“Fine then, what are we?” I play into her guessing game.
“I’m not sure,” she says.
“Then, answer me this … what made you stay here rather than going back home with Brendan?” I’ve been wondering about this. She never told me whether she was staying or going. She never decided. She informed me Brendan was leaving, and that’s the only time she brought the subject up.
“It wasn’t you. Don’t worry,” she says with a straight face.
Hoping she’s just being snide, I wrap my arm around her and slide my hand down to just graze her ass and give her a loving pinch. “What was it then?”
She jumps at my pinch then slaps my hand. “I said, I didn’t stay for you.” She smiles at me, but it’s the kind of smile where I see the devil in her eyes.
“You have commitment issues, huh?” I press.
“Nope.”
“Okay then, Scarlett, will you be my girlfriend?” I ask, feeding her exactly what she wants to hear.
“Nope.” She continues walking withthatsmile still present, but I stop, completely baffled and confused by this woman. “You’re too late.”
“I’m too late?” I repeat. She’s obviously messing with me, but she’s holding the serious card longer than I might have, and I don’t like it.
“Yes.”
Scarlett peels her phone out of her back pocket and hits a few buttons. “What are you doing?” I ask her.
“Calling an Uber. I have to be at work soon.”
“My truck is right over there. I can take you back to the hotel, but really, you’re going to play me like this?”
“Like what?” she asks.
“You’re toying with me, Scarlett. You’re doing that thing chicks do when they make up excuses instead of just spittin’ out the damn truth.”
“I am not.”
“Be my damn girlfriend, then?”
“Not when you’re going to talk to me like that, I’m not.”
I groan and rake my fingers through my hair, losing my sense of control with the amount of frustration she’s causing me. We haven’t talked about our “feelings” per-say, but I also didn’t think we needed to. Things seemed fairly clear to me these last couple of weeks.
“Wait a minute,” I wrap my hand around her arm. “You said you didn’t have to work today.”
“Oh yeah,” she says.
“What is going on with you?”
“I just forgot to wash my hair,” she says, still trying to find an Uber in the area.
I laugh. “Okay, fine. Do what you want. When you want to tell me what you’re being all pissy about, I’ll listen.”
“Pissy?” she asks. “Are you kidding me?”
“I feel so dang lost in this conversation right now. I don’t even know how we somehow managed to get into what feels like an argument over whether you’re my girlfriend. Did I miss something?”
“Nope, sounds like it’s pretty clear on your side too.”
“Look, darlin’, this has been fun these last few weeks. I’ve enjoyed our time together, but you’re making my head spin right now, so if you ain’t gonna tell me what’s wrong, then I’m gonna have to let you be until you want to talk.”
