Chapter Five
Maisie
“What can I do?” Char asks, sitting across from me on the floor, my foot in her lap as she paints my toenails.
“Short of running him over with a car? Nothing.” I blow out a breath, having spent most of the evening recapping the events of earlier today and the utter frustration that is Macallan Stewart.
“That could be arranged.” She smiles, dipping the brush back into the bottle of nail polish before moving to another toe, red hair spilling across her shoulders as she leans down in concentration.
“He just makes me so...” I let out a noise that sounds a lot like a scream but with a bit of a whimper peppered in there too. “You should have seen the way he looked at me.I hope you can be mature enough to be civil.” I mock his earlier words.
“What an ass.”
“It’s like he gets off on pushing my buttons.”
“Which is precisely why you need to stop letting him get to you.”
“You say that like it’s so easy.”
“Not easy, no. But not impossible. I’m just saying, instead of playing right into his hands, throw him a curveball.”
“And how exactly do I do that?”
She thinks about that for a long moment.
“No idea,” she finally answers.
“A lot of help you are.” I nudge her with the foot she’s already finished painting, careful not to smudge the still-drying polish.
“I’m just saying, maybe if you change up the way you react to him...”
“Then he’ll what? Stop making me want to stab his eyeballs out with my pencil?”
“I’m not sure anything will make younotwant to do that.” She points the nail polish brush at me. “But you are nothing if not adaptable. Instead of showing him how much you despise him with every word that leaves your mouth, maybe try for a friendlier approach.”
“You want me to be nice to him?” I openly gape at her.
“Pretend nice. You don’t have to actually mean it. Just make him think you do. Maybe if he realizes he can’t rile you, he’ll stop trying to.”
I think over her words for a moment.
“Perhaps,” I concede, deciding her idea isn’t the worst I’ve heard. “Something to consider, I guess.” I blow out a slow breath. “Let’s talk about something else. I don’t want to think about his smug face for another second.”
“Okay then. What do you want to talk about?” She resumes painting my toes.
“How’s everything with you?”
“Really good.” Char smiles to herself.
“River still hangs the moon?”
“Something like that.” Her bright green eyes meet mine.
“I never would have predicted that you two would end up together,” I admit. “I thought everything was going to blow up when Lyric found out and that would have been the end of it.”
“You and me both,” she admits softly. “Though it’s hard to even think about that now. I just... I love him so much sometimes it scares me.”
“I’m happy for you, you know. For you and Lyric both.”
