Page 72 of How We Began

As it stands…

We met, had a bizarre attraction thing where we drove each other crazy and couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

He pissed me off. I ignored him.

Eventually, I decided not to be pissed off any more. We have a crazy attraction thing, drive each other crazy, and can’t keep our hands off each other. Then I pissed him off and he’s ignoring me.

It’s not the most mature behaviour I’ve ever come across.

As I hauled my sweaty out-of-breath arse up the stairs, I decided enough was enough.

I was going to have it out with him.

Except he was in the shower.

So instead, I sat on his bed in my sweaty clothes and waited for him to come back.

Ben showers like a girl and by the time he’d come out my anger had simmered down to a mere rolling boil. Mainly because I’d been distracted by Ben smelling T-shirts and was trying to work out how many I could feasibly steal before he moved away.

“What are you doing in here?” he demanded as I dropped the plain white T in my hand.

Yep, he wasn’t best thrilled to see me sitting on his bed.

“Waiting for you to get out of your girly shower.” I glared back him.

“Why are you glaring at me?”

“Because you piss me off. Why the hell are you ignoring me?”

He breathed a deep sigh and sat down on the bed next to me while I tried in vain not to look too closely at him, maintaining eye contact where possible because he was wrapped just in a wet towel and if anything is distracting in an argument, it’s that.

“I’m not ignoring you, Lilah.”

“Uh, yeah you are.”

He waved his hand to shush me. Rude much. “I’m not ignoring you, Lilah. I just don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

“What are you talking about? I thought things were okay between us.”

“Yeah, they were until you did the whole self-sacrificing thing with your dad the other day. Now I’m not so sure.”

“What do you mean ‘not so sure’? I don’t get it. I am just trying to help Tristan.”

“Yes, Lilah, but did you ever stop to think that maybe you don’t have to help and save people all the time?” He ran a hand through his wet hair.

My mouth flapped open.

“Tristan’s a big boy, Lilah. Big enough to get a girl pregnant, and he can deal with this.”

“How? He doesn’t even have a job and Dad was threatening to sell the flat.”

He looked at me like I was mad, which well, let’s be real, the jury is out on that. “Do you honestly think your brother doesn't have a job?”

“What do you mean? I know he doesn’t have one. Remember, I just spent December with him. He hangs around the whole time working out how to spend Dad’s money.”

“What? No, he doesn’t. He writes articles, lifestyle ones, which magazines pay lots of money for. You’ve just never bothered to ask him what he does.”

Pardon? My mouth, already gaping, could have stood in for a new entrance point to the Eurostar Tunnel. I didn’t even know he owned a computer. I couldn’t believe it, and I also couldn’t prevent the stab of jealousy that hit me when I realised he actually has my perfect job.