“I’m not even going to comment,” Mila said. “I’m assuming you guys copulated again this afternoon?”
“Don’t make it sound so crude.”
“I’m not making it sound anything,” she said snidely. “Just continue.”
“I thought we were on the same page. I apologized to her about hurting her feelings. Told her I thought she’d been ignoring me, but she told me she’d just been busy. I guess with that fool, Luke.”
“He’s not a fool. He’s a nice guy.”
“Uh-huh, did you know they’d kissed?” I said angrily, feeling a spark of jealousy running through my stomach again, and I clenched my fists.
“Yes,” she said simply. “How do you know?”
“I saw his text.”
“He texted her?” She sounded surprised. “What did he say?”
“How am I supposed to know? All I saw was a text saying how all he could think about was their passionate kiss,” I said bitterly.
“Wow, he said that?”
“Mila!” I almost shouted. “He didn’t use those exact words. I can’t remember what he said exactly. Who the fuck cares? This is about me, not about this schmuck. Whose brother are you?”
“I’m no one’s brother?” She laughed.
“Ugh, you know what I mean. Whose sister are you?”
“You know I always have your back, Parker,” she said softly. “I take it you’re upset that Lara kissed Luke. Is this what this call is about? Did you guys argue about the kiss? And how did you see the text message on her phone? Were you creeping through her texts?”
“I would never snoop through someone’s phone,” I said with a sigh. “She was getting upset with me and acting all irrationally and shouting at me and her phone beeped, so I very kindly went to get it for her and I found it stuffed under the sheets and saw his name and text on her phone. She’d been texting with him in the bed that we’d just made love in.”
“Really?” Mila’s voice was dubious. “That doesn’t sound like Lara.”
“Well, maybe you don’t really know Lara. MaybeIdon’t really know Lara. Who knew she was a player?”
“Lara isn’t a player,” Mila said. “You know that.”
“How am I supposed to know that?” I said. “She’s in my bed texting another guy.”
“Okay, Parker, what help do you want from me?” Mila sighed in frustration. “I’m not sure exactly what you called me for, since you don’t seem to want to listen to what I have to say.”
“I want to know what Lara’s problem is. What game is she playing with me? I want to know what I’m supposed to do now. Am I supposed to text her? Call her? Am I supposed to just let her go on with Luke? Ignore her? Go back to being friends and pretend everything is okay?”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” I snapped. “I don’t know. I don’t know what game she’s playing with me. I don’t know what she wants from me.”
“What do you want, Parker?”
“I don’t know.” My heart started thudding. “I want to be with her. I want to spend time with her. I want to kiss her. I want to hold her hand. I want to talk to her. I want to be her shoulder to lean on. I want her to come to me when she’s sad. I just, I don’t know...” My voice trailed off. “What’s happening to me, Mila?”
“You have to figure it out yourself, Parker,” Mila said softly. “I think you’ll get there, but you need to figure it out yourself.”
“I need to talk to Lara.” I sighed. “I just don’t even know why she was so upset.”
“Do you really not know?” Mila cleared her throat. “You’re my brother and I love you, but you cannot be this dense. I know you can’t be this dense.”
“What do you mean?”
