Page 84 of Green
It was a rhetorical question.
“What are you saying, you thinkIwas faking everything? You think I’m a fake? Not our little green card marriage—you think thatI’mthe fake?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Fuck you!”
“Don’t put words into my mouth, Gemma, that’s not what I think.”
“I knew this wouldn’t work.”
“It won’t if you don’t want it to.”
“Stop putting this on me!”
“You’re the one who lied to me about not texting with him.”
“I didn’t lie! I didn’t tell you Inevertexted with him.”
“Lie of omission.”
“Oh my God! I didn’t tell you because they were just dumb texts! It was no big deal and with the way you’ve been acting lately I was afraid you’d turn it into a big deal.”
“And look at that. I did. You were right. Must feel great.” I had never ever wanted to fight with Gemma before, but once you start you just can’t stop. Like the relationship you’re fighting about, you have to be in it to win it.
“Oh, it does!” she said, through gritted teeth. “It feels awesome! This is all I ever wanted! Good talk!”
“Great talk! You’re being sarcastic, but I think that’s more true than you know.”
“Oh well, you’re the genius! Since you know me so well, I’m sure you know what I’m going to say next.”
“You’re moving out.”
“Damn right I am! For real!”
“So you keep saying.”
“Oh, I mean it this time and I’m sure you’ll get used to the idea soon enough.”
“Yeah because as I’ve made it so clear to you over and over again—I can’t wait to get rid of you! Although it really has been a delight, getting to know this side of you. You’re so petite I never would have guessed you could store so much crazy in there!”
“Well, when I move out my crazy you’ll have more shelf space for all your big containers of chalky protein powder and your bags of chia seeds that always spill everywhere and get between the kitchen tiles and my teeth and your gross high fat oils and weird superfood powders!”
“I can’t even wait! There’s gonna be so much more room for me to pace around think without all of your walls of denial blocking me! And you can take all of the throw pillows with you—every single one of them—I fucking hate throw pillows and I’ve put up with a thousand of them ever since you moved in! Also—I’m going to switch out all of those amber colored Edison lightbulbs—with LED lights! Hallelujah I’m going to be able to actually read at night again!”
She gasped and glared at me:How dare you.
Here’s how dare I, little missy:“Oh and by the way you should probably get used to protein powders and chia seeds because you won’t be able to get much nutrients from the ramen noodles you’ll have to eat once you realize you can’t afford anything else besides rent on your shitty little paychecks!”
“Fuck you! Fuck you! I knew you were never really supportive of my career yousnoterb!” Her eyes widened, when she realized what she’d just said.
After a moment, we both broke out laughing, even though I could tell she was still furious with me.
“I meant to say snobby tech nerd.”
“No,thatwas genius, now I have a name for my next company. Snoterb Ventures.You probably won’t understand what we do because we’re so much smarter than you.”
She started to laugh, and then she suddenly said: “Stop it! Stop being cute and funny just stop it! If you don’t understand how much it hurts me—”
