Other Worlds - The Wilds

Chapter 46

  Thus ensued the reason they were late in the first place.

  "Okay," Toni breathlessly whispered. "Dumb question." She swallowed.

  "Are you okay?" Shelby softened, her glare morphing into a look of concern.

  "Yeah, sorry. Yep!" She recovered from the sudden heat that had taken over her body and lightened up. A little forcefully. But they didn't have the kind of time for what Toni was planning to do with Shelby. "Let's find this phone!"

  Shelby recognised it instantly, her concern melting away with a big, bellowing laugh. She looked like she was going to say something, but was interrupted by a series of immature giggled.

  "Stop it!" Toni whined, her ears feeling hot. Fuck, just another thing for Shelby to-

  "Oh your ears!" Shelby chuckled, gathering Toni up in her arms. "Oh you're so cute."

  Toni grumbled and wrestled out of her grip. "Cute. Perfect. Exactly what I was going for." She soothed her hair down and tried to regain some composure.

  The air around them thickened when Shelby turned around to meet her eyes, articulating her words very clearly. "I think we have well and truly established that I can tell when you're not trying to be cute." After a moment of silence, Shelby stepped forward and tucked Toni's hair behind her ear. Okay fuck it. We can be more late. "Unless you're actually just seriously awkward and I've been missing signals all along."

Toni shoved her playfully, the tension in the air dissipating. Thankfully, because they really didn't have time for that. "You could have just left it at the first part. Giving me a little confidence boost and just snatching it away again."

  "Gotta keep you on your toes." Suddenly, Shelby frozen, snapping into gear. "Wait! Toes!" She ran off towards the closet.

  Toes? Toni decided to just wait instead of asking any questions.

  "Aha!" With a flourish, Shelby brandished her phone. Kissing it as she rose back to her feet.

  It was then, that Toni experienced jealously towards an inanimate object for the first time.

  "Okay, we can go now." Shelby grabbed the door handle, letting Toni out first.

  "One question," Toni queried.

  "Yeah?"

  "Why exactly was your phone in the closet?"

  "Well, I had placed it in my shoe so that I wouldn't forget it and make us late," A great plan, clearly. "But then I took different pair of shoes."

  Toni chuckled to herself as she locked the door.

  Shelby stopped and waited for her, but when Toni turned to face her, her expression was more solemn than she was expecting. "You're not mad are you? That I made us late? I know this dinner is a big deal to you, it's your first dinner with the basketball team, you want to make a good impression and I-"

  Toni leant forward, kissing her softly. "No." She pulled away and grabbed Shelby's hand, intertwining their fingers as they walked. "It's actually nice not to be the person always forgetting things all the time."