Unexpected by Meg Jolie

sheepishly. “I mean, I kind of figured but…” He gave me a teasing smile and shrugged. “What can I say? Would I be a horrible person if I admitted that I’m glad if it had to be someone, that it was me?”
    “Me too,” I honestly told him. His eyebrows twitched, maybe in question. I was thinking that maybe I should elaborate. But my mouth didn’t seem to want to work. I was not good at this kind of thing. I wanted him to say something. I knew if he did, I’d chime right in. But to be the one to say it first? Maybe that came easy for some people. But it didn’t come easy for me. Especially when it seemed like the whole reason he came over was to tell me it was no big deal.
    I wished Jamie hadn’t told him it was a rebound thing. It just sounded bad and I wasn’t even sure it was true. For one thing, I wasn’t sure I was rebounding. Not anymore.
    “So,” Tristan said as he cleared his throat and backed away from me again, “I just thought it would be best if I came over. I just wanted to be sure things were okay with us. No weirdness, everything back to normal. I wanted you to know that I absolutely didn’t expect anything to come of it. So. I’ll save you from having to give the I-really-like-you-only-as-a-friend speech. And I’ll save myself from hearing it. It’ll be easier and we’ll both be better off. Sound good?”
    “Yeah, of course,” I said. It may have come out as more of a scoff than an agreement. I crossed my arms over my chest. I forced a smile and a shrug. Like this conversation was no big deal.
    “Great. We can just forget about it and pretend nothing ever happened.” He backed up, all the way to the door.
    I nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.” I tried to sound like I believed it. In all honesty, this was not what I was expecting from Tristan. Not at all. It left me feeling more than a little baffled. Too baffled to actually say what was on my mind. But only for a second and then what was on my mind exploded from my mouth. “I don’t want you to think I’m a tramp. Or a…a…floozy,” I said, quite lamely. If he thought that it was just a hook-up, nothing more, I didn’t want him to think less of me for it.
    He quirked his eyebrows at me.
    “I mean—”
    He saved me from saying it.
    “I think I know what you mean. And I don’t. I wouldn’t,” he said. He looked like he was trying not to laugh. I wasn’t sure if I should be offended or not. “I would never,” he said, “think of you as a tramp.”
    I just nodded, waiting for him to say more. Because it seemed like there should be more to say.
    He hesitated for a moment and my eyes finally flicked back to his. He opened his mouth but only silence continued to fill the room. I wanted him to say something other than what he’d already said. I was wondering if I should be the one to say it. But then his hand was on the doorknob.
    He heaved out a sigh. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”
    “Yup,” I said. I gave him my brightest smile as he opened up the door.
    He gave me a little nod and then he was gone, the door latch clicking into place behind him. I stood there for a bit, shivering in the cold that had just crept in.
    If I’d felt disappointed earlier, when Tristan had said he didn’t plan on staying, it felt nothing like it did now. Having watched him go.
    My heart seemed to be in a free-fall without end. I couldn’t catch my breath as I stood staring at the closed door.
    “W hat am I doing?” I asked myself.
    I realized as soon as he was gone that this was definitely not how I wanted things to go. I pulled the door open and darted into the falling snow. My feet crunched over the snow as I ran after him.
    “Tristan!” I called. “Wait!”
    He stopped. He was almost at the end of our driveway but he turned around. It wasn’t completely dark yet. But it was cold and dismal. Sharp little flecks of ice were falling from the sky, biting at my face as I closed the distance between us. I could see the