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“I know. He takes really good care of me, he’s good friend,” she replied. He shook his head.
“I don’t get it. What is up with you two?” he asked, his voice a whisper. Paige scooted closer to him.
“What do you mean?” she asked back, whispering as well.
“Look, chick, Park is my friend, and I don’t think of him as anything more than that, but I do have eyeballs. The guy is hot. Like on fire, steaming, smoking,hot. He’s also one of the best guys you’ll ever know, if you haven’t already figured that out. And you've spent basically the last month shacking up with him. Haven’t you wanted to just jump on top of him? At least once?” he whispered, his voice exasperated.
Paige laughed long and hard, but a blush spread across her face and neck. The way Joey was looking at her, she had the feeling she wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding anything from him. Her laughter died down and she cleared her throat.
“Okay, he is really good looking, I will give you that. And he’s super funny and nice, so of course, there’s ... an attraction, let’s say. I won’t deny it, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna act on it, either. I don’t want a boyfriend, I don’t want any complications. Plus, he acts like I’m 'one of the boys'. Parker doesn’t feel that way about me,” she explained.
Joey groaned loudly and threw back the covers. Paige stared wide eyed as he hastily climbed out of bed. He was still dressed, even wearing the blazer he'd been wearing at the club. He looked angry and began crawling around on the floor, searching for his shoes.
“You know, as Park pointed out to me last night, I don’t know you that well, but can I tell you something?” he grumbled, his head underneath the bed. Paige slowly sat up.
“Yes,” she responded slowly. Joey stood up abruptly and quickly shoved on his shoes.
“You’re an idiot. He's a moron. Life is short. Stop being so scared and get over your hang ups – they’re never as big a deal as you think. While you’re so hung up on yourself, you’re missing out on a great guy,” he snapped before stomping from the room.
Paige just stared after him, her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it – had she just gotten chewed out? By someone she didn’t know? She had half a mind to go after him and tell him what she thought of him. But she didn’t move. Because she knew he was at least partly right. Shewasscared. Scared of her friendship with Parker, her sudden dependency on him. Scared of giving control to someone else again. Scared he wouldn't feel the same way, scared she would scare him off. Scared of rejection. Scared of a million things.
Scared, scared, scared, always.
She finally got up and went to her door. She stood there, listening. She couldn’t make out the words, but she could hear what sounded like angry whispering coming from the room next door. The whispering got closer and then finally was in the hallway. She backed up and stood behind her door, cringing. She had officially become a snoop.
“I don’t want to hear anymore. Goodbye, Joey, it was very nice seeing you. Thanks for the table. I’ll call you before we decide to leave.” Parker’s voice. He didn’t sound happy.
“Park, just promise you’ll at least try to -”
“Goodbye,Joey.”
Joey grumbled, but then Paige heard clothes rustling and she knew they were hugging. She smiled. She didn’t want them parting on bad terms. She almost wanted to run into the hallway and hug Joey as well, she didn’t want bad feelings between them. But she was still only in her underwear. She hustled into her closet and shimmied into some cotton shorts, but by the time she got into the hallway, she heard the front door closing.
“Did Joey leave?” she asked, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she turned into Parker’s doorway.
She was surprised at what she saw. Parker looked really unhappy, his face strained, jaw clenched. His door to the terrace was open and she could smell cigarettes heavily in the air; he'd been up for a while, apparently chain smoking the whole time. He was only wearing his basketball shorts, a t-shirt in his hands. He slowly walked towards her.
“Yeah. I’m sure we’ll see him again,” he told her, pulling his shirt on.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, resting a hand against his door frame. He shrugged and folded his arms across his chest.
“Yeah. I love Joey like a brother, but sometimes he’s just too much for me,” he said. She noticed he wasn’t looking at her, but actually staring over her shoulder. She frowned.
“Yeah, but is everything okaywith you? You seem kinda pissed,” she told him. He frowned as well.
“I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep well.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t mean to fall asleep last night. Joey said you carried me. Sorry if I was a hassle.”
“Paige, you’re not a hassle. I just didn’t sleep well. I’m in a shitty mood. I’m gonna take a shower.”
He turned his back on her and headed towards his bathroom. Paige took a step forward, but before she could say anything, he disappeared into the small room and slammed the door.
She jumped a little. She couldn’t remember Parker ever being in a bad mood. He had his moments, and sometimes when he got off the phone with his family, he was less than cheerful. But she'd never seen him like this; he was pissed off, and for some reason, she kind of felt like she might be one of the reasons he was upset.
The feeling made her kinda mad. She hadn’t done anything – they'd had a great time last night. She liked the restaurant, the dancing, and his friend. She'd laughed more last night than she had in a long time. She'd felt morecomfortablethan she had in a long time. She'd woken up expecting today to be a great day, a continuation of yesterday. Clearly, though, that wasn’t going to happen.
Paige took a shower and got ready for the day as well, but when she emerged from her room, she found out Parker was still in his bathroom. Glaring at his door, she turned and went to do all her laundry before heading to the kitchen.
