"I just got rejected in my own house. I'm pretty sure asking you to leave is an acceptableresponse.”
I snatched the phone from her hand and set it back on the counter before standing in front of her, blockingherin.
“You're unbelievable, and I can’t handle it right now. Besides, don’t you want to check on your precious guitar?” Her tone wascruel.
“I don’t care about my guitar right now,” I said, surprising myself. My instruments were my babies, but I was more concerned about what was going on with the girl in front of me at themoment.
“You certainly don’t careaboutme.”
“I’m here, aren’t I? You and I both know that you aren’t the next Jimi Hendrix.” Michelle opened her mouth to argue, but I put my finger against her lips before she could speak. They were soft and plump. Utterly distracting. I snatched my finger back. “But you asked me to come, soIdid.”
“Then why did you freak out when I tried to kiss you? Do you wish you were dating Jenny orsomething?”
“Jenny?”
“Oh, don’t act like you don’t see the way she follows you around like a puppy dog, wearing her short dresses, joiningtheband.”
“Isn’t that what you did?" I asked, not knowing where the words were coming from. It was like we couldn't stop ourselves from arguing. "Only you took it one step further. You saw Jenny on the stage with me first and couldn’t stand it, could you? That’s why you insisted we do this lesson,isn'tit?"
Hurt flashed across her face briefly before it transformed into anger. “You’re a jerk, Rainier. You want to pretend like you are so morally superior to everyone because you have hippie parents and were homeschooled and never were a part of the things all the cool kids were doing. But now you’ve had a taste of popularity, and you think you’re so great. You want to string two girls along because that’s what people like you do without any regard for anyone'sfeelings!"
Her voice had gotten louder as she continued with her rant so that she practically spat the last word at me. I had no idea what was going on, and I wasn’t convinced Michelle did either. We'd gone from an almost kiss to her yelling at me about stringing people along. I didn't know what to say. She stared at me for a few seconds before walking out of the kitchen and leaving me alone.Again.
I ran my hands through my hair trying to process what had just happened. Michelle was upset about me not kissing her, but it seemed like she was upset about something else. I didn’t have feelings for Jenny, and I was pretty sure sheknewthat.
Michelle was so far out of my league, and I was freaking out because I was pretty sure I liked her. I walked out into the living room where she was sitting on the couch and staring at the wall. Tears were falling down both of hercheeks.
I got down on my knees in front of her and looked up atherface.
"What's going on,Michelle?"
“I don’t react well torejection.”
“I guess not.” I gave her a small smile she didn'treturn.
“What about me is so repulsive you’d rather knock me over thankissme?”
I laughed at the way her mind interpreted what had just happened. She thought disgust was the reason I didn’tkissher.
“It’s not funny! You looked like you were going to barf all over thefloor.”
I closed my eyes and sighed before responding. “I’ve never kissedanyone.”
This time Michellelaughed.
“It’s not funny,” I said, echoing her earlierwords.
“There’s no way it’s true either, so tryagain.”
“Think about it. When exactly was I going to kiss a girl? I’ve pretty much stayed in my small bubble for the last nineteen years. I wasn’t going out on dates when we were all in high school. I was playing guitar with Matt and working at your dad’sstore.”
“You’ve been off at college for thelastyear.”
“Yeah, and it’s been more ofthesame.”
She stared at me for alongtime.
“So you’ve seriously never kissedanyone?”
