Page 255 of Ruin Me Gently

I shot him a look. “Thanks for the insight, asshole.”

“Hey, I’m not here for dick swinging tonight,” he said as he stood up again. “We gotta get out of here. Little Miss Genius has some big-deal chemistry thing tomorrow. And I’ll be on the sharp end of the stick if she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

Mia stood, brushing her hair back as she grabbed her textbook from the floor. On her way out, she paused beside Finn, bumping her fist against his. Then she stepped over to me.

“You good?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Liar,” she said with a smirk. “Just don’t let this mess you up, okay? Do the right thing.” Then she pressed a kiss to my cheek and shut the door behind her with a click.

“She’s right, you know,” Finn muttered, wiping his greasy fingers on his jeans.

I stared at the screen as it lit up again, Katie’s name still sitting at the top of my notifications.

It wasn’t like I didn’t like her. She was nice. Pretty, too. But it really was too much. She always seemed to be waiting for me to say something more,besomething more. I never promised her anything, never led her on. At least, I didn’t think I had.

But the way she looked at me? Like I was something bigger than I actually was? It made my skin crawl.

I didn’t want to hurt her. But I didn’t want to be this guy—the one dodging calls, making excuses, pretending not to notice the way she clung a little too tightly.

The phone buzzed again, and I shut my eyes, exhaling through my nose.

Finn snorted, breaking the silence, and tossed the basketball that had rolled back to him lightly against the wall before stretching with an exaggerated groan. “Gotta take a piss, bro.”

I gave a nod, chewing on a slice of pizza that suddenly tasted like cardboard.

As the door clicked shut, I sank back against the wall and grabbed the shitty Nokia off the nightstand.

Six missed calls.

Three voicemails.

I groaned. It wasn’t like she’d stop. If I didn’t answer, she’d just keep calling, keep reaching out, keep waiting for something I wasn’t sure I could give.

I hesitated, my thumb hovering over the voicemail icon.

The first message played, her voice light and cheerful.

“Hey, Si, it’s me! I’m walking over. I want to see you. I think we need to talk.”

I sighed. Of course she did.

The second message clicked on before I could dwell on it.

“Hey… actually, could you meet me maybe? It’s pretty dark out, and there’s this guy who—I dunno, it’s probably nothing. Just… call me back, okay?”

Then the third message started.

“Si, are you ignoring me again? Look, I just—”

A sharp yelp. My breath stalled.

“Hey, get off me! No—what are you doing?!”

The message cut out.

Silence.

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