Page 107 of Chasing After You
“Seriously, Henry?”
My feet stumble underneath me as I quickly swivel my head to look anywhere but at her chest. “Fuck,” I swear, catching my balance.
“I think what you should be saying is, What the fuck? But don’t worry, I’ll say it for you since the only thing you can say is ‘I don’t know’. What the fuck, Henry?” she demands, resting her hands on her hips. Tom chuckles in the background, because I’m about to get my ass handed to me. “Are you going to say anything?”
“I don’t know what to say,” I reply. “They’re just right there, and I didn’t mean to look, but maybe I kinda did?”
“Je ne sais même pas quoi te dire! Tu es incroyable.”39
“Que veux tu que je te dise? Tu as de superbes seins?”40
I can feel all the blood drain from my face. I need someone to put me out of my misery, because I keep fucking up with her.
“Tu sais qui d’autre pense la même chose?Quinn,”41 she responds, and my blood roars. Her smile disappears as quickly as it appears. “You just proved my fucking point. You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me either. I’m only good enough for the fake girlfriend position, right?” Mirabelle hisses, and I definitely deserve that.
“That’s not it,” I say, forcing the words out.
Her mouth flattens, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “Then what?” If I tell her now, Mirabelle will think I’m only saying it because of Quinn. She won’t believe me. She shakes her head. “Let me guess, you don’t fucking know.”
I open my mouth to protest, but she’s already walking in the other direction like she owns the place.
~
Mirabelle’s at Quinn’s apartment.
A very,veryselfish part of me wants to text her to ask how it’s going, but I’d be torturing myself. I’ll find out how it went based on when she gets home.If she comes home tonight.
I hope she comes home tonight.
I continue watching replays from last week’s game, jotting down notes to build on what the coaches and I talked about in our meeting today. I figured I might as well be productive while I wait for her.
My phone rings on the table next to me, and I pick it up on the off chance that it’s Mirabelle calling. To my surprise, it is.
“Hello?” I say, immediately answering the phone, unsure if she meant to call me or not.
“God, I love your voice,” Mirabelle says, but I can barely hear her over all the noise in the background. I almost drop the phone in surprise.The only way this would make sense is if—
“Are you drunk?”
Mirabelle sighs, and I’m praying Tom is with her. “Maybe just a bit,” she admits, slurring her words enough to worry me.
“Do you have Tom or Quinn with you?” I ask, shutting my laptop as I grab my jacket.
“It did not go well with Quinn. I left before dinner was even over. So I came here, and had a couple drinks.”
Thank fuck it didn’t go well with Quinn, but where exactly is here? Why didn’t Tom wait until she came home to leave? Actually, never mind. Mirabelle was probably persuasive enough to convince him she’d be fine.
“Where are you?” I ask, slipping into my sneakers, snagging my keys. “Hello? Mira?”
“Henry?”
“Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”
“You are?”
Climbing into my car, I exhale, trying to keep my voice soft in the hope Mirabelle will be more inclined to tell me so I can get her out of there. “Mon cœur, I can’t if I don’t know where you are,” I say while pulling out of the garage, driving toward the gated exit of my neighborhood.God, what the hell happened at Quinn’s?
It takes her a moment to respond, kicking me into overdrive. “I like when you call me that, but it’s confusing if you don’t mean it.”
