Page 153 of Mad Girl

The blue blinking light of the TV illuminated the hallway off the kitchen. I wandered into the Garland Room, finding Michael on the sofa, scrolling through his phone, the local weather report on mute.

“It’s not that late,” I said, joining him. “Casey went to bed already?”

Michael nodded. “Went up just a few minutes ago. Said he was tired.”

“Do you think I’m an attention whore?” I asked, voice wobbling over the words.

“Hey.” He grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers. “Why would you ask that?”

I told him what had happened with Bree.

Michael sighed. “I told her she shouldn’t have kept it from you.”

“Well, her reasons are completely valid. I have been preoccupied, and I do mess with your girlfriends. My dad doesn’t date, and he’s not exactly happy. He never really has been, except briefly when Casey moved in. Apparently, people talk about it. What a burden I am on him. My lonely, miserable dad.”

When Michael didn’t say anything, I snatched my hand from his. “You think so, too, don’t you? You think I’m the reason he doesn’t date.”

“I don’t know,” Michael said carefully. “It could be that he’s still messed up over your mom, but can you honestly say you’d be willing to give some woman a chance if he started dating right now?”

I thought for a second. “No. I’m used to being the most important person in his life, so it would be difficult for me to see someone else take my place.”

Michael grabbed my hand again. “Elliot, you’ll always be the most important person to him. That’ll never change. And anyway,” he added, “for all we know, Nic’s had lots of girlfriends over the years. Maybe that’s why he comes home late so often and goes out of town all the time.”

Stomaching turning, I tried yanking my hand free of Michael’s a second time, but he wouldn’t let me.

“What?” he asked, laughing at the horrified expression on my face. “You think Nic hasn’t gotten laid since your mom left seventeen years ago? Come on.”

My skin crawled. “Hey, you want to know why Bree got so mad at me in the first place?” Michael lifted his eyebrows and waited. “Because I told Tinsley about that time we practiced kissing on each other.”

“Jesus,” Michael said, tossing his head back against the sofa. “I almost forgot you hooked up with my sister.”

“I didn’t hook up with her. We only kissed.”

“Yes,” Michael said, “but it’s Bree. You kissed Bree, Elliot.”

I laughed at the look of revulsion on his face.

“I miss this,” he said suddenly, squeezing my hand. “I miss us.”

“Me, too.”

“We can hang out at my place, too, you know. It doesn’t have to be over here.”

“It does, though.”

“Why?”

“Casey’s not letting me go off on my own anymore—not after what I did to Sienna.”

“He’s not letting you?” Michael huffed out a laugh, head shaking. “You know what I find interesting? How—if literally anyone else says you can’t do something?—you do it, anyway. But if Casey says it? You listen.”

“What other choice do I have? If I don’t listen, he’ll tell my dad.”

Michael snorted. “No, he won’t.”

“Okay, you’re probably right. But he’d see me walking away from school, and he’d follow me. And even if I did manage to slip past him, you’re the first person he’d go to when he couldn’t find me.”

“I’ll give you that. Still, I can’t believe you’re basically letting him ground you without putting up a fight.”