He Texted Me First

Sierra couldn't deny that Nathan had surprised her by remembering her and asking about her as soon as he saw his former foster mom. That was the first time she was aware of that someone remembered her without prompting.

It had probably been a fluke though. Or so she thought until she was in the middle of playing a board game with Scarlett and Ryan about a month later on a Saturday morning when she got a text from him.

Her eyes widened. She never got texted first. Ever.

'Hey, by chance are you available to drive me to physical therapy on Monday morning? I can't drive with only one arm'

Sierra was so shocked she nearly dropped her phone. Not only had Nathan texted her first, he had remembered something they talked about when they weren't together. She had noticed that people tended to forget she existed when she wasn't directly in their sights.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at her. "What is it?"

"Nathan asked me to drive him to physical therapy on Monday," she said in disbelief.

"And that's so surprising why?"

"Because he texted me first! That literally never happens, Scarlett! He…remembered me. He actually remembered me when I wasn't with him."

Ryan looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion. "Uh, who's Nathan? And what's this about him remembering you? That's a totally normal thing for a person to do so I don't get why you're so excited about it."

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "She thinks she's invisible, which is ridiculous. Everybody gets ghosted sometimes. And Nathan is Nathan Grant, that author whose books I introduced you to a while back!"

Yes, everybody gets ghosted sometimes but not every time. Sierra knew she was a special case and no one could convince her otherwise.

Now Ryan was even more confused. He squinted at her. "Why would a semi-famous author want you to drive him to physical therapy of all people? That's totally random."

"Because she's the reason he needs to go in the first place," Scarlett said matter-of-factly. "He got hit by a bus pushing her out of the way. Isn't that wild? You never hear about people getting hit by buses."

"You got someone hit by a bus?!"

Sierra sighed. Great, now one more person she interacted with regularly knew how much of a walking disaster she was. "Yeah, sort of. I offered to help him with anything he needed because he lives in this complex and I felt bad about what happened."

Ryan was still having a hard time processing all of this. "He lives here? What are the odds your favorite author would live so close to you, Scar?"

Scarlett laughed in delight. "I know, right? He keeps running into Sierra so she got him to sign one of my books for me. It was kind of amazing. I haven't met him yet but it's only a matter of time now since she's basically his girlfriend at this point."

Sierra smacked her sister's arm. "I am not!"

"You totally are though."

How did running into someone repeatedly make her his girlfriend? He did keep helping her out but they didn't know anything about each other!

"Scar, I know like four things about the guy. We keep meeting but we don't talk about anything," Sierra insisted. "You're blowing things way out of proportion. I feel obligated to help him because he only got hurt because of me but that's it."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow with a teasing twinkle in her eye. "Oh? Because I think he likes you. Why else would he keep helping you out so many times? Guys totally don't do that unless they're interested."

Sierra didn't buy that. The first time she was a total stranger and the second time he stopped the purse thief without knowing whose purse it was. Doing two random good deeds for a total stranger proved to her that he would do it for anybody.

She had noticed him help a kid whose kite got stuck in a tree the time she ran into him at the park after their encounter as well. He was simply a helpful person by nature.

"I think he has some sort of compulsion to save people. Didn't I tell you about all the emergency gear he keeps on him? That's more than a little odd," she pointed out. "I think he would have jumped in front of that bus for anyone."

Scarlett shrugged. "Either way, he's handsome and doesn't seem like the type to ghost you. I say go for it."

Ryan frowned at his girlfriend. "He's not that good looking!"

"You're still the most handsome. I never said I would go for it but I do think Sierra should. I might love his writing but, based on what she says, he's kind of a weirdo. You're safe, don't worry."

She patted his hand to emphasize her point and that placated him. They had been dating for nearly two years now; what did he even have to get jealous about? She was the loyal type and always had been.

Her admiration for Nathan's writing didn't extend to interest in him as a person. Sierra had been able to tell that much from their conversations about him since they found out he was Scarlett's favorite author.

"I am not interested in Nathan Grant," she said flatly.

"Well, be sure to tell him that before he gets too invested in you," her sister replied in a singsong voice. "Are you going to text him back or not?"

Ah. She realized she hadn't responded and it had been several minutes already. She really hoped he didn't have the feature on his phone that informed him when people had read his messages without responding.

'I can do that. What time?' she texted back.

Nathan replied a minute later. '10. I don't think it will take more than an hour'

'That's fine! How far away is the physical therapy place?'

'About fifteen minutes from here but they want me to be there early to fill out paperwork. Could you pick me up at 9:30?'

'Yeah. See you Monday'

'Thanks! See you then'

Sierra felt oddly satisfied after that little exchange. Helping him out like this assuaged her guilt a bit. She was also still reeling from the fact that he texted her first to ask for a favor. That had never happened before in her entire life. She wouldn't let him down!