A smiley emoji.
It was corny in itself, and yet it brought the smallest smile to her face as she stared at the good morning text from Asmodeus.
It didn't matter if he had done it everyday since she gave him her number, it always brought a smile to her face. It wasn't the kind that was full or as bright as she remembered, but it was more than she had done in the last two months. His kind and thoughtful gestures were more than appreciated along with his patience each time she turned him down to meet again. She was honestly afraid that what she felt on the other side of the screen would disappear the moment she saw him again.
Or what she felt was real and would implode in on her and make her fall face first in love once again before she was ready. How was one supposed to even tell when they were ready?
The butterflies in their stomach? The constant need to see or hear them? A hollow part when they weren't there?
But what if those were all lies?
Savannah hadn't dived into the topic of why they were still in town. She knew they were passing through and nothing more. But she loved how easily she was able to talk to him. He never dug deeper than she gave, and she didn't either. It was anything that came to her mind; the dreaded traffic outside, to having to get up and start a day when you didn't want to, down to the most mundane topics of favorite colors and hobbies.
A knock rapped on her door. Max's muffled voice came from the other side. "Anna."
"Crap."
Savannah threw the covers off her legs, and for the first time that morning, she got out of bed. She gazed down at her baggy shirt and pajama pants, shrugging with pursed lips, and made her way out of the small room that only held her full-size bed and dresser.
Opening her apartment door, the smell of rich hazelnut coffee invaded her senses. She closed her eyes and groaned out in delight.
"Glad to know I smell good, but can I come in? Or should I just feed the hermit and leave?"
Savannah rolled her eyes and moved to the side, allowing room for Max to step in. "Get in here." She reached for the coffee in his hand, taking it as he passed it to her. "I'll take that, though. Thank you."
His hazel eyes sparkled with the smirk on his face and walked past her.
She closed the door and took a sip of the wonderful nectar that hit her taste buds and filled her with warmth.
Max headed around her peninsula counter and took a seat on one of the bar stools. He dropped a bag she hadn't seen in his hand on the peninsula.
Savannah made her way over, standing in the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Her eyes followed his movements as he pulled out a container with the familiar logo she loved to visit. If the aroma of sweet caffeine hadn't clouded everything else, she would have noticed the cup in her hand held the same logo from the café she loved.
Eyes set onto the container, she set her phone down beside her and gripped her cup tighter as she suppressed herself to not snatch the small box from him and see if it contained the sweet delicious goodness she thought it had. "Oh my God. You didn't?"
Max took out the to-go box from the bag and placed it on the counter. His gaze softly swept over hers and slid it across to her. A dull white plastic fork was placed next to it and she met his hazel eyes.
"Oh, I love you."
Max tilted his head, and shot back without missing a beat, "You know I love you too, Anna, but if you truly did, you'd find out if one of those brothers is single."
Savannah scrunched her face up at the thought of that. "I can't just ask that, Max. We haven't even met up since that night."
She took a sip to avoid the thoughts that ran wild in her mind. The last thing she needed was Max to see it written all over her face and dive into questioning her.
Max narrowed his eyes at her. "Offended. And why not?"
Savannah shrugged.
"Anna. Holy shit."
Savannah glared at him, but he ignored her and continued. "If you like him, just have coffee with him. Talk in person. Get to know him more than just behind the words in a text. I know you want to because every time I'm over here, you always glance at your phone as if you're waiting for something. And I know it's not Rachael or your mom. They would call you. But this..." Max trailed off, shaking his head.
"I want to make sure before... ya know?"
That was lamest excuse you could muster, huh? Savannah couldn't help the snide remark to herself.
"Oh, Anna. If I even thought he was going to play you, I would have stopped you that night. Just because you didn't pay attention; though I don't blame you. I wouldn't have paid attention to anything around me either, but Rachael and I didn't go dance and leave you alone with someone random you had just met. We kept an eye on you in case you needed anything."
She knew they had been. It wasn't hard to notice how Asmodeus made sure she knew they were within sight when he angled their bodies just right that she could see them just passed his arm that held her waist.
And Max was right. She barely paid attention to anything around her once they started dancing. But she hadn't expected them to sit out and watch over her the whole time. She at least thought they had danced a bit in between the time Asmodeus brought her over and the non-existent music they danced to had played "Why didn't you tell me?"
The corner of Max's mouth twitched, settling on a melancholy smile. "Because the choice is yours, Anna. Whether you picked up your phone and messaged him back or not. I had to threaten Rachael to keep her mouth shut when you came back to the table because I knew she would have said something about making you message him or doing it herself for you."
Savannah took a sip from her coffee, savoring the sweet hazelnut flavor while it's near scorching hot liquid warmed her up. The white triangle shaped box on the peninsula nearly begged for her attention, but she held off even opening it. "I don't think it will work out. He seems close to his brothers and they seem to hate me."
They aren't even in town for long, she bitterly thought to herself. She hadn't wanted to divulge that to Max, not yet. She knew he would never push her into seeing what was there, but that she might regret to never know. The same kind of regret that Asmodeus had told her if she walked out without giving her number away.
It was the what ifs that kept her stuck in a constant loop of 'what if' whiplash.
What if he broke her heart when she handed it over? What if he played the slow game, letting out his true colors later than sooner? What if he was worse than David?
But the biggest was, what if he did none of those? For all Savannah knew, he could be more than that.
"Who cares if they do? It's what he wants that matters. It's all that should matter. If he doesn't care that his brothers seem to dislike you before they have even gotten to know you, that's on them. Not you. And definitely not on him if he still wants to see you. As long as they don't disrespect you and he stands there doing nothing, then you shouldn't care what they think."
God, Savannah hated how right Max was. As he always seemed to be when it came to the choices she second guessed herself on lately. She only saw what was in front of her with a narrow field of view, not being able to see the bigger picture.
It didn't mean it was an easy thing to turn off.
She didn't even know if she had an off button for it. And did she ever wish for one. It would have made it that much easier to cough the courage up and take Asmodeus up on his offer for coffee. She did love the sugar sweetness out of it.
And it was just to talk.
A notification echoed in the room, interrupting the conversation that drew their attention to the device that vibrated on the counter. Her eyes slowly trailed to her phone that she silently thanked God she had placed face down.
The corner of Max's lips curved upward as he glanced back at her. "Is that him?"
Her eyes narrowed to slits as she grabbed for her phone.
Savannah didn't even need to double tap her phone to know that Max was right. She had sent him a message back when she woke up, but hadn't heard anything from him until now.
With Max still in her apartment.
There were bound to be questions, if not a load of teases that would spill from his mouth before she kicked him out. Which she had no problem doing with a smile. If anything, their banter seemed more normal than before. His presence every morning when he dropped her coffee off with his own was a welcomed sight. Even if they weren't as normal as it had been before...well...before her life seemed turned upside down. It wasn't as if there was a fifty foot chasm between them anymore either.
Max raised a brow at her, pointing his index finger at her. His hazel eyes sparkled with a knowing look that made her want to laugh. "See? That little bit of a spark in your eyes. That tells me all I need to know."
Savannah rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that graced her face. Again, Max was right. She had felt the subtle changes she experienced since that night. The giddiness when she received a text from Asmodeus. The longing to have a conversation that didn't revolve around how she was doing to the funny, but flirty messages he threw in periodically. She looked forward to them. If that made her feel like a horrible friend-and it did, she pushed through it, because no matter what she did, she felt as if Arielle constantly whispered in her ear. Telling her how she didn't want her to keep grieving.
Everywhere she went, it was always her voice. The one who wanted her to do what she wanted, not what others thought she should do. To live a life without regrets and make silly decisions that didn't adhere to others. Only herself. And as much as it was to late for Arielle to see if, she wouldn't tarnish what her friend had hoped for her by wallowing in self-pity she knew would have her ears ringing for a week straight with everything her friend would say.
Asmodeus message stared back at her, asking what her plans for the day were.
Simple.
No push, or request, as the rest of their conversations. But, she loved that he always curious, even if she still hadn't put a day or time on meeting up for coffee. Asmodeus didn't make complaints. It almost made her cave a few times, but she didn't. Fear had a way of crawling into her life that made her stop short of the decisions she wanted to make. That being one of them.
"So?"
Savannah turned her attention back to Max, setting her phone down. "So, what?"
"What did he say? Or ask?"
"He asked what I was doing today."
Max pursed his lips, tilted his head to the side slightly that made strands of his blond hair slide across his forehead, and shrugged his shoulders. "What are you doing today?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Max's eyes shot open. A laugh bubbled up as his lips curled into a smile. "Oh, ho, ho, ho. You suck, Anna. You've been holding out on me this whole time and it's the last day I'm bringing you coffee."
Savannah chuckled with a smile. "Seriously, though. I'm just going to relax and make sure I have everything set for the school year. John forgot to mention I'd being having a student teacher for half the year. Doesn't change much, but I want to make sure my plans can help him get the experience he needs to succeed as a teacher."
"Isn't that sort of last notice? I thought those things were put in earlier?"
Savannah shrugged. She knew things got lost in the mail, email, or even fax at times. It happened, and it made things slightly difficult, but it never changed things overall. What she taught never changed, so it didn't matter-at least to her. She didn't speak for other teachers who hated a bump being thrown into their plans. "It's not much of a hassle. I'd prefer to know they leave with knowledge on how a class works best or the strategy to incorporate how students work for them to succeed. Doing that and making sure my students still excel won't be a problem."
"You're the teacher. I know nothing about any of that."
Savannah rolled her eyes, and stared at Max with a teasing smile. "I wouldn't expect you to."
"Shove it," Max teased back with a smile.
He pushed the container toward her that held her favorite dessert.
Savannah stared at him for a moment, contemplating opening the box now or later. Either worked in her opinion, but later gave her something sweet to devour because she knew the only thing she had left in her kitchen was the wine.
The one thing she hadn't touched in a while. And she'd prefer to keep it that way... if possible.
"Just eat it. That way I know you've eaten something today. Cause I can tell you rolled out of bed when I got here."
"Whatever." There was no comeback to that. He was right, and she knew he knew that.
Savannah grabbed the box, sliding it over and opened it, staring at the caramel covered cheesecake.
Her mouth watered at the sight of her favorite sugary dessert.
"So, who's the guy you have to work with?"
The fork she raised to dig into the dessert froze mid-air as she glanced at Max. His hazel eyes were calm, and if she didn't know him, she would have thought he made idle talk. Unfortunately, she did know him. She knew the way Max's mind worked and the subtle ways he tried to dig for information.
"You want to know if he'd go out on a date with you."
Max raised a shoulder as if he hadn't asked anything outwardly weird.
"Well, only if it comes up."
"You are something else, Max. I swear," Savannah said with a chuckle. The cheesecake was the only thing that kept her from outright denying to be a wing woman to Max. That and knowing how hard of a time Max had been having. His last ex wasn't any better than her own, but he hadn't bothered to try and deny his actions like David had.
Max groaned. His eyes practically pleading with her. "Keeping my options open isn't a horrible thing. I can't just pick up a guy anytime I go to a club and get asked to slow dance while getting swept off my feet."
Savannah huffed a breath out and took a defensive tone. "I didn't get swept off me feet, Max."
His expression was doubtful. Even she doubted the words she spoke, but it was all the more reason she pushed back against her feelings. It was too soon.
"If you say so. All I'm saying is it can't hurt to poke around a bit. Come on, I brought you coffee."
"You brought me coffee cause it was part of our deal before."
"What if I bring you more coffee?"
Savannah didn't respond. The idea mulled over in her head, yet her answer would be no. However, she loved to watch Max stew across from her the longer she stayed silent.
"With caramel cheesecake?"
Savannah chuckled and shook her head. That was an added bribe she hadn't expected from him. "I didn't take you for being desperate, Max."
"I'm not," he denied. But it was the soft gaze in his hazel eyes that tug at her conscious. "But it doesn't mean I'm below bribing again."
Savannah sighed, taking another bite of the mouth-watering dessert as she battled internally. Denying would have made her feel like a horrible friend, even though Max wouldn't have ever said anything about it, but she also didn't want to put her student teacher in a weird position.
"If," she stated firmly. "If it ever comes up. Only then will I ask, and his name is Wilfred."
Max's eyes brightened, bringing out the slight specs of green in his eyes. "Old-timey. I would never ask you to put yourself in a weird position. Not when you have to work with him for a while. But you are the best, Anna. I love you."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand with the fork at him, angling it at the cheesecake as she continued with a pointed look. "I love you too, but you owe me more of this."
Max smiled. "For you? Anytime."
Max spend a few more hours in her apartment, chatting about his work and what Rachael had been up to. They loved her, but she had a way of being out there and finding trouble when she didn't look for it and never gave the tea until it somehow spilled in a completely different conversation. And only then did they find out and told the other if they weren't around. They hadn't become strangers after their quartet became a trio and it showed it the way none of them had given up any of the others, even if their personalities were opposites at times.
It was what made them unique and Savannah wouldn't have it any other way. She loved them through it all.