Say that shit ten times fast.
We were halfway back, and I realized we hadn’t said two words to each other.
“Everything okay tonight?” I asked.
“Hmm?” Tria cocked her head to the side to look at me. “Oh, um…it was fine, I guess. Nothing very exciting.”
“No crazy diners tonight?”
“Not really,” she said. “There was one who sent his food back three times, but that’s not very exciting.”
“He didn’t like it?”
“Guess not.”
That was about the extent I was getting out of her for conversation, and it was starting to tick me off a little. This was my favorite part of the day, and she wasn’t at all cooperative about it. That, coupled with the generally shitty way my night had gone, was making me pretty pissy.
“What’s up with you?” I demanded.
“What?” she asked, startling slightly.
“Talk to me or something!” I was practically growling at the poor girl. I sounded ridiculous, and I didn’t care. “Tell me more about screwing around with your siblings or something.”
Yeah, that crossed a line.
Tria glared at me, looked like she was about to say something, but quickly closed her mouth instead. She started to walk ahead of me, like she was going to escape into the building and avoid me altogether. I took a couple of quick steps and placed my hand over the door, obstructing her entry. Tria growled through her teeth and clutched at Gorilla Gucci.
I ignored the bag and its potentially frightening contents.
“Get out of my way!” she snapped.
“Fuck, Tria, I didn’t mean—”
“I know exactly what you meant! I thought maybe you weren’t going to be like that, but I can see you are! So get the fuck out of my way before I slap you!”
A little chill went through my body, and the boner I couldn’t seem to find earlier started shoving painfully against the buttons of my jeans.
Holy shit, why did I find that hot?
“Stop it!” I yelled as my heart beat furiously in my chest. I ached to grab her, slam her up against the door, rip off her shorts, and do her in front of the neighborhood. “I didn’t mean it like that! It just…it just came out wrong.”
I moved further between her and the door as I took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You think I’m fucked up just like everyone else in school did,” she said. I didn’t have to see the slight tears welling up at the corners of her eyes; I could hear them in her voice.
“Fuck, Tria. I didn’t mean it that way, I swear.” Well, I did think it was fucked up, but I hadn’t meant to direct that toward her. “So you dated a guy you grew up with—what’s it to me?”
She glanced at me, her expression telling me immediately that she didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth.
“Look, Tria,” I said quietly. I reached out and placed one hand on the door frame and leaned a little closer. “I’m not going to lie to you and say it isn’t a little…surprising. It doesn’t mean I think any less of you. Besides, you aren’t with him anymore. You don’t even live there anymore.”
“Why don’t you just say what you want?” she asked. The anger was gone from her voice, but her words stung more. “Tell me I’m a freak. Tell me I’m going to hell. Tell me what a horrible person I am. I’m used to it.”
“I don’t think that,” I told her.
“Don’t you?”