Page 49 of Cinderella Screwed Me Over
Boone took a few steps away from us and I let out a shaky breath.
Carlos put his hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”
Boone glanced back, saw the contact, and went crazy. He charged Carlos, throwing wild fists through the air. Unfortunately for Boone, he finally picked on someone too big. Carlos’s main hobby was working out—at a boxing gym—and Boone was no match. It took several people to break up the fight, and by the time they did, Boone’s nose was gushing blood, and I suspected he’d have a black eye, if not two.
I stared at him, thinking that he’d gotten uglier and uglier over the past few months. And yeah, that does kind of happen inBeauty and the Beast, too. All that time spent waiting for the prince, and then he turns human and you think, man, he was cuter as an animal. Who knew you’d be asking for bestiality in the end?
My grandma always hated the story, claiming it was ridiculous that a pretty girl would fall for a beast. It used to be one of my favorites, though—one of those true-love-will-fix-anything stories. Belle was so patient and overlooked his temper, even ignoring the fact that he almost killed her dad and imprisoned her. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to make girls think they can heal a guy with love and patience, though. Because most guys don’t ever change. At least in the movie, the beast really does learn to love, and his mean streak is broken. I don’t know if Boone ever had his mean streak broken, but I knew I couldn’t stick around to find out.
Time Wasted:Three and a half months
Lessons Learned:
Getting mad once in a while is normal. Flying off the handle over every little thing is a sign to run.
No aggressive or overly jealous guys.
No letting a guy walk all over you.
You can’t fix people. They have to learn to fix themselves.
Chapter Fifteen
Unable to concentrate on work, I sat at my desk, drumming my fingers along the top of it. I imagined Jake was starting to wonder what he’d gotten himself into with me. I probably shouldn’t have made that joke about punching Karl. Especially since he’d heard the story about me slapping Ralph. But he got that I was kidding, right? I’d even blown him a kiss to show him he was still the guy for me. I mean, if I were choosing guys. Which I…wasn’t? No. Jake and I were free agents, keeping everything light. Still, I wanted to give him a full explanation. If the tables were reversed, I know I’d want one.
I waited until I was sure Jake would be awake and called his cell. The call rolled to voice mail, so I cleared my throat, readying myself to leave a message. “Hey, it’s me.” I hated it when people said that. Most of the time I didn’t know who it was until halfway through the message. “I guess that’s pretty arrogant, assuming you’ll recognize my voice. Or maybe I’m already programmed into your phone. Not that I’m saying…” I wanted to start over. Be calm and collected. “Anyway, it’s Darby. Who else would leave you a rambling message without ever getting to the point? The point is give me a call. If you want to. Last night was crazy, and I just wanted to tell you that—”
A loud beep cut me off.
Awesome. I left a drunken message without the benefit of actually being drunk.
Calling back to finish seemed extra desperate. Especially if he’d been screening me on purpose.
I tossed my phone on my desk and ran my hands over my face. “Urgh. This is why I don’t do relationships.”
My phone chirped and I picked it back up. A text from an unfamiliar number. When I opened it, I saw a picture of Karl. Underneath his eye was a line of purple and red. At least it wasn’t swollen shut.
Thought you’d enjoy this. Everyone at the office sure is. They’re all so confused when I say I got it playing pool. They seem to like “got into a bar brawl because of a girl” much better.
My fingers flew over my keypad.
I think it’s only considered a brawl if two people are involved. You were more like a punching bag for a drunk guy because of a girl.
I hit send, then set down my phone and opened up my files for Mrs. Crabtree. Another chirp caught my attention. Karl had sent a message back.
Yeah, I like my version better. I guess you and I just communicate differently.
I laughed and then sent another message:
I swear I heard this really smart person say that men and women couldn’t communicate very well… I better get to work. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.
I was surprised how much I’d ended up liking Karl by the end of last night. While I knew Stephanie had initially set us up hoping for a romance, that kind of spark wasn’t there. But I thought we might get to be friends eventually. It’d be nice to have him to talk to at all of Anthony and Stephanie’s upcoming wedding events. And even though I still wasn’t totally sold on the marriage counseling thing, he did see a lot of different types of couples, and it gave me hope that he thought Anthony and Stephanie would make it. Regardless of my jaded stance on forever love, I really wanted them to be one of those couples who defied the odds.
And if they can make it…I thought of Jake, the way I seemed to be doing more often than not lately. I could feel a glimmer of hope trying to wedge its way into my heart, whispering that maybe this time, it could actually be different.
Don’t do it. Hope only leads to depression.
But it was already giving me that warm, light feeling. Steph was right. I didn’t want to miss the puppy-love phase.
