Page 115 of Grounded
"Well, I thought you were better than that. You're kind of a jerk."
She leaves the counter and heads toward the back of the store to…smoke a cigarette? Poke a few needles into the Theo voodoo doll?
Amelia returns and we grab our complimentary drinks.
"You okay?" she asks as we walk back to my car.
"Yeah, it's just sad when a woman hates your guts for no reason."
"I don't hate your guts."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, I mean why would you bring that up if you weren't talking about me?"
"I was actually talking about Tawny, but wow. What an epiphany."
Damnit.Hewasn'tsupposedto know that. Great, now Theo knows I don't mind being around him.
Last night was kind of…fun. It was nice pretending to get along and being friendly with one another. And seeing him interact with other people like he's not a robot programmed to solely annoy me was a bonus. Plus I can't get over the adjectives he used when he and Beckett were going at it.
Beautiful, witty, a smart-ass.
"What?" Theo looks at me like I revealed a huge secret, which I did.
"Nothing, you weren't supposed to know that."
"That you actuallylikemy guts? Who's the serial killer now?"
Does he memorize our past conversations? How does he even remember I said that to him in our first week home?
"Are you okay about everything?" he asks.
I appreciate his transparency, because communication issues are where things can get messy fast.
"I never imagined I'd be hooking up with someone so soon after Beckett."
"Please don't say his name anymore." Theo grips the steering wheel and a few veins in his neck are more prominent than usual.
"Did he try to fight you last night? By the time I came back, a huge crowd was breaking up."
"He tried. He's too slow. Did you know he has horrible form?"
"No, I've never seen him throw a punch before."
"A successful one, I have no doubt. He missed me by a mile."
We're almost home and before we head inside, I ask, "So, we keep this up? Acting as though I—"
"Didn't ingest more drugs?"
My cheeks blossom into pink blotches. "I think I got you out of my system."
I didn't intend to have such a hammering delivery with my statement, but regardless of this lawless behavior we're exhibiting, Theo has to know it's all for fun, right?
He's the one who brought it up in the first place, on our first night home. I needed a rebound, a random guy to help get me over my ex. He's that guy, and that's all he'll ever be.
If my dad knew Theo and I have been intimate in any way whatsoever, he'd flip out. I told him he could trust me, but we didn't establish what he needed to trust me with.
