“Stupid, sexy, egotistical, kissing doctor,” I muttered, grabbing my pillow and burying my face in it. I heard my phone buzz, even though I couldn’t see it.
“Where are you?” I jumped up onto my knees, my hands patting down the surface of my bed.
Taigi barked, using his nose to push the phone for me.
“See, this is why I love you, Taigi,” I said, reaching to pick it up.
He barked two more times before rolling himself into a ball in his smaller bed at the foot of mine.
It was a text.
‘Are you sleeping?’
‘Yep.’ Urgh, I should have come up with a better reply.
‘So you are dream-texting me? That’s new.’
‘Why are you awake?’
‘Why are you asleep after messing with my head?’
What? Me! Sitting up and crossing my legs as if that would help, I typed harder, as if he could feel my emotions through the phone.
‘Me messing with your head? Says the guy who drops the 'I like you’ bomb and kisses the life out of me to the point where I was thinking of asking you in, only to be a gentleman and tell me he doesn’t want to just screw me. I’m not messing with your head, Dr. Davenport, it’s you who is messing with mine.’ I felt proud the moment I hit send...until I realized how crazy I must sound.
“I hate trying to date,” I said, falling over to the side, not wanting to see his reply. There should be a take-back button on messages.
Peeking at his message when my phone vibrated, I prepared myself for his reply. ‘But it feels nice, right? Me messing with you. You messing with me. You want this, right?’
‘Yes.’ I answered without overthinking, because it did feel nice.
‘It does for me, too. I don’t like talking to you via text. I prefer seeing your face when we talk, so I’ll just wait a few more hours. Sleep well, Guinevere.’
‘You too, Eli.’ Falling back on my bed, I remembered that his bedroom was just on the other side of the wall. If he was in there texting, he was right behind me. I wanted to knock on the wall, but that just seemed a little bit creepy, so I rolled over, holding onto my pillow.
I felt like I had only closed my eyes for a few minutes before Taigi started to bark, coming over with his leash and dropping it beside me. I glanced at the clock: 5:32 AM.
“Taigi, it’s too early. Can we go later?” I rolled over.
He jumped onto my bed.
“The sun isn’t even completely up yet!” I begged.
He just pushed the leash toward me and barked.
“Okay, okay.” I felt like an old woman getting up. Stretching out my back, I grabbed my running capris, though I hadn’t run since I was kid. I usually took him to the park and just waited for him to wear himself out chasing squirrels or his ball.
“Give me a second, boy,” I said when he followed me into the bathroom, whining as I took time to brush my teeth.
He whined again, his paws on my leg.
“We're going, we're going.” I put on his leash and exited my room, and he ran toward the door. “What is up with you—”
I paused when Eli came out, adjusting the mp3 player on his bare muscular arm, wearing black loose-fitting running pants and a hooded shirt. Only when Taigi went up to him did Eli glance at me, wide-eyed as he took his earbuds out.
“Morning,” I said quickly, even bringing my hand up and doing a small wave like an idiot.
“Morning.” He grinned. “Do you usually go out this early? I’ve never seen you.”
“No, usually we go out later, but for some reason, he wouldn’t let me sleep this morning.” Now I look like a stalker, thank you. I glared at Taigi, who walked on his own toward the elevator. “See, he really has to go.” I followed, walking past Eli.
“Where are you guys going?” he asked.
He was already next to me as I pressed the button. “Central Park,” I replied, getting in with him.
We both reached to close it, our hands grazing each other.
“Sorry.” I quickly dropped my hand.
He snickered, closing the doors. “He looks excited.”
I glanced down to Taigi, whose tail waved back and forth.
“I was so busy with the wedding yesterday that I could only give him a short ten-minute walk, which is nothing; he really needs a good run.” I petted his head.
“You run, too?”
He sounded excited as we reached the bottom floor. “Yeah.” I had no idea why the hell I said that; it just spilled out of my mouth. I only ever either let Taigi run by himself or biked next to him. Running was not my thing.
“I usually do the Hudson River route, it’s almost nine miles, but Central Park is good too. Do you start your run from here?”
Almost nine miles every morning? Are you shitting me right now?
“We—” Before I could finish telling him to go on without us, Taigi ran forward, pulling me with him. What made it worse was I could feel Eli running beside me.