“Nothing. Just that it’s fine, let’s leave it well enough alone. We’ll start fresh tomorrow and continue our working relationship.”
“So you just suddenly decide we’re no longer friends—for no reason, I might add—and I’m supposed to simply accept that?” She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes.
“It’s not for no reason. It’s just not for a reason worth discussing, because there’s nothing we can do about it. The truth is, you and I are very different people. In fact, I probably have more in common with your sister than I do with you.”
Confusion crosses her face, which irritates me completely. How could shenot knowhow badly she offended me earlier? Deciding I don’t care about the witnesses any longer, I open my mouth and let it all go. “According to you, your sister is a completely incompetent, basically useless human being without even a hint of ambition, which I believe is an almost exact match for what you said about me when you tried to get me fired.”
Her head snaps back. “What? I said that before I knew you. You’re nothing like her!”
“I disagree. I’ve been every bit as coddled as her—more so, in fact. I also have no clue what I want to do with my life other than enjoy it, so I know that doesn’t pass the Brianna muster test for ambition.”
“That istotally different. She’s given up on life completely!” Throwing her hands up in the air, Bree says, “She’s about to settle for a crappy marriage and resign herself to doingnothingwith her life.”
“How is that different from me? If anything, I’m worse, because I’m going to let my parents bankroll my future instead of my husband,” I say, glancing at my bus-stop buddies. “Not that I want a husband or something. Not that there would be anything wrong with that if I did…” I let my voice trail off and shake my head, feeling stupid.
“You just haven’t figured out what you want to do, Leo. That’s not the same thing as giving up.”
“What if Ineverfigure it out? Would that make me a useless human being?” I tighten my jaw, already knowing the answer.
“Everyone needs a purpose.”
Nodding slightly, I feel my gut harden. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Take that however you want. I don’t care,” she quips. “I wasn’t even talking about you. I was having a private conversation with my mother and you were eavesdropping. So for you to get all high and mighty with me about it is a bit rich.”
“I’mthe high and mighty one? You’re the one judging everyone you meet based on your pre-selected criteria. If someone’s life goals aren’t up to snuff, you toss them aside like you’re doing to your sister. So she wants to be a wife and mum. So what? Most people consider parenting to be one of the most important jobs in life.”
“But she can be so much more!” Brianna says, raising her voice.
“Like you, you mean? A stressed-out, exhausted, miserable person?”
Our gazes lock, and neither of us say anything for a long, uncomfortable moment. Brianna clears her throat and lowers her voice. “I’m not going to justify my life to someone like you.”
“Someone like me? You mean lazy? Useless? Spoiled? Happy?”
“You’re not happy. You just keep yourself too busy to think about how pathetic your life is.”
“And there it is,” I answer, my heart sinking to the sidewalk. “The truth at long last.”
Brianna shakes her head. “I didn’t mean your life now. I meant how you used to live.Before.”
“I have news for you. That’s the life I’m going back to as soon as humanly possible.”
She stares at me, chewing on her bottom lip. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes…maybe, I don’t know.” I run my hands through my hair in frustration. “But what I do know is that you could never—” I stop myself before I accidentally use the phrase “love someone like me” because that would be utterly foolish. “You could never respect someone unless they’re as career-driven as you are.”
“Is that so wrong?” she asks. “Jesus, you and my mum are exactly the same—pretending it’s okay for people to go around without any goals in life. Whodoes thateven? We’re not put on this planet to laze around all day and do nothing with our lives. We’re here to accomplish things, to make a difference in the world!”
Her words terrify me, because I know she’s right, and I also know I don’t have the first damn clue how to even get started. But instead of admitting it, I lash out. “Must be nice to know everything, to work harder than anybody else has ever worked, to have more ambition, more drive than anyone else on the planet. It must feel very good to be you.”
“Oh, yeah, it’sfucking wonderful,” she spits out. “Getting four hours of sleep every night, working full time and going to school full time, not to mention being a single mum, and being broke every day of my wonderful, fabulously terrific fucking life. It’s just incredible to be me!”
“As much as you’d like to pretend it isn’t, youlovethe fact that you work harder than anyone, and that you have it worse than your sister. You might as well just tattoo ‘world’s greatest martyr’ on your forehead.” Okay, that was offside. I think I took it too far there because her eyes are filled with hurt which she instantly covers up with rage.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from someone who never had to lift a finger the first twenty-seven years of his life! Do you want me to feel sorry for you, Leo? Because you’ve had six months of slumming it as a bellboy so you can earn your way back into Daddy’s wallet permanently?! I thought you were different, but it turns out, you’re just another rich, entitled arsehole.”
I snort out a frustrated laugh. “God, you’re a hypocrite. You hate anyone who has more without having to suffer for it. The self-professed richophobe who wants nothing more than to be rich herself.”
