Page 113 of Love, Academically
All becauseLilahad wanted to be in his life. All becausehehad wanted her to be in his life.
His door opened and the smell of vanilla wafted in.
“Not now, Lila. Not fucking now,” he growled, not turning.
“Yes, fucking now, Rhys,” she snapped. “What have you done?”
“What haveIdone?” he said, voice so low he nearly didn’t recognise himself.
His muscles tensed and he turned, every fibre of him shaking with control. That’s how he should have been these past months. Controlled and disciplined. Not fawning like a lovesick puppy over cookies and a pretty face.
Lila’s eyes were blazing bright with anger, spots of red high on her cheeks. If possible, her hair was even more crazed than it usually was.
“Yes, Rhys,” she said, matching his tone. “What haveyoudone?”
“What I’ve done, Lila,” he said, pressing his hands to the desk and leaning over it, “is managed to absolutely fuck up my chances of ever being accepted into the Historical Association becauseyoumanaged to screw me over.”
“Screw you over? What, with the face-paint?” she said, taking a couple of steps towards him. “You’re a grown up, you make your own decisions. Besides, it wasn’tmewho let you walk out of that room with it still on your face. That was Dan.”
Another step towards his desk.
“Why did you even need reminding? It’s not like you’re a four-year-old who needs your face wiped by your mother.”
“Lila, this is my liferuined.” A warning in his voice, because she really didn’t want to push him now and he could not even begin to comprehend why she didn’t even seem to care.
Lila rolled her eyes and flapped her arms. What was she, a fucking bird?
“Don’t be so dramatic, Rhys,” she said, her voice too loud forhis office. “Your life isnotruined. It wasn’t even the formal interview, and you—”
No, no way. She didn’t get to dictate this discussion, if it could even be termed as such with their voices definitely the wrong side of quiet.
“Dramatic? I’m not thedramaticone in this relationship. A relationship, I might add, that has caused me to completely ignore my responsibilities.Youhave made me lose all sense of what I’m supposed to be doing, my reason for being here.” It all became clear to him, so clear that he could see the unfocused, irresponsible, failure of a man that couldn’t make a success of anything. The man thatshehad turned him into. “I’ve been with you, or thinking about you, when I should have been preparing for the Fellowship application.”
Rhys dragged both hands through his hair.
“What the fuck have I been doing? How did I let myself get this distracted?” he muttered.
“Hang on a minute, Rhys—” Lila put her hand up and took a little step forward, but he battled on.
“And you’re so ashamed of me, so embarrassed to be with someone like me, that you couldn’t even bring yourself to tell your friends or parents that we’re even in a relationship.” That hot sting that he’d tried to douse burned extra hot in his stomach. “That’s how invested you fucking are.”
“You know that’s not true,” Lila whispered, shaking her head.
“Miss Cartwright.” She looked as if he had slapped her, but he didn’t care. “You are unwanted in my office. Get. Out.”
Rhys forced his hands into his pocket and ground his teeth together, waiting for her to leave so he could do some damage control with Professor Painter. But she didn’t go. Instead, her shoulders tensed and she took a deep breath, collecting herself.
“I don’t give a shit whether you want me here or not, Rhys Aubrey-Dallimore,” she snapped. “I am not leaving until you tellme why you interfered with my life when you promised, Rhys, youpromised.”
Lila’s voice broke a little on that last word but he was too far gone to care.
“What are you talking about, Lila?” He shook his head, shaking his words out of his brain. “I have to deal with this absolute fucking shit show and I don’t have time to deal with whether your wool is all knotted or your favourite blanket has a stain on it.”
Lila’s eyes hardened and her entire body stiffened.
“I guess I was wrong.” Her voice was quiet. “You haven’t changed a single bit. You don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself and I can’t believe I ever thought that you could.”
“I’ve got no idea what you are talking about and quite frankly, I don’t give a shit.” He sat down and scanned his computer screen, waiting for the inevitable ‘I’ll get your office ready for you’ email from his father. Because his father would know, healwaysknew. Rhys wondered if his father would go so far as bugging his office.
