Chris Ch. 05

"Got it in one!" Chris said cheerfully. He was truly looking forward to making him suffer, not too much but just a little.

"Exercise is good for you!" He said, Johnsons just shook his head with a smile.

"Anyway, see you bright and early tomorrow. Say five?" Another groan was the only response to Chris' words, although he could hear the smile in the anguished cry and a quick peek back into the living room before he closed the door revealed Johnsons standing in the relatively clean living room with a wide smile on his face as he looked around the space.

Chris and Freckles climbed into the van and after a quick submarine style shower after which he brushed his teeth he was in bed.

He laid his head on the pillow and let out a sigh, the day had worn him out. Emotionally and physically.

He was pleased with the progress they'd made and even more pleased with Johnsons' shift in perspective.

Hopefully this'll set him on the right track and we can find him a job somewhere.

He thought as he closed his eyes and felt himself sink lower into his bed.

Before he got too sleepy to remember he rolled to the side and blindly groped for his phone to set an alarm.

Finding the cord he gently pulled on it until he could just make out the phone in the dark.

He unlocked it and waited for the brightness to auto adjust so that it wasn't blinding him.

I swear that the phone should do that before it unlocks. I can't see anything.

Once his vision returned to normal what he saw on the screen sent a jolt of excitement down his body. There were several work related emails that he summarily ignored but there in the middle of them was a text from a number he didn't have saved in his contacts.

He opened the message and saw it was a picture message, the photo was still loading so he scrolled further down to read the text.

-Hey, this is Alex.

Is this your sweater?

Was in the lost and found at the brewery.

Chris blinked at the message. He hadn't worn a sweater to the brewery. Had he? He looked at when the message was sent.

Nine-thirtytish, it's now eleven. I shouldn't text her back until tomorrow probably.

He scrolled back up to look at the photo that had just loaded.

A gray generic-looking sweater was laid out on a wooden table that he recognized as the bar top from the brewery. Alex's hand was visible in the photo, holding out one of the sleeves and from the position of the hand and where the photo was taken Chris could tell she had likely taken the photo herself.

His mind raced and his heart beat faster.

Today's tasks had done a very good job distracting him from thinking about her but this text had forced her to the forefront of his mind again and he was quickly going in circles thinking about what the text could mean.

Probably means nothing. She could just be asking me if the sweater was mine and is trying to be nice.

He scrolled back down to the message. It really did read as if she was just asking him if it was his but the fact that it was here at all was strange.

She had been the one to ask him to delete her number and not text her again. Sure she'd been nice about it and it wasn't like he had been pestering her but still.

He quickly tapped out a response.

-Hey, not mine but thanks anyway.

He stared at the text, to him it felt like it was missing something. He wanted to add something that would enable more conversation but if she didn't want to talk to him he wasn't going to disregard that wish. He pressed and held the send button and then selected the option for the drafted text to send automatically at eight the next morning.

Completely missing the three dots that sprung up under Alex's number indicating that she was currently typing.

When his phone suddenly buzzed he dropped it straight onto his face in surprise.

When he finally got it back where he could see it there was a text from Alex.

-Nevermind.

Someone claimed it earlier so hopefully it wasn't yours.

His phone buzzed again and this time he didn't drop it onto his nose.

-Sorry, I just saw you were typing so I thought I'd tell you.

He quickly deleted his draft and tapped in a new one.

-Yeah, no worries. It wasn't mine anyway. Thanks for checking though.

He sent the message and immediately typed another.

-Sorry I didn't respond sooner. Helping a friend with some stuff and got busy.

The three dots appeared under Alex's messages and then disappeared.

-No problem.

Was all she said, leaving Chris without any way to respond without forcefully restarting the conversation.

This'll be when she asks me to delete her number again won't it?

The three dots once again appeared and Chris braced himself for the inevitable.

Time seemed to crawl by and he sighed as he dropped the phone to his chest.

If she asks me to delete her number again I think I'm going to block her as well. It feels harsh but I don't need this back and forth anymore.

The phone buzzed and he braced himself for the worst. With resignation he raised the phone and read what she had said.

-So, how's Freckles?

Author's note.

Thanks for reading, hopefully you enjoyed the chapter. Took me forever to finish.

Thanks njlauren for the advice, I think for now I'll stick with posting a singular chapter at a time just because that's what works for me but probably when the story is done I'll post it as one big ol' story all together.

I also just realized that text that I previously wrote in italics (for Chris' thoughts and other things) doesn't get posted that way so I'll be adjusting my writing style a little to accommodate that I think.