Page 49 of Something Real with the Sea Monster
Tegan
I’m out of breath by the time I’ve stormed up the hill to Luke and Mia’s house. I’m still boiling mad, though. I can’t decide if I’m more angry with Jack or with me for letting myself fall for another fuckboy.
In my defense, he was really well disguised as a nice guy.
Underneath maybe they’re all fuckboys.
Every. Single. One of them.
Mia’s house is in sight, which is a relief because my chest feels tight and tears are stinging the backs of my eyes. Mia rushes out of the house and waves to me with a panicked expression on her face. “Tegan! What happened? Are you OK?”
Oh great. Has Jack called everyone to let them know how he had me fooled this whole time? How humiliating. “No. I’m not OK. I don’t care what happens, just never let me sleep with another guy ever again! I’m officially gay now. Oh I wish I was gay.”
I’m still marching toward the house, tears wetting my cheeks. Mia grabs my hand. “Wait! Everyone is here. Luke’s parents. Noah. Everyone. Jack said you might not want to see them.”
“Well he’s right. Given they all just watched our homemade porn and witnessed me discovering he’s been lying to me, I don’t want to see any of them. Mia, I can’t stay here. I have to go.”
“Go?”
“Back home. It’s time for me to go home.”
Mia blinks. I can see she’s fighting back tears, but she nods. “What do you need?”
She sneaks me in the back door, and I pack my suitcase. We share a tearful hug.
“I’ll call you when I get home. Please don’t worry. I just need some space.”
“Are you sure? I can ask them to all leave. I’ll even kick Luke out.”
I sniff. “Don’t do that. I just want to disappear.”
“Tegan?” She stops me as I bend to pick up my suitcase. “Jack said to say he’s really sorry.”
The knife twists in my gut, and I press my eyes closed for a moment, determined not to cry more. “Yeah, well that’s nice, I guess. I don’t know what he wants me to do about that. It doesn’t make it better.”
“What happened?”
I sigh. “Turns out he knew I am his fated mate all along. All along! And he kept it from me.”
“Oh,” Mia whispers.
“What?”
“Well, it’s just that Luke didn’t tell me either. Not when he first found out.”
“That was different.”
“Yeah, it was.”
There’s a pause.
“Did he say why he didn’t tell you?” she asks.
“He said he didn’t think I’d want to hear! As if I wasn’t freaking out about it.”
“Yeah. I see why you’re upset. Don’t be too hard on yourself, OK? Or Jack. We all make mistakes.” She squeezes my hand.
“I seem to make the biggest ones when it comes to guys. Big fat mistakes, all of them.” I finally grab my suitcase and turn for the stairs. “Well I’m done. I’ll talk to you later, Mia.”
