple espresso. Topped up with two rounds of froth. And two shots of vanilla. Normally I was a black coffee, black tea, no nonsense kinda girl unless I went to a fancy café.

But today was not that day. 

Neil and I had stayed up until four in the morning chatting. I repeat: four in the morning. I'd never connected so well with a human being that I'd passed out talking to him.

"Sooo, spill!" My best friend flashed me a wicked smile before taking a giant sip of tea. "Is Neil dreamyyy?"

"Oh, Em." I slouched against the kitchen island and started munching on some dry children's cereal. The kind that had way more sugar than fiber. "He's...he's amazing."

She squeed.

"We ate. Played games."

"Did you kick his ass?"

"At Scrabble? He held his own, actually."

Emily whistled. "Good for him. I can barely keep up with you, and we both studied English."

"Right?" I sighed in utter ecstasy as I took a hit of sweet caffeine. "But I could barely hold my own against him in Cribbage."

"Cribbage?" She furrowed her brow. "Isn't that a grandma game?"

"Nope, you're thinking about Bridge. And he can play that too."

"Well, that's the whole package."

"Hey, cut the snark!" I hissed. "I grew up with grandparents, remember. It's nostalgic for me."

"Kidding, kidding." Emily held up her hands in mock surrender. "Look who's being all protective of her Neil."

"He isn't my Neil." I guzzled some more coffee. "He's his own Neil who happens to want to spend his whole night with me."

We both burst into a fit of giggles. 

"So what did you do that whole time if you didn't..." She weighed her words carefully. "You know...get it on?"

"We talked."

Emily gave me a blank look. "You talked?" She paused for effect. "For six flipping hours straight?"

"Yeah..."

"You never talk for six hours straight."

"Well, I did with Neil."

"About what?"

"About everything." A smile spread across my face while I recalled our deep discussions in a flurry of disconnected details. "His past. My past. My life in America. His childhood. What we think about the world."

"What you think about the world?"

"Yeah, you know...politics, religion, philosophy."

"And?" she asked with twinkling eyes. "What's the verdict?"

"Neil is a political independent," I replied. "He takes a look at the political platform of the candidates and makes a rational decision based on what the country needs."

"Sounds like someone I know..."

"Right?" My pitch fell high with excitement. "And he's atheist, but he respects my spiritual agnosticism."

Emily squeed again.

"He feels connected to nature, which is awesome," I exclaimed. "I've always felt like that. By the sea or in the forest...like my soul could fly free, you know? And he respects my views even when we disagree."

"Who cares if he doesn't believe in a soul if you can connect in the same way?" she said.

"Exactly!"

"Did Neil tell you about...Stephanie?" asked Emily in a wary tone. "And Alexis?"

"Yeah, he did." I gulped the rest of my coffee. "And I told Neil the truth. That he was brave for sticking by his family, but I totally agree with his decision to move on now that his kid's grown up."

"Perfect."

"And then guess what he did?" I said with a muted squee.

"What?"

"He read to me."

"He what?" she asked incredulously.

"Neil read to me." I cupped my mouth in a vain attempt to suppress my glee. "I told him...you know...that I loved his voice, so he offered to read to me."

"Oh my freaking God," she said, emphasizing each word separately.

"So we chose The Hobbit and Neil read it to me until I fell asleep."  

"That's so romantic!" exclaimed Emily. "It's like he was serenading you, but with the written word instead of music. Ahhhhh!"

"I know!" My cheeks figuratively caught on fire. "No one has ever read to me before. Not like that anyway."

"Well, you never asked."

When I gave her a look, Emily cracked up laughing. Rushing over from the other side of the island, she gave me a friendly embrace. "You two are perfect for one another!"

"I know, right?"

The doorbell rang. 

A cursory glance through the privacy curtains revealed a deliverer carrying a small bouquet of flowers. I furrowed my brow. Of course Neil had my address because of work, but he didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would send flowers to show his affection. 

How could I phrase it? He was more of a talk-all-night-about-your-thoughts and a read-your-love-to-sleep kinda guy. 

Still...I could run with it. 

Opening the door with a giant grin, I took the small bouquet filled with a sunflower mixed with other autumn hues. Well, Neil had said that his favorite season was fall. Whereas crazy ol' me couldn't make up her mind because I argued each one contained a beauty of its own.

"Thank you!" I said, quickly closing the door and running toward Emily.

"What does it say? What does it say?" she asked like a kid on Christmas Day.

"Just gimme a minute!"

My heart collapsed. 

One frustrated huff made her ecstatic smile melt into a glare. 

"He didn't," she snarled.

"When will this fuckwit leave me alone?" Marching over to the trash, I kept the note and tossed the small bouquet unceremoniously into the bin. "It's always the same story!"

"Apologizes with flowers," said Emily in an angry sing-song, "and goes back to the same old shitty-ass behavior."

"Ugh!" I translated the note into English. "My little sunflower, I miss you so dearly. We were meant to be together forever. I'm sorry. Please come back and give me another chance."

"Fuck that asshat, honestly!" Emily crossed her arms. "Promise yourself never to buy into his garbage again. Don't let him flatter your ego and lure you back to the dark side."

"Are you kidding me?" I snorted. "I doorslammed that guy so hard his eardrums are still whining."

"Good!"

"Besides..."

Emily gave me a friendly shoulder squeeze and waited for me to find the words.

"Now that I know a real man like Neil exists," I asked, "how could I ever endure his crazy town?"

"Damn straight." She nodded. "Neil is the man for you. Not this donut."

I ripped up The Fool's note into tiny pieces and let them fall into the trash like winter snow.

___

Word count: 1,103
Total word count: 18,864/20,000

Oooooh, so close to the goalllllllll! I can almost taste it!