Page 143 of Collision
“I swapped shifts with my coworker, Cassie.”
“That’s a rip-off. There’s never shit to do on Sunday in this town.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like I indulge myself on the other days.” I push some of my hair, tousled by the wind, out of my face.
“That’s because you’re boring,” he snickers.
I shoot daggers at him with my eyes. “Did you come here to insult me?”
“I didn’t insult you,” he answers seriously.
“If you tell someone they’re boring, you’re basically telling them that you think they’re devoid of content. Empty. Useless. Inert,” I hiss.
“If I tell someone they’re boring, I mean only that they are boring.And you are. And you’re also quite touchy.” My blood is boiling in my veins. He’s still just as arrogant as he ever was. I sigh resignedly.
“You said you have something that belongs to me, right?” I cut to the chase, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Oh, yeah…right,” he answers, scratching the back of his head, suddenly distressed. He backs away for a moment, clearly hesitant. I arch a wary eyebrow. This change of mood bothers me. It is so rare to see him like this that it’s almost funny. My lips turn up in an involuntary smile, which I immediately cover with my hand so he won’t notice.
After a handful of seconds, he returns to the porch and kneels in front of me. I stare at him skeptically, having no idea what he’s doing.
“I think I screwed up.”
I furrow my brow at him. “What do you mean?”
“Like I said, I have something that belongs to you. But first you should know that when I left the house, it wasn’t raining. It only started to rain later, but it was too late to turn back by then.”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about, Thomas,” I say impatiently.
He ducks his head and then reaches for something he’d kept tucked behind his back, under his rain-soaked sweatshirt. A book. A book with a soggy, ruined cover. It seems familiar to me… I take a closer look and…my God, I don’t believe it. I stare with my eyes wide before snatching it out of his hands. “But this is mine! And it’s all…it’s all wet! Destroyed! You destroyed my book! My favorite book!” I hiss, still in shock.
Thomas falls silent and does not take his eyes off the porch’s floorboards. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you realize how important that book was to me, you stupid asshole?” I moan. “It was a gift from Alex’s mom.”
“Fuck.” He covers his face with one hand. “I’ll buy you another one tomorrow, I promise.”
“Buy me another one? You can’t just buy me another one. It was a first edition, dammit!”
“So?”
“So you can’t just find them lying around. And it was a gift!”
“So I’ll buy you one that’s not so hard to find,” he replies simply.
“It’s not the same, Thomas! And it wouldn’t be my book anymore. It would just be a stupid reminder of you and the book you destroyed!”
“I’m really sorry,” he repeats in a low voice.
“Oh, yeah, I really believe it,” I snap irritably. “When did you even take it?”
“The night I came to your house, remember? You went on about this book, how much you like it and shit. I wanted to know what was so special about it, so before I left, I grabbed it.” That’s why it wasn’t in my room that morning!
“Can I ask why you didn’t tell me?”
“Because I didn’t have time. We had a fight and then didn’t speak to each other for a month.”
“Well, you should have told me anyway; you can’t just take other people’s things without permission. Besides, you said you don’t read.”
