out, waiting.
“Let me see if I remember all this right—I don’t want to screw up the details.” I clear my throat dramatically, winding up for a recitation. “What was it your mom said? ‘I just hate to use the term publicity stunt—but can you imagine if he hadn’t taken my advice and taken you out on that first date? You wouldn’t be here with us tonight!’”
My voice is higher than usual as I repeat what his mother said, noting with satisfaction his face slightly blanching as my words sink in.
“Then I said, ‘Publicity stunt? What do you mean?’ And your mom said, ‘The Ivy dear, don’t you remember?’” I give him my most piercing, deadliest look, plopping down on my couch. “Gee Tripp, whatever did she mean by that?” I tap my chin theatrically, snapping my fingers. “I know! She meant you had been setting me up!”
“Chandler—that’s not at all what that was about.”
This is the perfect time for me to laugh in his face, so I do. “Ha ha, good one. It’s too late—the jig is up. Your mother busted you.” Feeling sassy, I toss my hair. “It’s probably not a great idea for her to drink alcohol when she’s with your dates. It only serves as truth serum.”
“You have yourself all worked up over nothing.”
“It’s not nothing!” I shoot up off the couch. “Ugh! I should have listened to my gut that day. I accused you of planning everything that night and then let the subject drop. You avoided the question, and I let you, so who’s the idiot here? Me.” I stick a finger in my chest, wound up tight.
“Whoa. Just calm do—”
“Don’t you ‘whoa’ me, mister. Your mother literally said, and I quote, ‘We knew being seen with you there would be good for his reputation after those pictures of you at the wedding surfaced on the internets and the Twitter.’ Those aren’t words a woman forgets, Tripp. Those are words that hurt and they’re going to be burned in my brain forever.”
“I did not come over here to fight,” he responds, bulky arms still crossed.
“Why did you come over here, then?” I’m about to make it worse and worse, in no mood to back down, no stopping the train now that it’s in motion.
“I wanted to see you—why the hell do you think I dragged my ass here after busting it for the past three hours? To amuse myself when I could be sleeping? I’m fucking tired, Chandler. I don’t want to argue about this.”
Too bad. Too late.
I’m pissed.
“You’re not even going to defend yourself?” I challenge, getting up in his personal space.
“Against what? What would be the point? You already have your mind made up.”
Oh. So he’s one of those.
The kind of guy who runs when the pressure is on, who clams up when it’s suddenly time to get serious. The kind of guy who doesn’t want to discuss anything.
Great.
Just great.
Good to know.
“My mind isn’t already made up. I want to know what you have to say about it.”
“Honestly, I have no idea why you’re mad. You brought it up that day in front of your townhouse after leaving The Ivy, then you let it go so I figured you weren’t bothered by it. I thought we were having fun.”
Fun.
Fun?
The word triggers me further and I feel myself spiraling out of control, completely irrational but in full force.
“Oh. Now I’m just fun to you.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He squints at me.
I take a deep breath. Then another, then another.
Calm. Rational. Do not be that girl.
“Listen, Tripp. Yes, perhaps I’m overreacting—but you have to admit that you should have told me the truth when you had the chance. I want to be able to trust you.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I didn’t say I don’t trust you—I said I want to be able to trust you. Lying out of the gate isn’t a great way to start, and I was…I felt…betrayed when your mom spilled the beans tonight. Really embarrassed. I thought we were on the right track.”
“We are.” His jaw clenches.
“Is that all you have to say? Is there more?”
“I don’t know what else you want.”
“Is your ego so huge you can’t tell me how you feel about me? You can’t tell me the reason you lied? Or why you kept calling me and messaging me?”
“If it’s not obvious, then I can’t help you with that.”
Wow.
I’ve heard of men this headstrong and prideful; I just never thought I’d be on the receiving end of the