Page 16 of Fireworks

She shook her head, rolling her eyes hard in my direction.

“You just take whatever you want and don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

I handed the remote back to her.

“Here.”

Rolling onto her stomach, she reached for something on the other side of the makeshift floor bed.

“I don’t need it. Just watch whatever you want.”

Sitting upright again, she held a book in her hands. One I had seen her read a dozen times before. It was one I had given her a few years ago for her birthday. My mother insisted every year I buy her something special. It was a no-brainer to get her books since she loved reading so much.

“You’re reading that one again?”

Her eyes shot up over the edge of her book. The agitation written all over her.

“Are you going to have a problem with everything I do today? Give it a rest already. You don’t need to stay here. I don’t need a babysitter. You probably have plenty of other things you could go do right now. Things that would be much more stimulating.”

She was so mad at me and I didn’t know what I had done to her. I wanted to ask, to know what made her hate me so damn much. I had done nothing to warrant the treatment she gave me. I knew nothing good could come of opening that can of worms. She was like a bomb waiting to explode and I didn’t know what kind of emotional shrapnel I would be deflecting.

It had been a little over an hour and she had rolled over onto her side, reading to herself quietly. Watching her immerse herself in her books was always captivating for me. The way her face would change from no emotion to a huge smile leading me to believe something good was happening always made me smile, too.

Her book had fallen in front of her when I realized her breathing was shallow and steady. She must have fallen asleep. I moved closer to pull the book out from under her face. Leaning my head back on the pillow next to her, I tried to imagine what she might dream about. Probably some fantasy world, like in her favorite books. Fighting with her was exhausting.

She truly was beautiful as she slept. Peaceful when she wasn’t yelling at me. God, I shouldn’t be looking at her like this. I needed to remember she hated me.

Closing my eyes, I wondered how much longer it would be before she didn’t talk to me at all. She would go away to college in a little over a month. Knowing her, the workload from her classes would completely consume her.

I still hadn’t told her I applied to graduate school. It never seemed like the right time to bring it up to her. I had only gotten the acceptance letter a few days ago for the school I applied to. I hadn’t even told Asher about it yet. It was safer, for now, to get my degree and become a psychologist than to have to explain to my mother why the only thing I wanted in life was to be a pilot, like my father.