She looks up at me and snarls, “Let me out of here!”
“You’re not leaving like this.”
“Like you care.”
“Of course I care, Ce.”
She gives up on the door and crosses her arms again. I hate myself for even thinking this, but fuck, she’s adorable when she’s mad. Her brows are furrowed, her lips are in a pout, and the glimmer in her eyes tells me everything I need to know.She cares.
“I want to go home,” she says.
I shake my head. “That’s not happening.”
“I’m definitely not––” she uncrosses her arms and pokes my chest, “–– staying. Here. With. You.”
Her cold finger does it. I grab her hand and intertwine my fingers with hers. She stares at me with wide eyes.
“I made a mistake, Cecily.”
Her hand is shaking in mine as she tries to pull away, but I keep my fingers locked.
“Because when I first saw you, I knew––”
“That I was–– what, Dylan? Someone special? Someone important? Someone worth knowing? Welcome to the fucking club!” she snaps, yanking her hand away from me.
Fuck.
I can’t say what I was thinking.
It’s not going to work.
“Cecily, you say those things like they’re bad.”
“No, they are bad! I’m just eye candy, Dylan. People only want to use me. It’s like I have the phrase ‘USE ME’ written across my forehead. And I worked so hard to become this likable person. I built this personal brand, just trying to get people to fucking like me, but I’m just left with these odd, empty relationships that literally go nowhere. And for once in my fucking life, I thought I met someone who––” She crosses her arms again. “Someone who actually liked me for me.”
“I didn’t use you, okay? And I do like you for you. Look, I invited you to Rocky’s party that first time to show you that I have a life. I tried inviting you to one of my games. I’m a busy fucking person. I was trying to show you what my life is like, but I get it, you’re busy too. You have your business and classes, and you’re just busy. You take that win. The point I’m trying to make is that I still made time for you, and I made so much fucking time that I started failing my classes. This past week, I’ve been studying my ass off, playing catch-up. I’m sorry I didn’t text. I’m sorry for being a shitty friend while I was trying to make up forthe classes I’m failing. I don’t have a lot of time to make up for it.”
She leans against the wall, grabbing her head. “I’m really drunk right now.”
Shit.
“Come sit down. I’ll get you water.”
She walks to the couch and lies down. I walk to the fridge and pour her a glass of water. I walk over and hand it to her. She takes a sip and says, “Am I babbling some depressing stuff?”
I almost laugh. “It’s okay, Ce. You’re drunk.”
She puts a hand on my cheek and says, “You’re a good friend.”
I can’t help it. I start to laugh.
She holds my face, admiring me. “I’m serious.” And then she says, “Can I lie down in your room?”
I laugh. “Sure. Yeah, but to warn you, I wasn’t expecting any visitors.”
I follow her down the hall and point to my bedroom door. She opens it and says, “You’ve seen mine, so it’s only fair that I see yours.”
I nod with a smile. “Yeah, that’s fair enough.”
