Free Anxious Love (Love Sick #1) by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle Page B

hitting the road. I have to drop Kori off at the airport around four, so I can be at your place around five."
    "Perfect."
    "You went shopping this morning. You must have been up before the sun."
    "Yeah, I like being up and out at that time of day, when it's still quiet."
    "You should have been here. I went for a run this morning and watched the sun come up. It was so peaceful."
    "Nice." I wish I were , I said to myself.
    "I'll call you when I'm heading over."
    "Okay," I said.
    "Leah?"
    "Yeah."
    "I missed you. I'll see you soon."
    My heart stopped. He hung up before I could say anything back, but I’d missed him too. With every conversation, I revealed a little more about me, and he didn't push. He tried to understand me without making me tell him everything.
    The soft knock on my door pulled me out of the my new boyfriend is so dreamy haze.
    "Leah, you up?"
    I unlocked the door and found Sophie on my doorstep.
    "Hey, sweetie." I opened the door, and she kissed me on my cheek and shuffled in. She wasn't usually an affectionate person unless she was drunk or feeling ashamed. Considering her dress was a little slutty for eight am and it was inside out, she was on the last leg of her walk of shame. I hadn't spoken to her since Tuesday when I invited her to come meet Ryan and me at 21st. I had left before she showed up.
    "Long night last night?" I asked.
    "Yep. Very long." She peeked into the first bag on the counter, grew bored, and collapsed on the couch.
    "Is there a reason you are crashing here instead of in your own place?"
    She poked her head up over the coach.
    "I set the alarm to go off in the next thirty minutes and left them a note to vacate the premises soon after."
    "Them?"
    She collapsed back on the coach. "Yeah, I know. I'm a slut. Get over it."
    Usually, I would pepper her with questions. I could always use a real live ménage situation to keep on file for one of my books, but she didn't seem in the mood to offer a play-by-play.
    "Sophie." I grabbed a bottle of water, handed it to her, and sat on the couch next to her. "You okay?"
    "When's Ryan coming back?" she asked.
    "How did you know he was gone?"
    She wouldn't look at me.
    "He told me to keep an eye on you. He said he and Kori were going to Gulf Shores for a few days."
    I nodded.
    "They are on their way back." I pushed a stray hair back in her messy bun.
    "You met Kori?"
    "Yep, I met him." She pushed my hand away like I was a mosquito bothering her. She chugged half the bottle of water, recapped the bottle, and dropped it on the ground.
    "What wrong?"
    She sat up. "Nothing. I met him and threw myself at him, and he flirted unabashedly and then turned me down." She collapsed back down. "Prick," she said under her breath.
    "He seemed nice when I met him."
    "Of course," She sat back up "He was nice to you. He didn't want to fuck you."
    My eyes grew wide and I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I have been really careful with my meds this week, but you are confusing me."
    She swung her legs off the couch and faced me.
    "He wanted to fuck me, but he didn't because he didn't think it was appropriate considering our best friends were dating."
    "Well, it sounds like he respects you."
    She shook her head.
    "No, it doesn't." She sighed. "He respects you. That's what he means. He didn't fuck me because he didn't want you to think he was a dick because Ryan likes you."
    I didn't follow her logic, but she believed it and she blamed me.
    "Okay, still not getting it. Is this my fault?" I placed a hand on her shoulder.
    "No, not really."
    "Well, how can I help?"
    "You guys want to hang out tonight?"
    I wanted to say yes. Sophie had a hard time dealing with rejection on a good day. I couldn't put my finger on it. Kori's rejection seemed to hit her harder than most.
    "Ryan's dropping Kori off at the airport and then coming over for dinner tonight."
    "Kori's leaving?"
    I walked back into the kitchen. I finished putting stuff away but then it hit me. "You like him?"
    "I met him for like