“I’m not supposed to be out right now,”I wailed, catching hold of a tree trunk. I dug my nails in but he kept going. I cursed and let go so they wouldn’t snap off.“It burns!”I shielded my face as we left the shade.
“You’re the most ridiculous person I’ve ever met.”He dumped me on the sidewalk and I somehow landed perfectly.
“This isn’t natural. I should be inside with industrial curtains blocking every trace of this,”I flung my arms around,“this fuckery that’s trying to kill me!”
“And you need a rafter inside all that darkness. You know, so you can take naps hanging upside down.”Dennis smiled, patronizing as always, before walking away. I stared after him, trying to decide which would be worse: being left for dead or following him and melting.“You’re not gonna melt and no one’s leaving you for dead.”
“Fine. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little. Not like you can talk, though. You sleep in a literal coffin.”Icaught up and fell into step beside him. He didn’t say anything, just pulled out the lighter and flicked it on.“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you laugh and shake your head?”I hesitated before adding,“When I first saw you. You know, after…”I started getting flustered when he laughed exactly the same as before.“You’re doing it again. Why?”
“It’s not bad.I’m laughing because of you.”
“And that’s not bad?”
“It’s not. You’re just…”he trailed off, making me feel even worse than before.“It’scute,”he finally said,“that you thought sleeping with me would ruin things.”
“It didn’t?”
“No.”
“So you really don’t see me any differently than before?”I pressed, finding it hard to believe. Judging by personal experience, that’s never the case. At least not with men.
“Nope.”
“Okay.”I smiled, relieved. It seemed hard to believe, but so far he wasn’t acting any different. Maybe he wouldn’t turn out to be an asshole, after all. At least notthattype of asshole. “You know what? The sun doesn’t feel as bad anymore.”
“Because the sun isn’t out.”
“I guess you’re kinda right. It’s like my skin went numb after a while or something.”I glanced at the sky as we stepped off the curb and started crossing the street. I put a hand up to shield my eyes but Dennis snatched it, yanking with calculated force—I toppled into him as a car screeched to a halt.
“How are your reflexes still so bad?”he asked in exasperation, dropping my arm when I swatted him away.
“Hold on.”I was already focused on the guy leaning out the car window.
Mostly because the guy looked pissed, which means I might have to go off. People don’t get to almost hit me and then get mad at me. No, that shit goes the other way around.I’mthe one getting mad here, not him.
“Watch where you’re going,”he said loudly.
“It’s my right of way. Read the sign.”I pointed to the stop sign he’dignored.
He inched forward when I didn’t move, then revved the engine so I’d get out of the way. I did the opposite: kicked up a heel to jam into the nearest tire. My mouth dropped at the deafening pop. I watched in shock as the tire started deflating.
“Uh, oh.”I took a step back as the guy angrily got out of the car.Dennis’laughter was doing nothing to help.“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to actually pop it. Shit, I broke your car.”I shut my mouth when the guy came around to check the damage.
He did an examination before straightening up. “You’re paying for that.” He shoved a finger in my face. I pushed his hand away, which he promptly brought back.
“Careful,”Denniswarned. He wasn’t laughing anymore.
“She’s paying for it,”the guy said, sizing Dennis up.
“It’s okay,”I said, trying to defuse the situation before it got worse.“It’s fair. I popped your tire, I should pay for it.” I reached into my walletand pulled out a few bills from the emergency cash I kept on hand.“Here. That’s enough for a cheap tire to get you around‘til you fix it yourself. I was trying to piss you off since you’re being a dick, but I really wasn’t trying to pop the whole tire.”
“You weren’t?”Dennis raised an eyebrow, implying otherwise.
“I’m not used to this,”I whispered. I kick tires all the time and this has never happened before. I’m usually not wearing heels when I do it, but still. A normal human couldn’t pop a tire by kicking it. Or at least it never worked when I tried. “Anyway,” I turned back to the man,“go buy a tire so you can get out of my face.”
