Read Secret Admirer for Free Online Page A

please!
    Clare—welcome Abbie to the new millennium
    Maggie—I can sneak out for a bit
    Ethan—????
    Maggie—a bit, I said
    Me—looking forward to meeting the rest of you
    Garrett—same here, to Andi that is
    Bree—Josh? We’re almost all in
    Alec—haven’t seen him at the gym this week, will find him
    Bree—k, see everyone at 7
    I felt upbeat having agreed to plans and meeting Garrett. My sinuses throbbing and my throat being on fire, however, did not feel so good. I ventured to the water cooler to chase more medicine, hoping to dull the pounding and scorching, and Bree saw me walk by.
    Her head peeked over a gray cubical wall. “So, are you asking Connor to join us tomorrow?”
    I stifled a small sneeze before answering, “Uh, I’ll try.”
    “Try hard,” she said sternly, but with a smile before disappearing back behind the divider.
    I couldn’t tell her I was looking forward to meeting Garrett and was still nowhere near asking Connor to hang out. I chugged my drugs and returned to my desk.
    Later that night, attempting to sleep through the congestion and pain, I took the stuff one only takes when totally desperate. The green liquid. I slept right through my alarm.
    At nine the next morning, Bree texted.
    Bree—Are you having a nooner—or niner—with Connor?
    Me—I’m dying. Can’t lift head off pillow
    Bree—bummer
    Me—yup. Can you explain to Bob?
    Bree—will do. Check in later, sleep
    Me—zzzzzzz
    The sky was almost dark when I awoke next. My head felt clearer, but the pounding, mucus monster had simply moved from my head to my chest, and I felt like an elephant was sitting there.
    At seven, Bree texted again to make sure I was really not going to the bar.
    I called her back so she could hear my sick state and she finally relented. By eight o’clock, I heated soup and flicked through the movie channels and succumbed to a sappy romantic comedy.
    An hour later, Garrett texted.
    Seeing his contact appear on my screen jump-started the adrenaline rush I always experienced when hearing from him.
    Garrett—how u doing?
    Me—miserable, thx
    Garrett—I’m close by, need anything?
    Me—thx, but this is not the condition I want to meet you in
    Garrett—☺you want to meet me?
    Me—I meant, you know, I thought it would be tonight
    Garrett—I’m teasing. I want to meet u
    Me—K Me too
    Garrett—get better Andressa then we’ll make a plan
    Me—sounds good
    I couldn’t help smiling, though my clogged sinuses made my face hurt. I actually liked him calling me Andressa. Before my recent conversations with Garrett, I couldn’t imagine accepting anyone but my parents using my full name. Now, it felt right and I wondered how his voice would sound addressing me.
    Wanting to share and hear advice, I called my friend, Lizzie, back home the next day. We took turns filling each other in on events of the past weeks. I told her all about Garrett, even reading her some of the texts he sent.
    “I don’t think it’s so weird, really. I think this is how relationships often begin now. People do meet this way, and I’m sure one of the other friends told him you were pretty and normal, or pretty normal at least.”
    “Ha. I do hope that’s the case though.” I hesitated then spilled. “So, there’s this other problem.” I gave her a condensed version of the Cute Coffee Shop Guy, now known as Connor story.
    She laughed before scolding me. “Andi, there are way worse problems to have than running into a cute guy every day or having two guys to crush on.”
    “You’re right, of course, Lizzie. I’ll update you on the ‘situation’ then at the end of the week.”
    “That’s the right attitude. You sound good, happy even. I wish you could’ve been happier up here, but I’m glad you’re better there.”
    “It’s not that I wasn’t happy, I just wasn’t finding happiness. I finally might be, we’ll see.” All weekend, I caught up on my sleep. I drank lots of tea and depleted an entire family