aggressive way. “You two deserve each other. Assholes.”
Then she spins around and stomps away, leaving the two of us alone in that corner. Leaving me to bizarrely wonder why she thought we were together, him and I.
Is it because I came here to stop them? Is it because I look like a jealous girlfriend?
I’m not. The girlfriend, I mean. Or jealous even.
I am not. So totally not jealous.
What I am, though is flabbergasted and shocked and kind of speechless.
Because holy. Shit.
He said those things, didn’t he?
Again, I can’t believe it.
I can’t believe that he said all that. I can’t believe anyone would say all that. Let alone a guy I’ve known for eight years, who’s nothing if not polite.
And patient. And calm and collected and holy fuck.
I can’t…
“You can’t follow a rule to save your life, can you?” he murmurs and finally, I whip my gaze over to him.
Until now, I was watching the girl disappear into the crowd because I didn’t know what else to do.
Because this guy, this rude asshole, can’t be Arrow.
The Arrow I know.
The Arrow I know wouldn’t be leaning against the brick wall as if nothing happened. As if he didn’t say all those horrible things to her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says in a rough, growly voice when I continue to remain silent.
“Why?” I burst out, my words bitter. “Because I witnessed you completely humiliating a girl just now?”
“I wasn’t humiliating her,” he replies, casually.
I think he even goes ahead and folds his arms across his chest. I can’t be sure though because I’m staring at him, at his smooth, unbothered features, with an open mouth.
I have to actually press my hands on my heated face to try to calm down before I can say anything.
“Are you kidding me?” I screech. “You’re kidding me, right? You were such an asshole to her.”
“Huh. And here I thought I was being nice,” he murmurs as if he’s genuinely surprised.
“You’ve gone crazy, haven’t you? That’s the only explanation. Or maybe I’m going crazy. I don’t know what just happened. You completely shattered her confidence. I don’t think she’ll be kissing anyone for the rest of her life.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”
“Excuse me?”
He tips his chin at something over my shoulder. “I don’t think you need to worry about her confidence.”
I turn to look at what he’s talking about. Through the swaying bodies of people, I see the girl again.
And he’s right. I don’t need to worry about her confidence at all.
Because she’s kissing again.
Only…
“Is she…” I squint my eyes to make sure. “Is she kissing a girl?”
From where I am it certainly looks like it. The drunk blonde girl is kissing another blonde girl and she’s doing it in the exact same way as she was doing it to Arrow, all leaned into her body and neck tilted up.
I hear him shift behind my back. “And here I thought I was special.” Then, “Although, it makes me wonder…”
I spin on my heels to face him again. “Wonder what?”
He cocks his head to the side. “If she’s really that drunk or if I just drove her to lesbianism.”
“You can’t drive anyone to lesbianism. You can…”
“I can what?”
Bring them back.
That’s what I was going to say, that he can convert a lesbian because he’s so gorgeous in his leather jacket, his face bent down, his blue eyes shining. As if sexual orientation is a choice.
As if I’m not having a very surreal moment right now as I stare at him.
And my next words don’t help the matter. “Sexual orientation isn’t a choice. In case you didn’t know. You can’t drive people or convert them or change it on a whim. As if they don’t have enough problems to deal with and you come in with your ignorance and careless remarks and...”
I trail off because what the fuck am I doing, and I swear I see the lines around his eyes crinkle but I can’t be sure.
“Thanks for that. Very educating and enlightening,” he drawls.
I glare at him.
I can’t believe that I’m glaring at him but that’s not the point.
The point is that there are more important things at stake here. Far more important things.
Far more.
So I bring my hands down to my sides. I even take in a deep breath and try to rein in my agitation.
“Why,” I begin with what I think is a calm tone, “did I just catch you kissing a girl at a bar who’s not my sister?”
At this, his eyes go