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“Oliver,” I say through clenched teeth as I yank my earbuds out. “You scared me...”
“Sorry,” he says, not really sorry.
“How long have you been standing there?!”
“A while. You run really fast.”
I grab my hand towel and bottle of water off the floor. “I’ve got a lot of energy,” I say.
He nods in agreement as he checks me up and down.
“You’re up early,” I say, flipping the focus onto him.
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”
I glance around the empty gym. “Are you going to get in a morning jog or...?” I ask before raising my bottle to my mouth.
“No, I just knew you’d be here.” His throat clears. “Can we talk?”
One gulp.
Two gulps.
Three gulps.
Can’t stall forever.
I will run out of water, eventually.
“About what?” I ask as I dab my wet lips with the towel.
Oliver cants his head. “Paige, clearly, I did something wrong last night,” he says.
“No,” I blurt. “No, not at all.”
“Really? Because a woman hasn’t leapt out of my bed that quickly since... ever.” His shoulders bounce. “Yeah, that’s never happened to me before.”
“First time for everything, right?” I joke.
He doesn’t react. “What’d I do?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
“Paige, what did I do?”
“Nothing,” I say again. “We had fun. I had fun. Did you have fun?”
“Yes, I had fun.”
“That’s it, then. There was fun to be had, and we had it, so… that’s that.”
Oliver takes a breath. “Paige, how about you just cut the shit and tell me the truth?”
I close my mouth, annoyed.
“Okay,” I say, exhaling slowly while I find the right words. “It would seem... based on what you said before I left... that last night might have meant something different for you than it did for me.”
“What did it mean for you?” he asks.
