Page 149 of You're so Bad

I could tell her it’s plenty fun to bike up to a mountain peak and watch the sun come up in a sea of colors…especially if you can manage it on a day when there isn’t anyone else around. Or to be the first to arrive at a coffee shop and grab a table by the window. But that would lead to a conversation, which is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I’ve decided the less we have to do with each other, the better. For my own sanity.

“Yeah, the lamp is fine.” I prefer low lighting at home, but I’ll give her the lamp if it’ll make her happy.

“Thanks for being so cool about everything, Danny,” she says with a broad, red-lipped smile, which immediately makes me feel guilty. She doesn’t know her presence is making my skin itch. It doesn’t help that she calls me Danny like we’ve known each other for years.

Normal people don’t get agitated by the presence of strangers. Especially strangers who are hot women. If I asked her to call me Daniel and to leave my chair alone, I’d seem rude.

Iamrude, but I’d prefer to give people time to figure that out.

I nod and slide the earphones back into place.

“Say, Danny…”

I lower the earphones, then take off my blue-light-filtering glasses and rub my eyes.

“What’s up?”

She bounces a little in the chair, and I try not to notice the way it makes her tits sway under her shirt. “I’m getting a record player stand delivered. It’s this really cool, vintage-looking piece. A littleI finally moved out of my ex-boyfriend’s apartmentgift to myself. I was thinking I’d put in my room, but if you wanted it out here…”

I don’t. I listen to podcasts while I work. Then again, I’m probably going to have to move my desk into my bedroom, aren’t? I’m in the second, much smaller bedroom, so I’ll be squeezed up against my bed if I move my two-screen set up in there, but that’s a small price to pay for peace.

“Sure,” I say tightly. “Do whatever you like.”

She tips her head to the side, her hair swaying with the movement. My eyes follow it against my will. “Are you one of those people who says things you don’t mean? Because we’ll have to cure you of that. I prefer a more straightforward approach.”

“I’m trying to be polite.” The words come out more aggressively than I’d intended. They’re not polite at all, honestly, and Ruthie would be ashamed of me.

Her eyes light up with something like humor. “Ah-ha, so there’s someone in there after all. I’ve been trying to tease you out.”

“What’sthatsupposed to mean?”

“That you’re more boarded up than a murder house.”

I can actually feel my jaw ticking. “You don’t know me well enough to make that assessment.”

“And it’s obvious you don’t want me to get to know you,” she says, lifting her eyebrows.

There she goes, naming the elephant in the room and inviting it to be her pet.

I have my reasons for not wanting her here. Many of them, in fact. I’d prefer to keep them to myself.

“I doubt we enjoy the same music.” It’s a dickish thing to say, but I’m starting to feel like a dick.

Her eyebrows hike up higher, practically meeting her hair line. Her face is expressive in its disdain. “So that’s a no to listening to sweet, sweet tunes in the living room. Gotcha. I can tell you’re going to be a barrel of laughs.”

The buzzer rings, and she jumps up out of my favorite chair. I look away, trying not to give off Gollum vibes, then sigh again and get up from my chair. “Let me help—”

A slash of her hand attempts to shut me down. “I’ve got this, Danny. It’s just a box. I’m going to have to build it.”

She’ll probably refuse to let me help with that, too.

“I insist,” I say tightly.

“Well, I can’t prevent you from following me,” she says as she makes her way to and then out of the door. Idofollow her, because now that I’ve decided I’m helping, I won’t be put off. “Mendolike to follow me around.”

“Is that why your boyfriend asked you to move out?” I ask before my mind can catch up with my mouth. Fuck. I don’t usually let that happen.

She looks back at me, clearly surprised, and stops walking so abruptly I almost barrel into her. “Is it weird that I like you more when you’re a dick than when you’re being quiet and agreeing to everything?”

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