“Ugh, somewhere under all the clothes I was unpacking until I got hungry! Please?” she whined.
Maybe it was the way Brittney was now worrying her lip, or how her face showed her irritation. Daya handed the phone over.
“I think the more important question here is who’s making up fake stories considering wejustgot here. I mean, my siblings already gave me a debrief on my general…behaviorand none of this came up.”
“Well our press conference was a mess, thanks to you, yes.” I started.
“Thanks to me?!” Brittney mocked.
“You literally had a rebuttal for every statement I made!”
“You started an elbow war!”
“You didn’t fail to mention how you beat me then the Violets dumped me!”
“Because the first statement you ever made about me was how I wasn’t ready for the pressure of being a professional athlete!” Brittney yelled, her voice cracking.
I watched her eyes go glassy as she gripped the couch tighter. She whispered, “You embarrassed me before I even had a chance, Nola. It willalwaysbe tit for tat.”
The pressure in my chest gradually inflated again the more I stood here. Coming to Miami, living with Brittney, all this drama definitely did not feel worth it.
I wanted to go home. I missed my family. I missed my friends. Fuck, I missed Chicago.
“And I apologized.”
“Four years too late.” Brittney moved around the room in silence. She turned off the television, then the kitchen light, leaving the light on in the living room where we stood. She was about to move up the stairs when Daya finally spoke.
“I hate to play devil’s advocate, Nola, but you can’t put this all on Brittney.”
“What?”
“Does she antagonize you? Sure. But you feed into it and you antagonize, too.”
“Do you expect me not to?” I interrupted.
“Until we figure out if these ‘reports’ are just flukes or not, I think you both need to be on your best behavior.”
“That was already my plan,” Brittney mumbled, her shoulders collapsed, her usually bright eyes dull with exhaustion.
At least I knew I exhausted her the same way she exhausted me.
“Same. I don’t need another day of embarrassment for the world to see,” I grumbled and rolled my eyes.
“This was fun and all, but I’m going up. Daya, a pleasure, maybe.”
“Goodnight, Brittney.”
She headed up to her room without saying anything to me. I couldn’t help feeling that added more pressure to my chest.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Bee
In an effort to limit my interactions and put my best face forward, I woke up three hours earlier than necessary. I did my best makeup beat, picked out an outfit that leaned more toward my occasional tomboy aesthetic, and wore my curly hair down with two barrettes that I thought screamed,I am friendly and approachable, you’ll love me!
I searched all night on local blogs to find the best bakery to bring for the staff and front office, which was a blessedly short walk from my building.
Somehow, without communicating all of that to my evil roommate, she had naturally one-upped me.
