“People know how to brush a house clean, Hen,” Maddox called out as I passed him by.
“You clearly don’t, though, since you’re not actuallydoing it.”
I was just searching for more distractions as I tried to calm my body down and give myself yet another pep-talk but it was futile.
I’d never be more ready than I was now.
So I just stopped procrastinating and went to find Antony.
He was already talking to some of the other guys, who’d apparently accepted him with open arms. Antony was usually a guy of few words when it came to new people, preferring to observe for a while before actually diving into conversation, but he was currently indulging them in their questions.
How did I know about this fact, you asked?
Definitely not because of my spying on him.
Anyway.
Stepping beside him, I took up a brush and got it wet on a bucket. “Are you seducing them already?”
Antony let out a surprised scoff at my sudden entrance. “Definitely. We’ll start making out any minute now.”
The image that popped into my head made me regret my snarky remark. I wanted to growlminein front of everyone,yet again.
It was just weird because I’d been way too used to always having Antony to myself in the past. When Antony and I used to hang out, it had always been just the two of us. His green eyes had always been trained on me, his stare making my chest feel warm, and now…
I actually didn’t dislike seeing him surrounded by my frat brothers. My two worlds were colliding, and I felt stupidlyeagerat the thought that we might do this again. Without wanting to, I imagined Antony becoming a more permanent fixture in the frat, not actually joining it, because I knew it wasn’t his sort of thing, but just…seeing him around with all of us. The guys getting used to him.
Me getting used to having him always at my side.
But that was nonsense. This was only temporary. He might have to hang out here more because I had to come up with annoying tasks to give him, but it would all end sooner rather than later.
Then it would never happen again.
“You’re quite good at this, you know,” Antony said all of a sudden, grounding me in the present moment.
“At what?”
“At leading people.” The rasping sound of the wall as we both vigorously brushed it clean almost drowned our words. “People like listening to you.”
“I guess.”
“Could be something to keep in mind when looking for internships.”
I dropped my brush, washing it as my jaw clenched. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to lead anyone.”
“You seem to like it, though.”
I did. It had always come naturally to me and it was something I enjoyed.
What I didn’t want was to just be a clone of my parents.
“Doesn’t matter. I can like other things too.”
Could he just drop it?