Love Between the Lines ✔️ DRAFT 1 COMPLETE

Chapter 8

That night, I laid on my stomach with my ankles crossed in the air behind me. I had finally found time to Skype with Brena and Sydney.

I smiled when their faces flashed onto my screen. "Greetings from Scotland!"

"Hey, girl!" Brena answered. She and Sydney were sitting on the couch in Brena's basement. "How are you? How's the vacation?"

"Oh, it's everything I ever dreamed of. Scotland is a beauty."

"And how are things with the guy?" Sydney asked.

"They're good. We've made progress since the fluke on my first day here. He's actually turning out to be quite something." I hoped they couldn't see the flush that rose to my cheeks.

Brena and Sydney shared a look.

"So does that mean—"

"It means I'm just mildly interested," I interrupted. "Nothing has happened. He doesn't even know about Kyle yet."

"You'll tell him when you're ready. Right?" Brena asked.

I hadn't really thought about it too much. Ever since the hand-brushing the other day, things were pretty boring between me and Fionn. Honestly, it was nice to have a relationship with a guy that wasn't romantic, no strings attached. Just the two of us as friends with no feelings involved.

Regardless, I nodded. "Right."

"Are we going to get to see any pics of him at least?" Sydney looked at me expectantly.

Brena smacked her arm. "Syd! Cut the girl a break. Em, don't listen to her. What are your plans tonight?"

I shrugged. "Nothing special. I was just gonna get dinner and probably see what's—"

A knock on the door interrupted me.

"—hold that thought," I said to my computer then called out, "come in!' to the door.

Fionn opened it a beat later, poking his head inside. "Hey, Em. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Hey." I sat up, crossing my legs. "I'm just Skyping with some friends."

At that, Sydney whispered quite loudly, "Ay Dios mio. He sounds hot," to which Fionn smirked.

I glared at my screen, signaling my friends with my eyes to shut up before muting them. "What's up?"

Fionn scratched the back of his head. "I was gonna take a drive and grab a milkshake. Do you want to join me?"

My stomach grumbled in approval. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Um, give me five to wrap up and I'll meet you downstairs?"

He nodded and closed the door behind him. I counted to ten, hoping he was out of earshot and returned to my friends.

"Damn, Emilie. I don't even need to see his face to know that he is one hot tamale," Sydney commented, fanning herself. "Muy caliente. And did you hear  that accent?"

I rolled my eyes but nonetheless said, "He's not terrible to look at."

"Either way," Brena added in, giving Sydney a pointed look, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Em."

"Thanks. I'm gonna jump off because Fionn invited me out as friends," I said, quickly adding in the last part before either Sydney or Brena could get the wrong idea.

We finished up our goodbyes and I closed my laptop. As I grabbed my purse to head out the door, my phone pinged with a new text.

Wear the outfit xo Cat