All fucking negative.
I didn’t have anything to hope for; even the idea of leaving for Chicago didn’t engender much enthusiasm.
I shook my head and scrubbed a hand over my face, feeling inundated with thoughts.
Then, my phone rang, and I was roused from my funk. I fished it out of my jeans pocket and, after a brief glance at the screen, answered it.
“What do you want?” I snapped at Megan, my back already up.
That girl had the uncanny ability to show up at the most inopportune moments just to bust my balls.
“What is this about Logan kicking Alyssa out of the house after you kissed her?” she asked me angrily. She’d even raised her voice like she was going to intimidate me somehow.
“Tell your bitch sister to quit lying to you. She’s the one who kissed me,” I said truculently, not caring in the least if I sounded aggressive. The girl had blatantly lied about me.
“What?” she murmured, sounding unconvinced.
“Yeah, you heard me right. Be pissed at her, not at me.” I sighed as I considered, yet again, how ridiculous all of this was. And the irreparable consequences were all falling on me.
“My sister wouldn’t do something like that,” Megan insisted, sounding surprised.
“Yet, she did. But you know what? I don’t give a flying fuck what you believe. I don’t need to keep wasting my breath on you, Head Case.” I leaped to my feet and felt rage spreading throughout my body.
“Try to relax, Miller,” she answered flippantly.
“Relax? Because of her, I don’t know if my brother is ever going to look me in the eye again!” Terror clenched my chest tight at the idea of Logan hating me. I couldn’t get a breath, though I inhaled deeply and squeezed my eyes shut. I had to get myself under control, or I was going to break something.
“Your brother loves you. And, if what you’re saying is true, I don’t get why Alyssa would do something like that. That’s not her.” Megan tried to defend her sister, though she sounded as shocked as I had been. I had many flaws. I was far from perfect, but I wasn’t a liar, and Head Case knew that about me. “Were you able to straighten things out with Logan?” she added almost immediately, and a sneering laugh burbled up from deep in my throat.
“That’s none of your business. You and your sister just need to stay the hell away from us,” I said menacingly, only getting angrier. I had started to think that the Wayne sisters might be bad luck for us.
“Mmm… That might be a difficult request to accommodate, Miller. Did you think some more about the Chicago internship? If you take it, you’ll be putting up with a lot of me.” I listened to her laugh and rubbed my forehead uncomfortably.
“I’ll figure out some method for keeping you away from me, rest assured,” I retorted firmly. In reality, I had no idea how I was going to keep our paths from crossing.
“Wait, wait—does that mean you’ve accepted the internship?” she asked, and I sighed impatiently.
“What’s it to you?” I dodged her question. I hadn’t emailed Professor Robinson yet; I still had time to rethink my decision and maybe change my mind…
“I need to know so I’m prepared to bow to the king of the assholes when I see him in person,” she teased me in her most irritating voice, but I remained as unmoved as ever.
“Listen, Head Case, I gotta go now. Try to never call me again, okay?” I said, scowling. “In fact, lose my number. Pretend you never knew it.” There, now I had made myself perfectly clear, and my authoritative tone would surely have the desired effect.
“Is that an order?” she asked with a sneer in her voice, and I wanted nothing more than to slap her.
“Exactly. It’s an order, and you need to listen to me!” I said, raising my voice. Why couldn’t she understand that she had to just leave me in peace? Why did she insist on pushing me over the edge?
“I don’t enjoy an overbearing man. I believe I’ve already told you that,” she continued.
“Fuck off. I’m not wasting any more time on this shit.” And then I hung up before she could answer, an expression of self-satisfaction on my face.
I smiled a sly, victorious smile. If Megan thought she was going to fuck with me, she was grossly mistaken.
I’d known for a while that she got off on getting a rise out of me, so I played along.
Her arrogance bothered me, and her pushiness was even worse.
I played the part of the thin-skinned guy to make her feel like she had some power over me.
