Page 60 of Brittle Heart

Ignoring her, I start a conversation with Josh and Sophia about some movie we watched last Sunday and notice her taking a fry from her plate and putting it in her mouth in my peripheral vision.

Good girl.

After I finish my portion, she shoves her half-eaten plate toward me. I glance from the plate to her, confused. “What?”

“You can finish the rest. I’m done.” She shrugs, avoiding eye contact.

“How can you be done? More than half of it is still there,” I comment, tilting my head to her plate.

Her eyes suddenly meet mine, her gaze piercing. “What? Just because I’m fat, I can’t leave a plate unfinished?” she argues, her tone defensive.

I recoil slightly, taken aback by her implying that. “No, what the hell? I didn’t mean that at all. These are practically child-size portions. No one could be done after eating just half of it, not even the child it was intended for.” I frown at her. “Why would you think I would say something like that to you?”

She just shrugs and looks away. I thought we were forming some sort of friendship. Xander always says my sarcasm could come off as crass, but I thought I’d found someone who could give as good as she got in Carolina—a sort of unicorn. But now it seems as though I might have misread the situation entirely.

If Carolina thinks I would say something so cruel to her, then perhaps I’m not doing as well as I thought.

I had genuinely started to enjoy her company and thought she felt the same. But now, I’m left questioning if I’ve hurt her with my words.

Maybe I need to be more careful with what I say in the future around her.

Carolina digs through her backpack, pulling out the tattoo cream that Xander gave her for aftercare. Rolling up her sleeve, she squeezes some cream onto her arm. I’m about to ask about the healing process, hoping to break the uncomfortable silence hanging over our table when Del Moro appears out of nowhere. He snatches the cream from her hands and squirts all its contents onto Carolina’s chest.

Josh stands up so fast his chair falls over behind him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Here you go, Costa,” Del Moro mocks, throwing the empty tube on the plate with the half-eaten fries. “Now you know what it’s like to have a guy finish on you. If you ask nicely, I might even let you suck my dick, so your virgin ass could finally get a taste. Though, I’d have to shut my eyes.” He looks her up and down with a slight tilt of his head. “Nope, I’d still know you’re a fat bitch.”

I leap to my feet now too. “The fuck, rookie?”

I’m ready to deck the guy, but Carolina stands as well, raising a finger to my face to stop me, never taking her eyes off the dickhead.

“I wouldn’t even suck your lousy dick if I was suffocating and there was oxygen in your balls,” she says, in her now familiar bored tone.

I almost choke on my own spit before I huff out a laugh.

Del Moro shoots me a nasty look before cracking a smirk. “You can give her lessons, Cooper. I heard you like sucking big dicks.”

A surge of anger hits me. I know he’s just trying to get to me, but I’ve had it with homophobic jerks, having dealt with them my entire life.

Carolina steps in front of me, practically shielding me, and I look down at the top of her head.

“Well, duh, but he sure wouldn’t want to suck any small ones. Oh wait, did that just hurt your feelings?”

He hurls back something before storming off, but I can’t make out what he says. I’m too busy processing what just happened. This firecracker of a girl just stood up for me. Aside from Josh, Sophia, and Xander, no one else has ever defended me.

I wrap an arm around Carolina’s shoulders and give her a squeeze, but she flinches, so I loosen my hold.

“You like me,” I tease, dragging out the words in a singsong voice.

“Get off me,” she says, stepping out of my hold.

“Admit it, you like me,” I push teasingly.

Josh grins. “Let me get you some tissues for that,” he offers, walking toward the counter.

Carolina glances down at the mess on her chest. “Fuck, what an asshole,” she mumbles to herself.

When Josh returns, he stands next to Carolina and starts to clean off the cream. She looks at him, eyes wide, causing him to halt and realize where his hands were just moments ago. He turns bright red, quickly handing her the tissues.

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