Page 13 of Exrated
I can tell by the blank expression on his face something happened. “Taking a break?” I ask.
“Something like that. What about you? Are you in school?”
“Nope. Stopped going when I got that role…” I trail off praying to God he hasn’t seen that tape.
“Yeah, understandable.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, well, the not talking kind of silence because that damn headboard is still bumping against the wall pretty hard. Right now the she-bitch in me wants to make him regret losing me. I want him to want me and obsess over me the way he used to. I want to prove that I was right when I believed the love we had was an epic love, even if it goes nowhere.
He inhales. “I actually failed out of NYU,” he says before turning up his glass.
“That sucks.”
“Yep.”
And…silence again.
“Jemma. I never meant to, we—”
“So, what do you do now then? If you aren’t in school and all, I mean, this is areallynice house. You aren’t selling drugs or some shit are you?”
His lips lay flat across his face, and he exhales a low groan. “No, of course not.”
“Well, at least there’s that.”
“You know I—”
“So what do you do, Tyler?” I want him to stop trying to rehash the past because I am not going there with him. Hell, I don’t even want to be in his house right now, well, I mean, I kind of do, but I don’t.
“I work.”
“Where?”
He glares at me. “I’m a service provider for a multi-million-dollar company.”
I take another long sip of the liquor. My eyes stray to his lip ring. “When did you get your lip pierced?”
“A year ago.”
“I like it.”
“Thanks.”
And here we sit, slamming back about four shots worth of tequila. After a few moments of silence, a slow chuckle leaks from Tyler’s mouth.
“What?” I ask, turning to look at him.
“Remember the first time we had an argument?”
“Oh, don’t even go there. That was your fault!”
“You told me to do it.”
“You were older; you should have known better.”
His laugh deepens, and he tosses his head back against the couch cushion, dragging his hands down his face. “You wanted a bonfire.”
“Yeah, because you freaked me out with all those ghost stories and you said the only way to keep Frankenstein away was with fire. It made sense.” I fight a laugh because it sounds so ridiculous.
