Page 61 of The Fine Line
“Not today?”
“Not ever,” I clarify. “But especially not today.”
“You can’t be seen with me ever?” he repeats, incredulous.
“Not ever, and especially not today,” I repeat. “Not when, thanks to you, a good chunk of today’s meeting will be abouthow to make people not think there’s anything going on between us.”
Rhett presses his tongue into the side of his cheek. “So we’re back to that.”
“Yes, Rhett, we are. Because I never left it. And I’m not going to. It was recorded and broadcast for the entire world to see.”
“I said I was sorry?—”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t just make it disappear. So if you’ll excuse me, I have to go clean up this mess.”
“Fine,” Rhett says, stepping into my path. “At least let me drive you home.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t need you to.”
“I know you don’t need me to,” he says. “I want to. Let me help you?—”
“You’ve helped me more than enough in the last twenty-four hours, Rhett. And besides, you’ll be late for practice.” I try to move past him, but he blocks me.
“I don’t care.”
“Of course you don’t,” I scoff. “Sorry, I forgot.”
I manage to step around him, but I don’t get far. His hand hooks around my elbow and spins me back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I exhale sharply. “Nothing, just drop it?—”
“No,” he says firmly. “Tell me. What did you forget?”
Frustrated beyond words, I blurt, “That you don’t care about anything!”
The silence that follows is heavier than before. Then, softly, he asks, “Is that really what you think?”
I don’t answer, and that’s enough for him.
“What else do you think of me, then?”
“I think life’s just a big game to you,” I say, myfilter gone. “And I’m not sure you care about anything beyond your next move.”
“My next move?”
“I think you like the challenge. You like showing everyone that you can conquer anything—or anyone. But at the end of the day, none of it matters to you. Every day is just another scene in the Rhett Sutton Show, and everyone else is just a side character. None of it’s real.”
Rhett narrows his eyes at me slowly, tongue tracing his bottom lip. “You want to talk about real?”
I pull back slightly. “Not really. But what do you have to say?”
He lets out a humorless laugh. “At least I let other people be characters in my show. Whatever game you’re playing, I know you can’t be having much fun. So why don’t you, for once, drop the poker face and stop trying to figure everybody out?”
