He was on a date. What if he showed it to her, and they both laughed at me?
What if he thought I looked like a slut?
What if he hated it?
A couple of torturous minutes passed before my phone chimed, interrupting the chain of internal questions.
I took a deep breath and checked it.Landon: Why did you just send me a picture of Kim Kardashian? I mean it’s sexy as all hell, but random.Oh, my God. What?
Did he think it was a joke?
Does he not realize it’s me?
My fingers hovered over the keypad before I finally typed.Rana: That’s not Kim Kardashian. It’s me.There was no response for several minutes. I felt like digging a hole in the ground and burying myself. Why did I send him that? Why did I let my jealous ego override sensibility?
Sitting on my bed with my head in my hands and my knees to my chest, I cursed at myself.
When my phone started to ring, I pondered whether I should pick up. I opted to let it go to voicemail.
When it started ringing a second time, I took a deep breath and answered, “Hi.”
“Rana, you have got to be shitting me.”
I played dumb. “What?”
“You’re supposed to look like a boy with a unibrow, not like my fucking wet dream. I’d been thinking about you all damn day as it was. Now, I’ll never get you out of my mind. This is sort of fucking me up right now.”
“Kim Kardashian is your wet dream?”
“No. Never mind her. Honestly, I looked at it so fast, and I was in a dark movie theater. Now that I’ve had a chance to really examine it, I can tell it’s not her. The long, black hair threw me off for a bit.” He paused. “But it does look like a lingerie model. God…this is really you?”
“Yes. You think I’m punking you? It’s me.”
“Wow.” He let out a long breath. “Why would you ever be ashamed to show me what you look like, then?”
There was no way I was tackling that question.
Ignoring it, I asked, “Where are you right now?”
“I told Sage I had an emergency and excused myself. Once I realized you weren’t kidding around, it hit me how monumental this was, that you’d sent a picture of yourself, something you vowed you’d never do. I wasn’t going to waste the moment. I needed to be alone. I’m in my car.”
“You left her?”
“She’s still in the theater, yeah.”
Even though I sounded surprised, that gave me great pleasure. “Shouldn’t you get back to her?”
“You’re asking that like you didn’t know I was on a date when you sent the photo. You knew I would see what you looked like and lose my mind. I’m sitting in my car alone with a fucking stiffy because you just sent me a picture of your beautiful ass barely covered. You know full well what you’re doing, Rana Saloomi. I’m more convinced of that now than ever. You’re totally messing with me—teasing me. Admit it.”
I laughed a little. “Are you mad?”
“I fucking love it.”
My cheeks felt hot. “Do you really think about me all day?”
“I don’t really know how to explain it, but yes, I think about you more than I probably should. I get up in the morning and think about what time it is where you are. I think about what you’re doing, whether you’re having a good day, and I wonder when I’ll get to talk to you next. But this…this is a fucking game changer. I can’t unsee this. You’re…” He hesitated. “Beautiful.”
I closed my eyes to relish his compliment then opened them back to reality.
“You haven’t even seen my face.”
“Yes, but I remember it like yesterday.”
It’s not the same anymore.
“I got a little jealous when you said you were going on a date. I wanted your attention back.”
“Well, mission accomplished. You definitely got it back. All I really want to do is stare at your picture in peace now.” He blew out some smoke. “Show me more. Give me something else. Anything.”
This was a mistake.
Adrenaline pulsed through me, because I was considering it. “I can’t.”
“Please…just let me see you from another angle. So I know I’m not dreaming. Send me a picture of yourself giving me the peace sign. You can keep your face covered. I want to see what you look like in real time.”
I think a small part of him still needed confirmation that the girl in the picture was me, particularly because of how protective I was of my face. I didn’t want him to doubt me. Deciding to give into his request, I said, “Okay, hang up, and I’ll text you. Then you can call me back.”
Without thinking too much, I covered my face with my hair and snapped a selfie while holding my index and middle fingers up, giving him exactly what he requested.