“I apologize,” I said, clearing my throat. “I moved in with my dad last year and he’s a bit insane about the way telephones work.”
“No, that’s hilarious. Does he seriously have a landline?” he asked.
“He does, and he makes me answer it for him even though no one ever calls for me.”
“Until now,” he said, and I could hear the grin in his voice. “Now you’re going to have to answer it for the rest of your life because somebody actually called for you on this very landline.”
“Oh my God, you’re right,” I said, shaking my head. “You’ve ruined everything.”
“My apologies. And I hope you don’t think I’m a creep for getting your number from Kel, but it was really nice to meet you, and I thought maybe you’d want to grab a bite to eat tomorrow night.”
“What?” I asked, dumbfounded.
What the fucking—what?!I mouthed in a silent scream.
“I mean, you do eat food, right? As in, going to a restaurant and ingesting edible items?”
“Yeah, um,” I said, feeling like I was missing something. “You want to go eat…with me?”
Dale Earnhardt Junior—my dad’s cat—jumped onto the counter, and I picked him up and petted his head.
“I don’t know what I said to make this confusing,” Connor said in amusement. “Obviously I’m not very good at this. I’m trying to ask you out on a date. A date to eat dinner at a restaurant. With me.”
“You want to takemeout on a date,” I repeated, unable to believe it. Not that I didn’t think I was worthy of being asked out—even though it’d been a really long time since someone had actually done that—but this was a superstar NFL player.
Who had entire TikTok accounts dedicated to lusting over him.
I watched one just this morning (I had my name filtered out on TikTok so I still occasionally wasted time on that platform),an entire montage of Connor—suited up on the sidelines, in slow motion—squirting water into his mouth and then swallowing while “Gimme More” by Britney Spears played.
Something about his throat…neck…Adam’s apple…was strangely appealing to thousands of content consumers like me.
Ahem.
Focus, Duff.
Bottom line was this phone call didn’t make any sense.
“Yes,” Connor said with a laugh. “Is this a possibility, or are you not interested or already in a relationship? I don’t want to be a creep or get in your business, but I just thought you—”
“Yeah, um,” I managed, still trying to make sense of this.
“Yeah, you’ll go out with me?” he asked.
“No, I meant yeah it’spossiblebut…” I stared out the window, trying to figure out what to do. The best course of action. My brain was too stuck in shock to be of any use in theWhat will happen if I?game.
“Can I call you back?” I blurted out. “Someone’s at the door, um, let me go answer it and then I’ll call you back.”
I heard the stupidity of the lie as I said it. If someonewereat the door, I could have Connor hold or have my dad answer it.
“Sure,” he said, definitely aware that I was lying.
I didn’t know what to do in this situation. He was a beautiful, talented athlete, a celebrity with millions of people who knew who he was. On one hand, a total no-brainer, right?Definitely go out with the superstar millionaire tight end.
But the thought of going out with him was a little overwhelming.
I didn’t feel equipped to handle someone like Connor.
And it also still felt like a trick, like I was missing something.