Page 54 of Mostly My Boss
“I thought it would be better. I thought I would feel more… But I hated it.”
I tightened my arms around her and held fast. “I’m so sorry, baby. I wish you could have had rose petals and organs playing in the background. Not some drunken night with a guy who would leave you here on the bathroom floor. You deserve so much better.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” she said, pulling away, hiccupping in a way that was adorable. “He was trying to be nice, but I just wanted him to leave. I suppose that’s over.”
“Did you want to see him again?” I asked incredulously.
She shrugged. “He liked me. I liked being liked.”
I wasn’t sure why that bothered me, but it did. But I suppose if I was honest, the idea of Jules sleeping with anybody bothered me. Daniel was right. I didn’t want anyone else to have her, but I knew that was entirely for selfish reasons.
And because I wasn’t the world’s largest asshole, I had to accept that she would be with other guys.
I didn’t have to like it.
I reached over, pulled off some toilet paper and handed it to her so she could blow her nose.
“You should go. At least one of us should make it to class to take notes.”
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m okay now…just a little queasy. I think I’m officially over beer.”
And guys. I wanted her to be over beerandguys.
“I’ll take you for some greasy breakfast. Bacon is a known cure for hangovers.”
She nodded, then it was like she remembered something. “What about Nicki?”
“What about her?”
“She won’t get angry if it’s just us?”
I didn’t care if she did. In the pantheon of important people, Jules was miles ahead of Nicki. “I’m breaking up with her,” I said. The next time I saw her. And this time, I wouldn’t let her talk me out of it.
“Why?”
“Because…because it was stupid we were together in the first place. I don’t do relationships and I should have known myself better.”
“Why do you say that like you’re cursed with some disease? You could be in a relationship if you wanted.”
I shook my head. “I’m functioning without my meds. Barely, if my rage toward Lover Boy was any indication. A relationship, a real one, requires feelings and emotions and I try to keep those as under control as much I can. I was only dating Nicki because…”
“Because?”
This time I shrugged. “It was just easy. But it’s over next time I see her. Might mean we’ll have to spend more time hanging out in my room, but she’ll get over it.”
“She likes you,” Jules said quietly. “She says it all the time.”
That made me laugh. “She doesn’t even know me.”
“Because you won’t let her.”
“No,” I contradicted her. “Because I know if she actually got to know the real me, she wouldn’t like me. Five seconds with my OCD and she’d bail hard. What she likes is the image of me. Brilliant visionary and all that. I’m just a guy who looks good on her resume.”
“Should I remind you that you still haven’t come up with any grand ideas yet? I don’t know that you can call yourself a visionary until you do.”
I stood and pointed to her. “You have puke splash on your T-shirt and you’re callingmeout? Take a shower and be ready in ten minutes or I’m baconing without you.”
