Page 46 of Unfix Me

“Why are you so wet?” I asked.

“It’s raining.”

“Yeah, you said that. Did you keep the windows down in your Uber or something?”

He remained silent, laser-focused on prepping the food for the day. My fingers tapped against the metal top of the counter while I waited for him to respond, but it didn’t seem like he was going to. I scoffed and started making a pot of coffee.

This guy got under my skin. I shouldn’t be wasting my time with some homophobic person who all but stated that he despised me. When I looked at his wet t-shirt again, though, I pulled my lip between my teeth and gnawed on it hard enough to make the skin crack.

“Did you… walk?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus. It’s five miles, Sen.”

He shrugged. With his back to me, I felt dismissed. The audacity of this bitch.

“Sen.”

“What?” he growled, whirling around. His eyes blazed and underneath the kitchen lights, they looked rimmed with gold.

“I offered to drive you.”

“It’s not necessary. I’m capable of walking.”

“I know you’re capable, but you don’t have to.” I noticed that my voice was rising to meet his, but I couldn’t control it when he got me so riled up. This entire thing was ridiculous. It felt petty.

“Just leave me alone, Kai.”

He stormed past me, leaving me dumbfounded.

“Why are you so damn angry?” I shouted.

When he saw that I was following him, he picked up his pace. I didn’t know where he thought he’d go that I couldn’t find him. He was heading for the storage closet, so he must not have been thinking that far ahead. Sure enough, he threw the door open and went inside, effectively trapping himself.

I grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him closer to me. He turned and slapped me across the face like this was some soap opera. I wasn’t entirely convinced it wasn’t at this point. It pushed me over the edge from annoyed to pissed off.

Gripping his biceps, I shoved him against the wall. A broom clattered to the floor and when he struggled, he knocked over the vacuum. He was flailing like I was an ax murderer trying to make him my next victim.

Moving my hand to his face, I took his jaw in a firm grip and forced him to look at me.

“Get off me.” He dug his nails into my wrist and I gritted my teeth as I tried to hold on.

“I’m trying to understand you. I’mreallytrying.”

“You don’t need to understand me. Just stay the hell away from me.”

“I don’t understand what I did to you.”

“Just leave me alone. I don’t want to see you or talk to you. I can’t stand to fucking look at you. So,please, leave me alone.”

After a moment, I released him and took a step back. Before, it felt like something was cracking in my chest. Now, I just felt empty.

“I thought you were cool,” I said. “There was something about you that made me want to be close to you. To show you a personal part of my life. Sometimes, I think being disappointed is worse than hating someone.”

Shaking my head, I started toward the door. I didn’t expect him to follow me and he didn’t. It shouldn’t have affected me, but it did.

There was a clatter from the closet as I walked away. I continued into the kitchen and started working on the prep he’d left behind. Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were shaking. Gripping the edge of the counter, I hung my head and took measured breaths.

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