“Maybe if you had a sister you would have turned out better,” I snapped.
“Just get in my car. I’ll take you home.”
“What? I’m not going anywhere with you. I would rather walk home than step foot in a vehicle with you.”
“Yeah, well, you’re close to me leaving you behind right now.”
“Good!” I grabbed my purse out of my car and killed the lights. I slammed the door and took off on foot down the road.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Walking!” I shouted over my shoulder.
“Are you fucking crazy? It’s cold out, and you’ll probably get eaten by a coyote.”
“Better that than spending another second with you.”
I heard him jog up behind me and I scoffed. Typical Robert, barging in and taking over in any way he could. I used to like it when he did that. Now I despised him for it.
“How far is it to your place?”
“I’m surprised you don’t remember. You used to sneak out of your house at night to come see me.”
“You still live there? In that crappy, piece of shit trailer?”
I spun around and he immediately stopped when I was just inches from him. “Is that a problem? You never seemed to care when we were in school, but now it’s a problem?”
“I just thought that you would have moved into someplace else by now. It’s been thirteen fucking years, Anna.”
“Well, not all of us got to go off to a fancy school and get big paying jobs as lawyers.”
“Hey, I worked my ass off to get where I am today.”
“And I worked my ass off so I could stay where I am.”
He scoffed. “Where, in the gutter?”
I glared at him, my nostrils flaring in anger. “Wow, you know, I knew you were an asshole, but I never realized that you had fallen this far.”
“Fallen? I haven’t fallen at all. I made something of myself. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“No, but shaming me because of where I am certainly knocks you down a peg or two.”
“Look, I just thought that you would have moved on. You said that you wanted to get out of here. I just don’t understand why you’re still living in that rat trap.”
I spun around and marched off. “There you go insulting me again. Yeah, you turned out to be a real winner. Glad I didn’t hitch my train to yours.”
“Let’s just get you home so I can get in my fucking car and be on my way.”
“I didn’t ask you to walk me home. Go get in your pretty sports car and leave me alone.”
“It’s a Porsche F-Type R. And it’s not pretty.”
“Whatever. Seriously, I really don’t care about your car. I just want you to leave me alone.”
“Well, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because leaving a woman alone on the side of the road would make me a royal dick.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. You already hold that title.”
“Anna, could you just pretend for the rest of the walk to your house that you aren’t pissed at me?”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you’re a whole lot more pleasant when your mouth is shut,” he muttered.
I stopped and spun around again. “You know what your problem is?”
“No, tell me,” he said sarcastically.
“You’re a pencil dick that uses money and fancy cars to make yourself feel better for the shit you did when you were younger. I hope it helps you sleep at night. But that stuff doesn’t impress me and it doesn’t make me want to spend any time with you.”
He sighed heavily. “Anna, how long are you going to make me pay for something that happened when we were seventeen?”
“I don’t know,” I narrowed my eyes at him. “How long is going to take you to figure out that I don’t want to see you or speak to you?”
I spun back around and kept marching. I knew he was behind me the whole time, but I didn’t acknowledge him the rest of the walk home. He stayed a good few feet behind me the whole way. When I walked up the driveway, I purposely avoided the potholes that needed to be filled in with gravel. The faint light from my outside light let off just enough of a glow that I could see. It had rained, so I knew there would be sitting water. But Robert didn’t know where those potholes were and I wasn’t about to tell him. He could find out on his own.