AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m still annoyed. You were having a great time with your family and had to drop everything to come babysit me. I was fine.”
“Fine or not, we were going to come back. That’s what you do for your friends—your family—and no one thinks being here for you is babysitting.”
“I shouted at him. It’s just that everything he does, he does it in the dumbest way imaginable. As if he wants to be irritating.” I clench my hands, my stomach burning, my anger its oxygen.
“I know, I know. Don’t write him off, Ainsley. You two were getting on for a while there.”
“For five minutes, I didn’t want to kill him.”
“There we go. Hold onto those five minutes.”
“Is that how you get through it?”
He laughs and tops up my glass. “Pretty much. He’s a good guy. I trust him with my life… and yours.”
“Okay, he was amazing when the break-in happened. He got over here so fast. Here I was thinking he would cheer the robber on.”
I regret it as soon as I’ve said it.
“I take that back,” I say before Reggie can scold me. “It was unfair, and I didn’t mean it.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about him.”
I would imagine so since he gives me so little. “He opened up a bit about his childhood. Well, about his parents being busy, anyway.”
“Maybe if you can refrain from shouting at each other, you’ll learn more.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
Reggie rolls his eyes and quickly changes the subject.
* * *
Casper’s car pulls up just before midday. I know that because I’ve been playing stalker for the last hour. He parks in his driveway, even though the loose bricks still haven’t been fixed. So now I don’t know what that parking in our drive bullshit was all about.
My intention is to make amends… or at least clear the air so we can be in the same room as our friends and it not be too weird for them. Reggie was right: if we tried to be civil, we might find some common ground.
Casper looks up when I open the front door.
“Hi,” I say, crossing my drive to his.
His posture is tense—back straight, mouth turned down. I don’t think he’s happy to see me. “Hello, Ainsley,” he says formally, void of emotion. This will be fun.
“Reggie said you were away for your friend’s stag.”
“Did he?”
I bolt of irritation spikes down my spine. “Casper, come on. Can we start again? Again, again, again.”
Fighting a smile, he walks around his car and stops right in front of me, his footsteps loud on the ground. If I was walking alone and heard them, I’d be scared. He looks tired with slight stubble growing across his jaw.
“How manyagainsdo I get?” he asks.
“Why, how many more times do you plan to piss me off?”
Smiling, he replies, “I very rarely plan it. It seems to be my signature move with you.”
“You should work on that.”
