Page 15 of The Breakaway

I recoiled as if he'd slapped me. "Screw you."

"You wish." His lip curled.

And that’s when I lost it. I already looked like a mess, and I didn’t give a rat’s ass whether Rob thought I was insane. Or respectful. “Get thehellout of my washroom.” I flung the door wide. I didn’t know what kind of power play he was trying to pull, but I was not having it. I would not allow him to intimidate me and?—

“I couldn’t use mine because there’s a leak.” He dried his hands on my towel.

My mouth was already open to hurl curse words that would’ve made my grandfather proud, when I processed what he’d just said. My jaw snapped shut, and I sucked in a breath.

He turned as if he wasn’t staring at a splotchy, smeared mess of makeup and tears, leaning his hip against the counter. “There was a puddle on my floor. A big one. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, so I called Logan’s dad. He told me not to use anything in there until they could come check it out.”

My shoulders slumped as the rage fire and adrenaline began to ebb away, leaving behind a throbbing headache and a sadness that seemed to coat my bones. Rob grabbed a box of tissues from the counter and thrust them at me. I snatched them and stepped back into the room, dropping onto my bed. I blew my nose, the reality of the situation sinking in. "So, we're going to have to share a washroom until it's fixed?"

Rob walked out after me, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Looks like it." He glanced back at the washroom. “Do I have to wear a shirt while I shower, too?"

I rolled my eyes, too drained to come up with a witty retort. Of course this would happen. Seconds after dropping Lucas off at the airport, and already the shit was hitting the fan. My body felt like a wrung-out dishrag, and the prospect of navigating a shared washroom with Rob made me want to scream into a pillow.

I jumped when the phone started to ring from the kitchen.

"Bet that's the plumber now.” Rob stalked out of my room, and I sagged, dropping sideways onto the mattress. I groaned involuntarily and allowed myself to wallow for fifteen seconds before forcing myself up and into the washroom.

I replaced the tissues and washed my face, taking in my red-rimmed eyes and puffy cheeks and lips. Fantastic. I looked like I’d run face first into a beehive.

I dried my skin and braved the kitchen. It didn’t really matter. Rob had already seen me. I found him leaning over the counter, the phone cord stretching from the wall as he scribbled on a notepad.

He glanced up as I entered, his dark eyes unreadable. "Uh-huh. Yeah, got it. Thanks."So he could be amiable when he wanted to be.He hung up and tossed the notepad onto the counter. "A guy’s coming tomorrow to assess the damage."

"Okay.”

"And... he's not sure how long it'll take to fix." Rob leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms. "Could be a couple of days, could be a week. Depending on if he has the right parts."

I deflated like a punctured balloon.A week?Sharing a washroom with Rob for a whole week? It may be worth sharing a bed with Maddie. I wasn’t insured on Logan’s truck, and he hadn’t exactly offered it to me for general use. But he wouldn’t mind too much, would he? But if I got in an accident?—

"I leave after you do for class. Shouldn’t be that big of a deal.” Rob knocked his knuckles on the counter.

That was . . . actually a good point. I nodded. “Okay.” I could survive this. I didn’t really have a choice, so I was going to have to suck it up and deal. It wasn’t his fault that his washroom wasn’t working even if it sucked balls.

Rob ran a hand through his hair, then walked the opposite way around the island so we wouldn’t accidentally share the same air. “Okay.” His steps slowed so minutely as he passed me, I wondered if I imagined it.

When the door clicked shut to his room, I finally let myself fall apart.

_____

After two hours and three cycles through the mix tape, I was all cried out. I wanted to commandeer the couch and watch reruns of Degrassi or Maury. Really anything that would remind me that my life was, in fact, not the worst. But the idea of Rob walking past and seeing me being pathetic was enough for me to stay locked in my room until rehearsal.

By then, my face was mostly back to normal. I looked tired, but with concealer and blush, I at least passed as not a corpse.

Caleb and Lily knew what day it was. They brought me a box of Timbits, which brightened my afternoon more than they could’ve imagined, and when I walked out the front doors of the Rosza Arts Centre, Maddie and Crystal were there waiting for me.

My jaw dropped, but before I could say anything, their arms were linked through mine and they were dragging me the opposite direction of home.

“We’re going for burgers,” Maddie informed me. “I parked in the student lot.”

Somehow, new tears pricked my eyes. “You guys?—”

“We know. We’re the best friends in the world.”

I laughed and cried, telling them everything about Logan’s departure, including the leaking washroom and the current hellscape of sharing a toilet with Rob.

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