“Why do you always do that?”
I snickered. “Do what?”
“Fire back with such animosity?”
I whipped my eyes over to him. “You’re asking me—the boy who’s bullied me on and off for years—why I address you with a burning hatred? Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
He shrugged. “Maybe if you were nicer, like your friend Allison, people wouldn't be so standoffish to you.”
“Is that before or after you made overt sexual jokes about her to Michael?”
“I mean, at least they weren’t directed at her.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right. Because that makes it all better.”
I scoffed and shook my head. I leaned back against the park bench, wishing and praying and hoping he’d go away. I just wanted some peace. Some quiet. Some fucking clarity. I didn’t want to deal with his bullshit.
I didn’t want to deal with Clint.
“So what are you doing out on a night like this?”
I closed my eyes. “You aren’t going to leave me alone, are you?”
He scoffed. “I mean, I figured you’d be with goody two shoes Allison or some shit like that.”
“I was, until our plans got canceled.”
“Ah, she busy kissing Michael’s booboos?”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “If you don't leave, I’m leaving.”
“Have a safe trip home.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, irate at his ability to completely spoil whatever moment of happiness I found for myself. But I wasn’t leaving. I had been here first, and he was the one that wasn’t wanted in this scenario. If he wanted to be rid of me, then he could leave the same way he came. And if he didn’t want to leave, then I’d annoy the hell out of him until he did.
Clint chuckled. “Stubborn, I see.”
I shrugged. “You’re the one making this more difficult than it needs to be.”
“Not really. You don’t want to be around me, then leave.”
“I’m not the one who obliterated the moment with my presence in the first place.”
“Big word for a small girl.”
“Well, if you paid attention in English class at all, you might have a few to throw around yourself.”
“Kind of a non-sequitur, if you think about it.”
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
“A non-sequitur. A phrase that doesn’t—”
I held up my hand. “I know what a non-sequitur is, you dick. I’m just not sure how—”
I looked over at him and found him smiling at me. And not the kind of smile I was used to seeing on his face. It wasn’t malicious. It didn’t shiver me to my core. It was… just a smile. A genuine, eye-reaching, illuminating smile. I’d never seen Clint smile like that before. Hell, I’d never seen him smile at all. But something like this?
It made him look almost boyish.