Page 75 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
She gapes, shocked as if he’d slapped her. Did he really just say that? “I’m done,” she snaps. “Donewith you.”
He smiles without humour. “The feeling’s mutual.”
Now she really does feel like he slapped her. She whirls and grabs the doorknob. “Good!”
“Fine.”
“Fine!” She slams the door shut behind her.
She stalks up the stairs, her heart thundering with rage and eyes burning with tears she doesn’t understand. When she reemerges on deck, the bright sunlight almost has her recoiling. She’d forgotten it was still the middle of the day. She shields her eyes and, as her vision adjusts, notices people staring.
She drops her hand and ignores them all on her way off the boat.
TWENTY-ONE
***
The worst thing about dramatically running away is that she has to come back eventually.
When she gets a single text from Piper that Northridge’s shuttle has arrived, she skulks back to the waiting area and joins the line, keeping her eyes trained on the ground, trying not to feel paranoid that people are staring.
She glances up and finds Angela Stevens hastily looking away. Okay, so she’s not being paranoid. Ofcourseeveryone is talking about this. It’s going to be hot gossip for ages.
She could kick herself. Was it really worth it to get back at Liam if she had to lose Charlie? If she’d known he still had feelings for her... but she had been sosure. She’d seen his discomfort as disgust that day in the library because that was the only reaction to her happy trail she could imagine. But apparently she was wrong.
It doesn’t matter now. He said it himself—he’s done. Not because she’s hairy, but because she’s a total bitch.
Chandani steps beside her, hip-checking a few people aside in the process. TJ braces herself for an interrogation, but she doesn’t acknowledge her while they’re in line. Once they get on the bus, though, Chandani drops into a seat at the front and pats the spot next to her. TJ gives her a confused look. Chandani raises her brow meaningfully at the bus driver, who’s blaring his personal radio loudly.
It proves to be the right choice. Everyone else goes to the back of the bus, or as far back as they can get. But Piper clambers into the seat behind them, propping her chin on the top of the seat, apparently having disentangled herself from Jake for the sake of gossip. They’re silent until the bus pulls onto the highway. Once the music and engine are loud enough to rattle their eardrums, Chandani speaks.
“He kissed you like he’s done it before.”
TJ swallows. Hard. “So you saw?”
“Of course I saw. I was looking for you. And there you were, taking my advice to jump Charlie Rosencrantz, except in broad daylight—”
“Shut up!” TJ casts an anxious glance around. Piper giggles.
“Everyone knows, TJ. It’s not a secret anymore. Give us the details.”
“It’s not a— There was never anysecret,” TJ sputters. “We were never a thing. We’ll neverbea thing. He was being an asshole, just now.”
“Right.” Chandani sounds wholly unconvinced. “How so?”
“He told me to get some self-respect!” TJ hisses, then hesitates. It’s time to come clean. Quietly, she relays the whole story, leaving nothing out, including the first kiss. Piper’s eyes are round as saucers. Chandani looks, if possible, even more unimpressed.
“He’s not wrong about you being pathetic. You messed up what sounds like the best makeout session of your life, and for what?”
TJ groans and sinks lower in her seat. A part of her is wondering the same thing. But even though it was perhaps aslightoverreaction, there was a reason why TJ had to slam the door on him. Why she’s always slamming the door on him.
She hesitates. And then it comes out in a rush: “I don’t want to set unrealistic expectations for my love life. I just know there must be a part of him that doesn’t like how I look. There’s no way there isn’t. And I can’t handle the suspense of waiting until the day he proves it.”
The look on Chandani’s face is comical. Piper frowns. TJ shakes her head. Her greatest fear sounds so ridiculous out loud. “Never mind. It’s over anyway.”
Chandani snorts. “Don’t you still have a debate with him?”
TJ shoots her a dirty look even though she’s right. She picked a fight with Charlie at the worst time, with Nationals just weeks away. Hopefully things will cool down, but the anger etched in his face when she left doesn’t seem likely to just disappear.