Free Dreams of Us by Brooke St. James Page B

into him. As soon as she got to my apartment, we set out to the coffee shop a few blocks up the street. I recounted the details as we walked.
    "It's a good thing you looked hot last night," she said, after I told her everything.
    I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that it was the first thing she thought of. "Certainly better than I looked in the hospital," I said, still giggling.
    "I can't believe you were kissed by two guys in the same night," she said. "Especially when you consider that before last night, it had been literally years—and then all of a sudden, two hot guys in the same night."
    "It wasn't even like that with Ben," I said.
    "Yeah, but you have to admit, it was sort of awesome that he said all that stuff about leaving his date if he were in Jordan's shoes."
    "Do you think he had a point?" I asked, even though I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer.
    "Who am I to say?" she said shrugging. "I mean, yeah sure, it would be really cool for a guy to abandon all rationale and ride off into the sunset with you, but what are the chances of that happening?"
    "I think he would've done that if I would've asked him to," I said, as much to myself as to her.
    "I'm sure he would've," she assured me.
    We put our conversation on hold as we entered the coffee shop and ordered our drinks. The place was called The Big Heavy, and it was the hippest of hip when it came to coffee shops. It was one of those places where your body had to be at least three-quarters covered in tattoos to pick up an application. Dreadlocks were a bonus. Lexie and I looked like Sporty Spice and her twin sister compared to most of the people there, but it had a cool vibe, and we hung out there almost every time she came to my apartment.
    She had a thing for one of the guys who worked there, but he wasn't behind the counter that afternoon. We got our drinks and sat at a table near the window so we could watch foot traffic on the street. She was curious about the charity ball and asked more questions, which I answered gladly since I enjoyed reliving the whole thing. It cracked her up that Dr. Crawford was stunned at the sight of me being there with Ben, and that he was jealous enough to interrupt our dance.
    It gave me butterflies just to recount the story, but they were nothing compared to the ones I felt when I glanced at my phone a little while later. I had a text from a number I didn't recognize, and of course, I hoped and assumed it was Jordan Crawford.
    Unknown Number: "Is this Bailey Black?"
    I grinned from ear to ear as I read the text, which, had been sent nearly an hour before.
    "What in the world are you looking at?" Lexie asked, noticing my grin.
    "I got a text."
    "What's it say?"
    "It says, 'is this Bailey Black' ?"
    "Aaand that's what you're smiling at?" she asked sardonically.
    "It's from an unknown number," I added.
    "So you think it's the doctor?"
    I nodded and looked at her with wide eyes. "What do I say?"
    She laughed. "You say 'yes this is Bailey Black. Who's this? ' Or you could just not respond to it."
    I laughed. "Yeah, that's a good idea," I said sarcastically. "It's probably no one I'm interested in talking to, anyway."
    She knew I was being silly, and didn't bother responding. It was better that way because I was preoccupied with composing a text.
    I typed: "Yes it is. How can I help you?"
    I showed it to Lexie before I pressed send, and she shrugged as if it was as good a response as any.
    "What if it's not even him?" I asked.
    "Who else would it be?"
    "I don't know. I'm just trying not to get my hopes up."
    My phone lit up within a minute after I sent the text. I squealed as I picked it up, and Lexie cracked up at my reaction. I blinked at the screen, trying to focus on the words even though I was really nervous.
    Unknown Number: "You can help me by saying I can see you again."
    I put a hand over my mouth and stared at Lexie with wide eyes. I flashed the screen in her direction so she could read it.
    "What are you gonna