I roll my eyes, sticking my head back in the menu to avoid eye contact. “You heard me, asswipe,” I mutter.
The menu in front of me starts to move down, and I look up into the piercing blue eyes of my best friend. “When?”
“Dunno specifics. All I know is she’s back.” I shrug. I reeeeeeally don’t want to have this conversation with him, but if I don’t say something, I’m pretty sure I’m going to explode. “She’s the new junior associate in the office. And the kicker? She’smyassociate.”
“Fuck,” he murmurs.
I nod. “Mmm.”
“Are you okay?” His tone is soft, caring, and I hate every single goddamnsecond of it.
“I’m fine, James. Stop fucking looking at me like that. I’m not going to go and off myself if that’s what you’re worried about,” I whisper-yell. “Been there, done that, didn’t end up killing myself, did I?”
“Cut the defensive shit, Theo. You’re better than this,” James snaps.
Luckily, there aren’t too many people around to hear our marital spat. James is my best friend, the brother from another mother I wished I’d had, but sometimes he’s an overbearing cunt that gives me a migraine.
“Yeah, well. I’m doing the best I can, alright?” My hands clench around the menu, my body tensing at the conversation. “I’m working through it.”
He raises an eyebrow and leans forward, bracing his elbows on the table. “Are you? Or are you digging your head in the sand and hoping it’ll all miraculously disappear?”
“I really hate that you know me so well,” I grumble, raking a hand down my face with a sigh.
“This is what twenty years of friendship looks like, asshole. Get used to it. We’ve got at least another forty in us before we kick the bucket, so to speak.”
He’s got to be the most understanding best friend in the world to put up with my moods because Ican’tcontrol them. I don’t know how to react or deal with them when something triggers me, and this conversation right now? Triggering as fuck. My emotions overwhelm me at times, and I literally have no idea how to explain them. But fuck, I appreciate his patience when I’m like this.
I laugh. “I promise I’m fine. I’m figuring it out. I’m not going stabby on anyone or myself. I’m in a better place now than I was tenyears ago.” I grab my beer, sit back, and take a swig. “I’m just gonna have a bit of fun with her in the meantime.”
Insert maniacal cackle.
“When you say, ‘a bit of fun,’ what you actually mean is…?” James gestures with his hand for more information.
“I’m just gonna mess with her a bit. You know, make her life a living hell so she leaves and I never have to see her again. I mean, I never thought I’d see her after the last time, but here we are,” I grumble into my beer before I signal for the waiter, needing something a bit stronger.
“You sure that’s wise?” James asks.
I shrug. “Who knows, who cares. It makes for a more interesting experience.” I swallow down the last of my beer, glancing around for that shot I’d asked for before I add, “Plus, I get a little revenge. What could be better than that?”
“Oh, I don’t know… peace? Forgiveness?” James muses, but it only makes me laugh.
“Yeah, she ain’t getting that from me. I’m not the forgiving kind to people who fuck me over. You should know that.”
He nods. “I do know that, tips. But maybe it’s time to grow up? Forgive, forget, and move on?”
“You ever gonna stop calling me that?”
He glances at me with a raised brow. “What, and forget about the time you put pink braids in your hair because you thought it looked cool? Never.”
“I did look cool,” I complain.
“You looked ridiculous.” He smirks. “Tips has a nice ring to it though. I’ve used it for the last twenty years, I’m not stopping now.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t,” he replies, adding, “So, are you going to forgive, forget, and move on?”
I’d love to say something miraculous happens and I come to terms with what he’s saying—like a light bulb goes off in my head or something—but nope, quite the opposite happens, and a totally typical me response occurs.
