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The whole situation was strange. She hadn’t been confused about what she had seen – Parker had looked upset. The Carl guy had noticed it, too. So she wasn’t crazy or drunk.
And Parker had never talked to her the way he had tonight. His tone of voice was one she would use on an annoying sibling, or an annoying drunk friend, of which she was neither. She really wanted to go out and tell him exactly what she was thinking about him.
She frowned. Last night had been so fun. Tonight had been so shitty. Here she was, sitting on a toilet, thinking up different ways to chew out Parker. Which she didn’t even really want to do. She just didn’t want him to be weird with her anymore. She sighed and figured there was no saving the night, it had been pointless to try. They should have stayed in and Parker could’ve slept it off. Now they were stuck in a shitty bar, in shitty weather, with shitty attitudes. Time to cut their losses.
She slowly made her way out of the bathroom. Biting her tongue was not her style, so she hoped he would later realize the monumental effort it had taken for her not to tell him to go to hell. She let out a deep breath and rounded the edge of the pool table, looking for him.
His game seemed to be over. Only the cue ball remained on the table, a cue stick discarded next to it. He was leaning back against the table, his arms crossed. He was smiling down at a very tiny, very curvaceous girl in front of him. He'd barely smiled at Paige all night, and now he was grinning down at some slutty pixie? Paige took another deep breath and counted to ten before walking up next to him.
“Hey, can we talk?” she asked, ignoring the pixie.
He turned to her, his smile fading away.
“Sure,” he said. The girl in front of him scowled before turning to Paige, her hand outstretched.
“Hey, I’m Katie! I was just talkin’ to your friend here,” Katie said with a thick Texan accent, pasting a huge fake grin on her face. Paige glanced at her.
“That’s nice. I want to leave, he’s my ride,” Paige explained, looking at Parker. He nodded. Katie stuck her bottom lip out.
“Oh, pooh, the night is still young, y’all! C’mon, let’s have some drinks and your friend here can tell me more about y’all’s trip! He said you’ve been drivin’ cross country, that sounds amazin’,” Katie laughed. Paige finally turned towards her.
“Look, you seem like a very sweet girl, but I'm having areallybad day, so please, why don’t you scoot back to your friends, and let me talk tomyfriend,” Paige asked, trying to keep the edge out of her voice, but failing miserably.
“You said your girlfriend wasn’t here,” Katie suddenly snapped at Parker, putting a hand on an ample hip.
For some reason, this pushed Paige over the edge. For the past week, she'd struggled to say and do the right things. She'd been nice and courteous, she'd been thoughtful and kind. She'd bitten her lip when she'd wanted to spit venom. She'd controlled her temper when it had been boiling. Well, now it was officially boilingover.
“Look,” she hissed in a low voice, leaning down to the girl. “I’m here now, sofuck off.”
“You don’t scare me, bean pole. Just calm down,” Katie snickered.
Calm down.
Paige bristled like a cat – she could almost feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She went to step forward, but she felt a hand grab her arm. She was surprised to see Parker holding onto her. He was shaking his head.
“Let’s just leave,” he suggested.
If that had been it, she would've happily walked out the door with him. His voice had a magical effect on her. She would've ignored the little pixie in front of them like she hadn’t even spoken, didn’t even exist, and just walked out. But at that same moment, a shadow fell over them. Paige looked over to see a giant of a dude standing in front of them.
“These guys bothering you, Katie?” the big guy asked, his voice deep. His skin was a ruddy color and his eyebrows so light blonde, they were hard to see at first. He had his hat on backwards and was wearing a Texas A&M shirt. Paige couldn’t imagine facing him on a football field – she would just hand over the ball and skip away.
“Just some rude east coasters, Ronnie. This guy was hitting on me and his girlfriend got all upset,” Katie whined. Paige’s eyes bugged out of her head.
“What!?” Parker exclaimed, a laugh in his voice. A&M Ronnie didn’t find anything humorous.
“You hittin’ on my girlfriend?” he asked in his baritone voice. Parker held up his hands.
“I wasn’t hitting on anybody, I’m here with her,” he said, gesturing to Paige.
“What a lying bitch! He wouldn’t hit on you if you paid him to!” Paige shouted. Parker glared at her.
“Shut up.”
“You watch your language around me, I am aChristian!” Katie declared. Paige burst out laughing.
“Yeah, andI'ma devout nun,” she cackled. Katie surprised her by reaching out and swatting her arm.
Paige groaned internally.
