‘Oh,’ I said flatly. I’d forgotten about that.
‘Seriously, what are you doing here?’ He stopped at the side of my car and put his hands on my door with a bang. His hair was messy; he looked flustered and sweaty. ‘I tried to call you. About ten times!’
I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone. ‘Silent mode.’
‘Jesus,’ he hissed, and ran a hand through his messy hair.
‘You sound angry,’ I noted.
‘I’m not angry, I was worried. I looked everywhere for you, and when your car wasn’t in the parking lot I panicked a bit. I didn’t know if something had happened to you, or . . . You can’t just leave without telling the person you’re with.’
‘Really? Is that so?’ I swung around and glared at him.
His head jerked back. ‘You look like you’re angry with me.’
‘I am.’ I stared and folded my arms.
His face softened, his eyes met mine and he let out a long outbreath. ‘Sorry, that was awful. That whole event. I shouldn’t have made you come.’
‘That’s not what I’m angry about,’ I said.
‘What’s wrong then?’
‘I heard you and Gee-Man – or whatever gross name you call him – talking.’
‘Heard what?’ he asked, looking genuinely confused.
‘But you’renotone of those guys, right?’ I was throwing out sarcasm now, and if I wasn’t so upset, I would have been seriously impressed by my sudden sarcastic skills.
‘What guys?’
‘Maybe youshouldbe dating Ashley.’
Andrew sighed and lowered his head. He stayed in that position for way too long, and the longer he did, the worse I felt. He finally looked up.
‘Can I climb in?’ He pointed at the passenger seat.
I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t want him so close to me, but this standing over me that he was doing was probably worse. I tapped my hands on the steering wheel as he climbed into my car, the car he’d helped me choose. There were signs of Andrew all over my life now. He’d infiltrated it and left his mark on so many parts of it, on so many parts of me.
‘How much did you hear?’ he asked.
‘Apparently, I must be really good in bed for you to date me.’
‘You didn’t hear more?’
‘Why, did it get worse? Did you tell him you fucked me in a bathroom at a wedding?’
‘No, I actually told him he was an asshole.’
I stopped tapping my hands.
‘I think my exact words were “You’re a small-minded asshole.” And then if you had stayed around, you would have heard me tell him that I never wanted him to say your name again, and then I left and went looking for you so we could get out of there.’
I looked at the plane. I wanted it to fly overhead so it would kill this conversation we were having.
‘Maybe I used to be one of those guys,’ Andrew said after a long pause. ‘No, not maybe,’ he went on, ‘yes, I was one of those guys for a while back in high school. But when my moms started fostering kids, I think that changed. You get exposed to types of people and situations that you would normally never be exposed to. Your worldview is opened up, you have to be less selfish, you have to learn to have empathy for others and not be so self-absorbed. Yeah, I probably was one of those dickheads that teased people like you at school.’
‘That’s a very dickhead thing to do,’ I stated coldly.
