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I was still standing outside, waiting to be left alone when I heard my name. When I looked up, Tristan was headed toward me, his arrival decorated by the steady red and blue flashes from the police cars.
Ah hell.
“What happened?! Are you okay?” He asked, removing his jacket to wrap around my shoulders, making me realize for the first time how much the temperature had dropped for the night.
It was warm, and it smelled like him, so I decided not to shrug it off.
“What are you doing here? It’s like four in the morning,” I said, taking a step back to put some distance between us. It was coming up on two weeks since we’d spoken, and the longer I ignored him, the easier it was.
At least, it had been.
Now that he was in my face, it was a bit of a different story.
“I was at the shop, finishing a big piece for a client,” he explained. “Neither of us wanted to spend a second day on it, so we toughed it out.”
“Oh.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You gonna tell me what’s going on, or?”
“Nothing. Somebody threw a brick through the window, and broke up the door. I think they were trying to get me to come down, but I kinda snuck up on them, and they ran.”
Tristan’s eyes went wide. “Trying to get you to come down? For what? Who was it?”
“Obviously I don’t know the answers to any of that.”
“I know, it’s just….” Tristan blew out a sigh. “Aiight, pack yourself a little bag. You’re gonna come with me.”
“I am?”
“Well, you damn sure can’t stayhere.It’s not safe.”
“But I’d be safe with you?”
He frowned. “What?Yes.”
“Really?” I challenged. “Nya isn’t crashing on the couch too, is she?”
“Will you just go pack the goddamn bag?”
“No, actually, I won’t,” I told him, snatching his jacket off my shoulders to shove at him. “You don’t get to run up in my face playing superhero after that bullshit you pulled with me.”
“You’re gonna act like I haven’t tried to talk to you?”
I scoffed. “Yeah, got your messages about wanting totalk, but honestly Tristan,fuck talking.There’s no conversation to be had, no points to negotiate, none of that. You either get it, or you don’t - there’s no in-between. You don’t get to play it off as an overreaction,” I snapped, trying to keep my emotions at bay, even though I really felt like bursting into tears. “Either my feelings matter more to you than some other bitch or they don’t. And my feeling is that your disrespectful ass ex can’t be in your face, and you can’t be in hers. If that’s a sticking point for you, then… We can leave this where it is.”
“That’s what you wanna do?” He asked, those lights still reflecting off his skin, making the whole thing feel so much more urgent. “Leave it where it is?”
“It seems like whatyouwant. Like her being in your life is the more important thing.”
“It’s not.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive,” he said, not dropping his gaze from mine. “Now… Go pack your bag.”
