“I forgot to tip you.”
This is not something I normally do. In my opinion, since the gratuity is included in the cost of the ride, which, by the way, is not exactly cheap, I shouldn’t have to tip as well.
The driver snatches the ten dollar bill from my grip and looks at it with a puzzled look.
“Ten dollars?” By the tone of his voice, I’d say that he doesn’t sound impressed. “Thanks, man, it’ll keep the lights on.”
I take a step back and he drives off before I get the chance to ask for my money back. The one time I feel generous, and it backfires.
Shaking my head, I once again walk toward the entrance to my building, pushing the door open with a bit more force thanthe situation warrants. That’s what I get for getting out of my comfort zone.
The incident with the driver is enough to distract me from what I have going on with Mona, but only until I am inside my apartment. Once the door closes behind me, my eyes fall to the couch where I see the hoodie she’d always wear here right after we’d have sex. She’d throw it over her naked body and pad to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. That was a habit I never understood, especially when she’d drink it at two in the morning.
She attempted to take the hoodie home with her once, but I wouldn’t let her.
“That’s mine,” I growled at her.
She thought I was only teasing, but I was dead serious. I was not the type who would be okay with some girl taking ownership of my things, especially without asking.
Except that she wasn’t just some girl, never had been.
I walk over to the couch and pick up the sweatshirt. It’s folded nicely, which is how Mona left it the last time she was at my apartment.
“Fuck!” I throw it against the wall, but there’s not satisfaction in it when it makes no sound. Instead, it slides down to the floor, laying there in a heap.
I dig my hands into my hair and pull hard as I pace the living room back and forth. My head is an absolute fucking mess. There’s a buzzing noise that drives me mad, making me feel like I am really losing it.
It takes me a minute to realize that the buzz is actually coming from my cell phone and not my damaged brain. I yank it out of my back pocket, ready to crush it into pieces. Before doing just that, I glance at the screen only to see a text from Kyle. It’s like the fucker knows exactly the moment when I might needsome help not to jump out the window, even though it’s just a stupid meme that he sent me.
I don’t look at the message. Instead, I call him, since that’s what I was thinking of doing anyway before that cab driver pissed me the fuck off.
“The hell you doing up this late, man?” He sounds really awake when he answers. I guess it makes sense since he comes up with his best work in the wee hours of the morning.
“Just got home,” I admit. Now I only have to wait for him to start grilling me about what I just said.
“It’s after two in the morning!” He doesn’t disappoint. “You were out with some chick, huh?” he teases.
I clench my teeth, anger taking over at hearing him referring to Mona as just some chick. Then I remember that he doesn’t know where I was or with who.
“I was with Mona.” Getting straight to the point seems like a good idea at the moment.
Kyle starts coughing on his end, sounding like he’s possibly chocking on something.
“What the fuck, I just took a sip out of my energy drink.” He coughs some more. “I could’ve died.”
“You’re gonna anyway,” I inform him. “All that garbage you drink will take you out sooner than you think.”
“You were with Mona?” He sounds incredulous. “As in Mona, the girl you recently dumped for like the twentieth time? The one you tricked into a date, then took her chocolate cake away?”
I wince at hearing his words. They sound wrong, and the message is not something I want thrown in my face.
“Are you guys back together?”
It’s a fair question since that’s been the pattern for the last four years. But then I remember her parting words for me earlier tonight.
“You’re still blocked,” she said as she slammed the door in my face.
“We’re not back together.” My voice sounds shaky when I answer Kyle’s question. “We’re…”
