Page 80 of The Operators

“Oh?” she asks. “Why? Because you don’t know what time you’re going to be home? You planning on staying somewhere tonight?”

“Maybe if you weren’t abandoning me in my time of need, then you’d be privy to that information.”

“I’ll bring smoothies tomorrow,” she says, allowing me to complain even when I don’t have a right to.

“Alright, you got me. You’re forgiven. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you.”

I toss my phone in the passenger seat, exhaling harshly as I grip the steering wheel in the parking lot of some gas station around the corner from Mack’s place. I don’t even know how I got here. I tried every which way to distract myself, but every fucker and their mother was busy tonight. I know I’m being immature by not being honest about what I want, but I also can’t let him win. Not after this morning. I smile to myself, thinking about when he dropped me off.

“I slept like five minutes last night, I swear,” Mack said, walking me up to my door.

“Yeah,” I said, swaying awkwardly.

He tried walking into my place with me, but I grabbed the door to block his path. “What are you doing?”

He raised his eyebrows, looking me up and down. “I was thinking a nap in a real bed.”

“No, you can’t stay here.”

He inhaled deeply, exhausted by me I’m sure. “Thea…”

His irritation made me irrationally upset. Did I disagree with him just to disagree with him? Probably.

“What?” I asked with too much attitude, folding my arms over my chest.

He groaned in frustration, looking up at the sky. “Can we stop this game now? Please. We both know there was no getting it out of our system, so how about you let me in,” he said, stepping forward and leaning his forehead up against mine, making it near impossible to resist.

“I have to take a shower,” I said as his hands began to roam my hips.

“I’ll join you.”

I placed my hand on his chest, pushing him back. “You should go.”

“Fine,” he said, stepping back. “But we’re going to talk about this. You can’t avoid it forever.”

“Can’t I?”

“No.”

“I don’t think all that is necessary,” I said, trying to sound confident. “I think I did get you out of my system actually. I’m good.”

“Oh really?” he asked with an offended laugh that turned into the most cocky smile. “Okay, Thea,” he said, taking a few steps backward.

“Okay?”

He shook his head one more time with the biggest grin. “I’ll be seeing you soon,” he said as a final goodbye, turning to walk back to his truck.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I called out after him.

He stuck his hand in the air to wave to me without turning back around. “I’ll be seeing you,” he called out one more time before he was out of sight.

I did everything I could to distract myself after he left. I attempted to take that nap after a quick shower, but I couldn’t shut my mind off no matter how tired my body was. So after spending a few hours deep cleaning my place, I decided to pamper myself, doing a deep conditioning treatment on my hair along with a charcoal face mask. I painted my nails. I actually took the time to shave every part of my legs, even the areas I usually miss around my ankles because I’m too lazy to double check. I left the house to pick up food, but even after all of that, I somehow ended up outside his place.

“Fuck it,” I say, slamming my car door before walking up to his front door. Maybe he won’t even be home. It’s Saturday night. Maybe he had plans. He hasn’t even tried contacting me today. I think that was the final nail in the coffin for why I ended up here. How is he just going to ignore me? I mean, I know how. I’m being a bitch. But still.

I shake my hands out. “Please, please don’t be home,” I whisper to myself before knocking.

---