“Thought you were staying home because of your early flight tomorrow,” he says, his eyes still locked on Tessa as she makes her way down the stairs.
“I canceled it.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I want to stay here with you.”
Tristan rolls his eyes and groans at her, and he doesn’t care that he looks like an asshole. He’s made it very clear to her that it ishishouse that she is welcome to stay at any time, but that they arenotliving together. She has her own place in LA, where she is from, and he flies her out to visit for a week or two at a time, but she always flies back. This time though, she’s been here for two full weeks and apparently is staying for longer.
“Kiana, you know I have practice all week and our first game is next Sunday. I won’t be able to spend any time with you, go back to LA with your family.”
“Why do you want to get rid of me so bad?” she asks, crossing her arms, “So you can flirt with blond bitches without me knowing?”
“Jesus Christ,” Tristan says, swiping his hand down his face. “Order me another shot please, I gotta take a piss.”
She says something to his retreating back that he doesn’t hear nor care about. He runs down the stairs two at a time, busting through the doors that lead to the parking lot in the back, and immediately finds her squatting against the wall, staring intently at her phone.
“Hey, you okay?” he asks, walking right up to her.
“Just ordering an Uber,” she says, not taking her eyes off her phone.
“Give it to me,” he says, holding his hand out, and she does, standing up once he starts clicking furiously at the screen. “There,” he says, giving it back to her. “There’s one right down the street, it’ll be here in 3 minutes.”
“Thanks,” is all she says before she turns away from him.
“Tess-”
“It’s fine,” she says, whipping back around towards him, her blue eyes intense and bold. “I mean, of course you have a beautiful girlfriend. It’s been a decade and you’re like a God in this city.”
“Would you just let me-”
“I just got out of a 6-year relationship anyway so…”
“6 years?” he says, taking a step back as if she punched him in the gut.
Her blue eyes now look satisfied seeing him clearly in distress from hearing about her recent ex. She was always a tit for tat type of person, as much as she’s ashamed of it, it’s a bad habit she hasn’t been able to shake.
“So trust me, it’s fine. I was just a bit caught off guard is all.”
“Fuck,” he hisses in frustration, looking over his shoulder to make sure they are still alone. “Tessa, I feel like we need to fucking talk.”
“I feel like we don’t,” she retorts.
“You do realize thatyouleftme, right?” he says, suddenly feeling the anger of the 20-year-old young man who was so heartbroken he couldn’t get out of bed.
“Yeah, and you’re welcome,” she says with a sarcastic laugh, “Because look at wherenotbeing with me as gotten you.”
“We could have fucking worked it out!”
“I’m not doing this right now,” she says as the Uber rolls up in front of them. “I’m too drunk and way too tired from this whole fucking day.” She hops in the back of the SUV and reaches for the door, but he holds it open, staring defiantly at her as she tries to close the door.
“Have a good night, Tristan,” she says, venom lacing her words. “I’ll see you Monday.”
She yanks the door hard and he lets go, letting it slam, the sound like a slap in the face. He walks to the passenger window of the car and looks at the driver, who recognizes him immediately and lets his mouth hang open in shock.
“She goes straight home, not a hair on her head touched.”
“Yes Mr. Kelly,” the man stutters, and he hears Tessa grunt in the back seat. He can’t help the smile that tugs at his lips at the little things she does when she’s annoyed. They just had an intense blow out and she’s still yanking at him right at his soft spot that he only has for her.
