“Whatever this shit is!” I wave my hand back and forth between us. “Can we please just do what she asked? What the coaches asked? Just get to know each other and then learn how to work with each other?”
My chest is heaving; nothing is hitting my lungs. I think I’m hyperventilating.
“Fine.” Her shoulders raise with a shrug.
The blood pounding through my body and rushing through my ears makes me wonder what I just heard. I blink a few times, trying to process what she said.
“What did you just say to me?” I ask, and she gives me a straight face in response, her jaw is tight, her lips a thin line and not an emotion in sight.
“Fine, let’s do it your way.”
I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head. “Are pigs flying?” I whisper to myself, “I have to be dreaming.”
She crosses her arms, narrowing her eyes, and I have to stop myself from laughing. “I’m serious. If you’re so fucking concerned about this, then yeah, we’ll go with your plan,” she says.
My head is spinning. Is this what whiplash is?
Maybe I’m just dreaming. Someone pinch me.
“Ground rules,” I say, leaning against the sink. Istill think I have to be dreaming. There’s no way she’s going to agree to any of this. “You have to respond when I text you. You can’t scowl when you see me, and you have to be able to have a conversation with me without it looping back to how I’m the bane of your existence and that it’s my fault Rosie left. Because I can tell you without a doubt, I wasn’t planning on leaving the Chill.”
Her mouth is still a straight line as she nods.
“Fine, but you can’t—”
I hold a finger out to stop her, and somehow we’ve shifted closer to each other, because my hand is nearly brushing her lips. “No berating me. I have done nothing to you.”
She tries to hold back a scowl, but I can see her face twitching. I smother a smile, because if she sees me smiling, she will kill me. Rules be damned.
The door opens, and we both jump back. Winnie pokes her head in, pink hair bright and smile mischievous. “Everything alright in here?”
“Yeah, of course,” I say and Taylor nods before leaving. Winnie and I look at each other for a moment.
“You were loud.”
I can feel the blood drain from my face. “Did Brynn hear?”
“Nah, I was eavesdropping. But you did well.”
I bite back a groan. “You can’t eavesdrop. I barely have her on my side on a good day.”
“Well, she is now.” Her grin gets bigger, whichseems uncomfortable because how on earth is that possible. “You were pretty close to her. Is there anything else I should know about?”
“Other than the raging crush I have on her not budging? No, I don’t think so.”
She rolls her eyes. “We’ll find you someone new.” I bite back a groan as she places her arm around me and directs me out of the bathroom. “Even if it’ll kill ya.”
Twelve
Taylor
We’re in the car on the way home, and the air is icy. Shocking considering that it’s a balmy fall afternoon. We haven’t hit the dreaded winter weather that we usually get around the end of October and early November. Brynn is illuminated by headlights, driving through the city, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. Usually her fingers would be in sync with the beat of whatever song is playing on the radio.
But the radio isn’t playing tonight, which adds to the iciness of the car.
Her face is set in a straight line, but at least she doesn’t look like she’s losing her mind, like Eloise was earlier tonight. I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown in the bathroom until Winnie came in. I have to talk to Winnie, because when on earth did they become friends?
Have I been shitty to Eloise since she arrived? Yeah. I don’t have a better excuse other than what I’ve already told her, and there’s no use rehashing the same argument over and over.
