They probably thought Finn’s stunt to infuriate Jesse would seal the deal, or maybe they thought I wouldn’t show today after everything Finn put me through last week.
To be fair, most girls wouldn’t have come back for round two, but most girls don’t desperately need a car. I’d take five more summers like this over having to ask my dads for rides everywhere until I leave for college.
“Classy,” I mumble under my breath and edge my way to the fridge to grab a plate of food.
The beeping of the microwave cuts through the kitchen just as I’m pulling the refrigerator door open. Finn rises off his seat to get whatever unhealthy shit they’re eating, but I don’t think much of it. Until I rummage through the fridge for my casserole and realize…
It’s not their food that’s ready.
It’s mine.
“What the…” I say and swivel around to see the boys inhalingthe tuna casserole, going through their plates like they haven’t eaten in decades.
I spot the dirty glass container dumped in the sink.
I spent an hour making this before I went home for the weekend so that I wouldn’t have to worry about meal-prepping for at least a few days.
And now?
It’s all gone.
It was at least six servings. You mean to tell me Finn went through the whole thing in just two days?
How?
Maybe he wasn’t alone?
“Who told you you could eat my stuff?” I’m fuming as I watch the basketball players munch their way through my food.
Neither boy answers me—or even looks at me, for that matter—taking their sweet time finishing the food I’ve been thinking about all weekend.
Riled up, I march to the kitchen island and slam my palms on the counter. Finally, Finn’s eyes snap to mine, his face still an unsolvable riddle.
“Who told you to come back here?” He fake gasps. “Oh, that’s right, no one.”
Swallowing the anger clogging my throat, I inhale a slow breath to keep hungry Dia on a leash—anyone who values their lives does not want to see me hungry.
Worst part is, it’s not even the fact that he ate my food so much as the price of said food.
I had to use the emergency credit card my dad gave me to pay for the ingredients because Mr. Richards hasn’t given me grocery money yet. Thank God the job includes “room and board” because I have around ten dollars to my name right now.
Theo’s phone rings the next second.
His deep laugh travels through the kitchen. “Yep,you’re on your own.” He lifts off his stool and walks to the sliding glass door in the dining room. “Don’t kill each other before I come back.”
With that said, Theo steps out onto the patio. Silence envelops the kitchen, and while Finn and I don’t say a word for a short moment, our eyes say plenty.
Neither one of us is backing down.
I’m the first to speak up.
“You’re going to pay me back or—”
“Or what?” Finn knocks the breath out of me by pushing to his feet. “Fucking what, sitter girl? You’re going to blackmail me again?”
He’s crossing over to my side of the kitchen before I can blink. He’s getting closer. And closer. Okay, that’s close enough, I want to say, but my housemate clearly doesn’t give a damn about personal space because he’s still charging toward me.
I have the reflex of moving away, but I’m not fast enough. He’s got me backed up against the closed pantry the next second, his palms braced on each side of my head.