LOVE BUG

CHAPTER 29: CONCEAL

I dedicate this chapter to one of my silent readers: the sweet @Sunflower0999 ❤ Your messages on Insta after each new chapter always warm up my little heart, now I dare you (and all the shy little silent readers) to speak up here 😉 Never be shy with me! I LOVE to hear from all of you, my little rays of sunshine 😘

'I got a new phone!

I'm sorry for earlier. Maybe we can talk later today?'

Anastasia's heart skips another beat as Nathaniel's text appears on her phone. Just when she has finally managed to slow down her heart rate from the frenzy he has put it in a few hours ago, it is going back to the same uneven rhythm, and it won't steady as she stares at the words on her screen, trying to decipher their meaning.

A part of her, somewhere inside her chest, is fluttering at the fact that he is already texting her after he has got a new phone. Yet her stomach is knotting with question marks. '

Sorry'? Sorry for what? Is he regretting what they have done again? Is she, herself? And talk about what? Is it a good idea, knowing their records of 'talking', 'agreeing' and 'breaching'?

Should she reply immediately or wait a little?

If someone sees her looking at her phone like a ticking bomb holding her fate, they will probably think she is crazy, among other things, and she herself shakes her head at how ridiculous she is being when she has work to finish. Her shift ends in less than one hour; this can wait.

Yet the questions aren't shaken away, and she barely has grabbed her broom that she stops. Is he waiting for her answer?

A protective, caring instinct blooms in her stomach, resembling a lot the concern she has felt yesterday, and she jumps back on her phone, forgetting her doubts and questions.

'That's okay, no worries.

But shouldn't you be resting right now?

We can talk another time'

A smile tickles Nate's lips at the words she's replied, and the fact that she cares about his well-being isn't only tingling and warming his cheeks actually.

'Okay, I'll go to sleep.

I guess I'll see you tomorrow'

And he will probably dream of her, but that, Nate doesn't write it.

He shakes his head, dropping his phone on the passenger seat next to him and starting his car with still the same grin. Though it doesn't last as he takes the direction of his house, and not the turn to the Army center like he's planned to do.

It's safer and wiser in many ways, as the tiredness is gaining his eyelids. Yet his sleep-deprived brain is fully awake and already over-working at the perspective of facing Pamela and having to come up with another lie, or just another distortion of the truth.

He is ready to turn back when the new unfamiliar ringing of his phone echoes around, and he jumps on the new shiny device so fast that he almost forgets to put the automatic pilot on. But his smile, his hope, and the warmth the simple text has created in his stomach all drop at the sight of Darrell's number.

He puts the call on voicemail instantly, going back to focus on the road as the voice of his best friend is sounding through his new phone.

"Hey dude, I'm sure you already got a new phone, and if not I will call you back later to be sure you're not avoiding me!" His friend's sarcasm is easily traveling through the new device to reach the knots in Nate's stomach, and the underlying hint of worry is even worse.