Page 28 of Love, Academically
“Fine,” he grumbled.
He looked at her carefully and opened his mouth to stay something, but quickly snapped it shut again.
“What?” she asked.
He looked around the room. “You’ve got a lot of stuff.”
“Mmm hmm. I like things.”
She liked pictures of tropical birds and oriental fans. She liked having her cross stitch where she could reach it from the sofa. She liked having a choice of blankets, depending on her mood. She liked buttons and shiny brooches and carved wooden boxes. She liked her piles of books.
“That’s so not what you were going to say, Rhys.”
Her words were a bit muffled, because eating was much more important right now.
Then the floodgates opened.
“What is with your ex, Jason? Why is he such a prick?” Rhys asked. Lila opened her mouth to answer his question but Rhys ploughed on. “I mean, howdarehe suggest that you’re incapable? He doesn’t have any right to talk to anyone like that, let alone his ex-girlfriend of seven years. In case he forgot,hecheated onyou. He doesn’t get a say in how you live your life. You don’t need anyone to ‘hold your hand’, you don’t need to be looked after. You’re a capable adult, and it fucks me off that he treats you like a child and you just revert to being one. You don’t act like that at work.”
Wow. That was probably the most she had ever heard Rhys Aubrey speak in one go.
“Um right. Well…” Lila swallowed. All she really wanted to do was sit on the sofa, watch Richard Gere, eat her chips and go to sleep. She shouldn’t have pushed.
“Sorry,” he muttered, stuffing too much fish in his mouth to stop any more words coming out.
“No, no, I asked. It’s okay.” Where to start? What to say? Lila shifted on the sofa. “We were together for ages and I guess he felt guilty that I was supporting him. So, he tried to help in other ways, like looking after me, making sure I was okay.” Lila shrugged. “That kind of turned into him making most of the decisions, dealing with the finances. He was jealous if I ever did anything for myself. He was insecure and narcissistic.”
Rhys put his empty plate on the ottoman in front of them and looked at her.
“I couldn’t see it. I thought ours was a normal, loving relationship. I support him, he supports me. I didn’t know those were toxic traits until afterwards. Jasmeet tried to tell me timeand again, but I wouldn’t hear it. I suppose the cheating was the last straw.”
She tucked her hair behind her ears.
“Oh,” Rhys said, eyes not leaving her face. He was trying to work her out, like she was one of his historical documents that needed deciphering.
“I kind of revert back to that person when I see him. I don’t see him a lot. In fact, I hadn’t seen him for months until we bumped into him last week,” Lila explained. “But there we are.”
She forced a cheery smile on her face and turned back to the film, because there was absolutely nothing worse than laying yourself bare to someone. Except perhaps crying in front of them. Oh wait, she’d already done that today.
“Lila, no one can make you feel that you’re not good enough. Only you can do that, and you shouldn’t,” Rhys said quietly, leaning back against her purple throw cushion and linking his hands across his stomach. His stomach that was still way too flat after scarfing all those fish and chips.
She watched his pulse jump in his neck, the unhurried rise and fall of his chest, the calm blink of his eyes, and she believed him.
“Okay,” she nodded.
“You finished?” he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he whisked the empty plates into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water for her. Settling himself into the sofa again, he crossed his ankles on the ottoman next to her blanket-covered legs, plain grey socks and all.
Chapter 5
Foofaraw(noun) foo·fa·raw
A great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant
Rhys
