Winning Her Back

Chapter Twenty Eight

Tatum POV

"Is everything alright, Tate?" Ryan asked after I choked out my reply, his voice filled with concern. 

"I- I just needed to hear your voice, to be honest." I admitted, rolling on to my side, stuffing my face in my pillow. 

Ryan chuckled before replying, "That's good to hear." 

"Yeah, sorry. I don't mean to bother you, but-" 

"Tatum, you never bother me." He stated matter-a-factly, my heart fluttering at his words. 

God, why did I have to be so stupid? Why couldn't I have felt this way 3 weeks ago? We could have been in his apartment, cuddled up watching movies and eating take-out, scheming to embarass Willow and Zach in our speeches for their wedding. 

"So, whats up? Do you want to talk?" He asked. 

"Um, sure..." I trailed off. Talk about what? Talk about us? Talk about the weather? Without thinking I blurted out, "How was your day?"  Smooth Tate, real smooth.

My cheeks heated up as he laughed. "My day was okay. How was dress shopping?" 

"Boring for the most part, but after 17 dresses she finally found one."

"I heard you were the superhero of the day, picking the final dress." 

"I was. Yeah, if I didn't find that dress, we would probably be there until after the wedding."

Despite the embarssing start, I found that our conversation was easy. A little too easy. We shouldn't feel this comfortable. Hell, we shouldn't even be talking after, well, everything. I was being stupid, I shouldn't have called. After a moment of silence I spoke my thoughts, "I shouldn't have called." 

"What? No it's fin-" 

"Seriously, Ryan. Enjoy your night, I'll see you soon, or something." 

"Tatum, really-"

"Sorry I bothered you. Bye." 

"Tatum, don't you dare hang-" Before he could finish his sentence, I hung up. 

Letting out an aggrevated groan, I threw my phone god knows where and slammed my computer shut, almost forgetting to save the file that I was previously reading. It was only moments later that I was burried in my blankets, sobbing my sorrows away. My eyes started closing my body started to relax, and before I knew it, I was asleep. 

Well, not for long. 

An ear-piercing, terribly loud ringing sound had me jolting awake, what felt like only 10 minutes later. I swiftly looked at the clock, seeing it was 6am rather than 12a. Nevertheless, I groaned as I picked up my phone, which was blasting some country sounding ringtone that I absolutely hated, but was too lazy to change.

I quickly looked at the caller ID and almost threw my phone against the wall.

"What Gabrielle?" I barked into the phone, my body falling back down onto my pillow.

Gabby POV

"Good morning to you, too, Sleeping Beauty." I giggled into the phone, flipping the three grilled cheeses over on the pan.

"What do you want?" Her voice was muffled, but after living with Tatum for 6 years, I could understand her. 

"Why are you so grumpy? It's practically noon! And can't a girl call her best friend who she hasn't spoke to in.. forever!" I dramatically spoke as a pair of arms snaked around my waist. I instantly smiled as familiar lips made contact with my exposed shoulder.