Heartbreaker - Julie Kriss Page 0,55
want to talk to you later? Or that she’ll never want to talk to you again?”
“It could be either,” Grim said.
Eric shook his head. “Women are so hard to read.”
“Hey.” I waved my hand. “I have a fucking problem over here. You broke up my relationship with the woman I love.”
Grim crossed his arms and shook his head at Eric, taking my side. “He’s right, man. If Mina was just some girl, this would be kind of funny. But we both know she’s not. She’s the one from prom night.”
Eric groaned. “I know. And I like her.”
“Me, too,” Grim said. “That chick is solid, and your stupid stunt has hurt her feelings. Maybe you should go over there with a boom box. Make her understand.”
“I can’t do that,” Eric argued. “Rachel and I are exclusive. It’s going good. If I go to Mina’s with a boom box, then I look like a cheater. The boom box guy has to be Holden.”
“No one is doing anything with a boom box,” I broke in. I couldn’t believe I was having this idiotic conversation. I knew Mina; I knew that the situation was absurd on the surface, but underneath she was truly hurt if she thought I was lying to her and dating someone else. She wouldn’t find a boom box stunt charming or funny or cute. She wouldn’t want any kind of showy stunt, no matter how elaborate or Hollywood-like.
What she needed was to talk to me and hear the truth. But if it came from me, would she even believe me?
Would she believe any guy at all right now?
That gave me an idea.
“Okay,” I said. “Eric, you owe me. If you want to live to go on another date with Rachel, I know exactly what you have to do.”
“Anything,” Eric said. “Except getting beat up. I don’t want to do that. But anything else, I’ll do.”
Twenty-Five
Mina
I’d put the Smash the Patriarchy! T-shirt on again. In fact, since I didn’t have to go to work anymore, I was living in it. I wore it to the grocery store and to Duane Reade and to the corner bodega. I wore it to the coffee shop and watched the baristas give me plenty of personal space. It was awesome, and I didn’t care that everyone who saw me was a little bit afraid of me. In fact, I was never wearing any other shirt again.
I was now wearing the shirt at the local library, where I sat at a table across from Tess. Tess had pulled a book called What’s Wrong with Men? And How Can We Fix Them? from the shelf and was flipping through it.
She had been my companion for the past few days. We had gone to the movies and had tried jogging—we both hated it—and had baked awful fat-free cookies. She had been unusually quiet when I told her about what had happened with Holden, and that I needed to center myself before I talked to him again. She had also listened as I talked through my career options. Though Graham had been as good as his word, and I’d been given enough pay to last me a while. I owed him big.
“This book says men have toxic masculinity,” Tess said. “I don’t know what that is, but it sounds bad.”
“Holden doesn’t have toxic masculinity,” I said.
“Why not?”
“It’s hard to explain. Basically he’s kind and respectful and doesn’t feel the need to put women down in order to feel good about himself.”
Tess frowned, digesting that. “Well, this book says all men have it. I thought boys my age were bad, but apparently when they get older they actually get worse.”
I felt a trickle of alarm move up my spine. “Well, not all of them.”
“I don’t know.” Tess flipped a page. “There’s a guy at my school that I like, and I was going to maybe ask him out when school is back in. But maybe I’ll just skip it.”
I straightened in my chair. “Don’t do that. Dating can be fun.”
“You told me to mace anyone who touches me.”
“Dating and naked liking are two different things. Sometimes.”
She blew out a breath. “See? This is all too complicated. I’m just going to try out for the girls’ soccer team and skip it.”
“You hate soccer,” I said.
“So? It’s still better than this dating thing.” She flipped the book closed. “I mean, look at you. You’re hot and talented and fun, and one guy takes a selfie and you’re a mess.”
I stared at her