Carolina Days: Yesterday's Half Truths Part 19

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"Always," she snaps.

"But you do like me, don't you?"

When she doesn't say anything, I pull my phone from my ear to see if she's hung up or not. It still shows we're connected so I decided to wait for her to speak.

"Are you still there?" she finally asks after a minute.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But, you already have," she argues.

"Is that what's upsetting you, that I'm far away?"

"Of course not."

"Tell me what you're thinking."

"How can I trust you?"

"Have I ever let you down?"

Her silence is my answer.

"I'd never hurt you."

"You don't know that," she argues.

"What do you mean?"

"You know how I am with people. What if you changed your mind and went away?"

I ignore her question. "Do you like me?"

"I don't know."

Since it isn't a no, I'll take it. "I guess it's my job to convince you."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why do I like you? I don't know the answer to that question. All I know is I think about you all the time and I like doing things I think will make you happy. I like your smile, your laugh, and how different you are."

"You don't even know me."

Sitting back up, I ask, "Tell the truth; is there any other person who knows you better than me?"

"You only know what you see," she whispers.

"I like what I see."

I hear her suck in a breath. "Luke."

"I do. I should have said it this morning, but I was interrupted. Seeing you dressed like you could be going out on a date made me realize how beautiful I think you are."

"That's all hair and makeup."

"I think you're beautiful when your hair is pulled up and you're wearing sweats too," I argue.

"But I'm not perfect."

"No one is."

"I think you are," she replies.

"You think I'm a pain in your a.s.s," I tease.

She laughs. "Sometimes."

"Do you believe me?"

"Let me think about it. I need some time."

"How much time?" I grumble.

"Can I sleep on it?"

"I'm not going to back down until you believe me."

"I was afraid of that," she sighs.

"I'm going to be here for a little under a month. I'll have you convinced before I come home; and once I'm back, we'll go out on a date."

She gulps. "Out?"

"Yep." I grin. "And I'll be your date to the reunion."

"Luke."

"Come on, Lindsay. I'll be there to take care of you."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Is it starting to sink in that I like you?"

"You don't have to be a brat about it," she snaps.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to annoy you."

"I'm going to go."

"And sleep on it?" I ask.

"And sleep on it," she confirms, making me grin.

"Goodnight, Lindsay."

"Night, Luke."

I drop my phone on my bedside table and flop onto my bed. By the time I get home, she'll like me back.

After Lindsay slept on it, she decided she could potentially believe I liked her. She wasn't going to give me anything more than that though. No indication she liked me back or how she felt about my liking her. She did however agree to keep training with me and she didn't ignore my calls or texts.

During our web sessions, she was quiet, cautious. On the phone and in texts, she was more open; it was face to face when she was closed off.

Finally, I pushed her to let me know how I could get her to trust me. It took her a couple of days to answer me, but she admitted she had issues trusting people. I asked her to think about the months we've known each other at this point, and if I'd done anything to lose her trust. She thought about that for a couple of days before admitting I hadn't.

The distance between us was turning out to be a good thing when it came to her accepting my feelings for her. It gave her s.p.a.ce and a break from our Sat.u.r.day morning walks while she got used to the idea. What she wasn't happy about was the fact I stopped billing her. I had to wait until I was done filming before I could call her to talk about it.

All I wanted to do was crash. We were outside doing hill climbs for most of the day. The California sun was no joke. It didn't matter that I drank a ton of water.

After a shower, I tumble onto my bed and reach for my phone. There is a real possibility I'm going to pa.s.s out mid-conversation, but I want to get this out.

Smiling when she answers so quickly, I can't help but think about how far we've already come. That she willingly talks to me on the phone and calls me as well is a huge deal compared to where we started.

"Hi."

I love the sound of her voice. "Hey."

"How's filming going?"

I groan. "Today kicked my a.s.s."

"That's crazy, you're in such good shape."

"The sun took it out of me. I'm going to crash soon."

"It's still early out there."

"I know; still, I'm exhausted."

She laughs. "Then why did you call?"

"I got your text about billing you and I wanted to talk about it."

"You have to bill me."

"See, that's where you're wrong. I'm not going to bill you anymore."

"Luke."

"Lindsay."

"I'm serious."

"So am I," I argue. "I want you to be my girlfriend. There's no way in h.e.l.l I'm going to keep billing you."

She gasps.

"Come on," I continue. "You have to understand that."

"You want me to be your girlfriend?" she asks, quietly.

"Yes." I cover my face with my hand.

Sometimes, it is beyond frustrating that she is so uncertain.

"Can I think about it?"

This is has become her standard avoidance technique.

"This is not up for debate," I counter.

"We're debating it right now."

"No, you're arguing and I'm telling you how it's going to be."

"You can't boss me around."

"Lindsay," I groan. "I'm not going to take money from you. Not going to happen."

"But, you're still training me."

"Consider it a perk."

"You are too much."

Yawning, I roll over to my side. "Nope, I'm just right."

"You sound like you're about to fall sleep."

"I might."

"We can talk about this later."

"I'm not going to change my mind about this."

"What if I PayPal you anyway?"