Submission

Chapter 5

Lorelei fell in and out of pockets of sleep. Despite investing in black-out curtains, she struggled to sleep during the day. She yawned as she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Milo saw that she was awake and rubbed against her arm, desperate for pets. Lorelei scratched his soft fur and he purred.

She picked her phone up from the nightstand and turned it on. She deleted her notifications one by one. Most were from the group chat she was in with Molly and her wedding party. Lorelei never bothered to read the messages. She knew that if it was important enough, Molly would message her privately. Molly knew how Lorelei never fit in with her volleyball friends.

Lorelei's heart fluttered when she saw that she had a message from Jesse. It was marked as being sent three hours ago.

Jesse: I would love to meet you tomorrow.

She was shocked he wanted to meet her. They had matched on the app less than twenty-four hours ago. Fear clenched her gut at the thought that this could be a setup.

Lorelei: How do I even know you are real?

Lorelei chewed on her lip as she watched the dots bounce at the bottom of the screen as he typed.

Jesse: Give me your number. I'll give you a call.

Lorelei hesitated before typing in her number. She knew that in the worst-case scenario, she could block the number. She became an expert in blocking numbers after Matthew changed his number repeatedly to get in contact with her.

Lorelei thought that her heart was going to beat out of her chest as she anticipated his phone call. The cell phone vibrated as an unknown number flashed across the screen. Lorelei let out a shaky breath before answering it.

"Hello," she said. Her voice came out gravely from sleep. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "Hello."

"Hi, Lorelei," a male voice said.

It was deep, just like how she had imagined. At least now she knew that he sounded like the man she hoped for. Now she was just curious about how he looked.

"Did you just wake up?" he asked with amusement behind his voice.

"I did a night shift," she said.

"Right," he said. "How did it go?"

"Good. No one died."

Someone almost died, but he did not need to know that.

"You sound beautiful," he said.

Lorelei giggled. She dug the heel of her palm into her eye in an attempt to wake up. She could hear him chuckle.

"Do I sound real to you?" he asked.

"You sound like a man," she said. "But how do you aren't some creep in a basement trying to set me up?"

"Are you always this paranoid?"

Lorelei laughed because she knew that she sounded absurd; however, this was an absurd situation.

"Meet me for coffee," he said. "Tomorrow morning. It'll be a public place."

He wanted to meet in the morning? She assumed that this would be a late-night thing only. Something secret that they would sneak around in the dark to do. Not having a coffee together in a public cafe during broad daylight.

"I just want to talk to you," Jesse said. He could sense her hesitation. "I want to get to know you."

"You don't want to have sex?" Lorelei asked.

She silently cursed herself out. She did not mean to ask that. It just slipped off of her tongue and her brain was still waking up and unable to stop her.

"No," he said. "I want to get to know you, and for you to know me. We need to trust each other first."

"Oh," she said.

Lorelei tapped herself on her forehead with her fist as she continued to curse herself out. She was embarrassing herself already and she had not even met the man.

"So what do you say?" he asked.

Lorelei let out a deep breath. Meeting at a coffee shop couldn't hurt, right? She had been on online dates before and this was no different. She had always asked Molly to be her savior during her bad dates. When the night would go sour, Lorelei would text Molly and Molly would call with a fake emergency that required Lorelei to leave.

"Alright," she said.

"Thank you, Lorelei," he said. "Do you have a place you suggest? I want somewhere that you are comfortable."

Nowhere was going to make Lorelei feel comfortable. The whole thought of meeting a dom caused her skin to break out in goosebumps. The only place she visited every day and was like her second home was the cafe she visited with Molly.

"Roasters," she said. "It's near the hospital."

"I can be there for ten."

"Okay."

There was a moment of silence, and all Lorelei could hear was her heart pounding in her ears. She had never been this nervous for an online date before.

"I can't wait," Jesse said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"See you then," she said.

Lorelei clutched the phone to her chest after she ended the call. She let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She did not want to get too excited. She knew it was shallow, but she worried that he was not attractive or much shorter than her tall frame. She did not think that she could have sex with someone she wasn't attracted to. She thought about asking Jesse for a picture, but she was afraid of what she might see. It would be a surprise, and hopefully, a good one, when she met Jesse in person.