Page 126 of Talk Nerdy To Me
A humorless laugh comes out of me, because I seriously can’t believe she’s acting like this.
“Is it really that fucking terrible to consider an actual relationship with me, Britt?” I ask her seriously, feeling sick at my stomach for even being made to feel like I’m somehow less than—
“No,” she says evenly.
Her eyes come up to meet mine.
“Then what’s really the fucking problem?!” I ask loud enough to cause her to wince and step back.
She exhales, and I can see she’s about to deliver some practiced fucking line.
“You celebrate how differently my mind works when you find it quirky and unimposing,” she says very calmly, which…isn’t what I was expecting. “Harley is grooming me to be her partner, because she sees the potential and admits I’m going to make her a lot more money. One day. But I’m not ready yet, so I’m paying my dues and working my way up. We’ll be excellent partners, eventually—”
“Why the fuck are you talking about Harley right now?” I interrupt, for once finding myself unamused with a Britt Sterling tangent.
Her lips tighten, and she takes what appears to be a fortifying breath before continuing.
“I’m still working on my issues that you claim need no work. You tell me to embrace my weirdness, yet you expect me to be normal when it’s inconvenient to you for me to be anything else,” she says so seriously that I take a few steps to the side.
“Britt, that’s not at all what I was saying. I just think you rely too much on the Sterlings and that entire group to tell you what to do.”
She nods like she understands that. “Maybe I do. Or maybe I don’t rely on their advice enough. Regardless, I still reserve the right to stay inside my comfort zone sometimes too. You won’t even put on a suit for a fundraising event that I helped coordinate, yet expect me to change things I’m incapable of changing. Attending to conflict takes preparation. Like I’ve now had. You’re too impassioned and strong-minded for me to contend with in an ill-prepared argument during an emotionally charged moment.”
“Again, you make me sound like a dick, Britt. I’ve never been anything but good to you. What makes you think I won’t work shit out? I just need you to talk to me about us instead of talking to everyone else first. It’s not so much to ask.”
“Statistically speaking, if there’s this large of a communication barrier between us so early on, the probability of us having any sort of healthy relationship is substantially low. I think, under the circumstances, this should be our last exchange so that things don’t escalate. It can only get worse from here.”
She jerks open her door and climbs inside. She’s the pinnacle of hot and cold.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t ready for a relationship yet. But it was almost great. You were right about that,” she says as she shuts the door and starts pulling out, never glancing at me again.
I watch her car until she takes the turn at the end of the road, and slowly walk back to my truck. Holy fucking hell.
Now I don’t even know if I’m right or wrong, and I knew one thousand percent that I was right until this second.
I slap a hand to the door, staring down for a second as I shake my head.
My phone rings, and I answer as I climb inside.
“What?” I grind out, not even glancing to see who’s calling.
“Hello to you too,” Tag states dryly.
I groan as I crank my truck that makes a few ominous noises before it’ll go into gear. If my damn engine explodes today, I wouldn’t even be surprised.
“Really bad time, man,” I say tightly as I finally get backed out of the driveway.
“I just got off the phone with your pathetic excuse for a manager, who called me to beg me to call Vince Jaggons before the band broke up.”
“Tray hasn’t been our manager for over a year,” I state dismissively.
“How bad did you piss off everyone you shouldn’t be pissing off?” he asks.
I punch the steering wheel at the stoplight and pull the phone away from my face as I take a few calming breaths.
“That bad, huh?” I hear him ask.
Lifting the phone back to my ear, I turn onto the next road before answering.
