Sugar

13

chapter twelve
florence thompson
song: my strange addiction – billie eilish

I'd been staring at my phone for exactly twelve minutes, finding everything under the sun that I could be doing instead of calling Vincent. Like scrolling through memes on Facebook and cat videos on YouTube.

Seriously, some of these cat videos are hilarious.

Eventually though, my inner voice of reason decided that I needed to find my lady balls and just do it already.

I mean, how terrible could it go? Maybe if I'm lucky he'll be busy and won't answer. Yeah, he's a very busy man anyway so the probability of him answering is slim.

Just do it so you can say you tried and call it good.

I found Vincent's name in my contacts and drew a deep breath into my lungs before releasing it just as I hit the call button. I pressed the phone against my ear, listening to the ringing as I played with the frayed strings on my blanket that I had draped over my lap.

I had finished my assignment two hours ago but had yet to move from my spot on the couch.

"Hello?" A groggy voice asked, causing my heart to lodge itself directly into my throat.

How do I form sentences again?

"Florence?" The voice paused, awaiting an answer. His voice was raspy, his tone clearly laced with confusion. "Are you there? Is this a butt dial?"

I finally found my voice, carefully removing my heart from my throat. "No, no," I began, "not a butt dial. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

He muffled what sounded like a yawn on the other end of the line and I suddenly felt terrible for calling him so late. Who calls people at 11 o'clock.

God, I'm such an idiot.

"I dozed off in my office, don't worry about it. If anything you're doing me a favor," he chuckled, his voice still deep from just waking up.

"Oh, well if that's the case then you're welcome," I joked playfully, really avoiding the whole reason why I'd called him.

He laughed on the other end of the line.

"Did you need something Miss Thompson or are you just giving me this late night call to tell me about your day?" He joked, his voice honey coated towards the end, making me laugh in return.

"I actually did have a reason for this very spontaneous, nearly midnight call," I informed him, pulling my blanket further up on my torso.

"Yeah?" He asked.

The word no was on the tip of my tongue, the whole rant I had planned out in my mind in advance about how I wholeheartedly appreciate his overly generous offer but I'm going to half to decline. At the sound of his voice though, it all fizzled out and I spoke without even realizing what I was saying.

"I want to give it a try," I said, surprising even myself.

I had the full intentions of telling him I was passing on his offer but apparently during the past few minutes of conversation, my overtired brain decided why the fuck not and threw all caution to the wind.

The line went silent for a few moments too long, causing my once dormant nerves to boil back up again.

"I'm glad to hear, Florence. If you feel like you don't want any part of this at any point just let me know, okay?" He asked, his voice gentle and making my stomach swarm with something very close to butterflies.