Page 8 of Running Into The Grump

She was fucking beautiful like that.

The anger that was shimmering under the surface made her eyes lighter and it was something like I hadn’t seen before.

Even for being a bigger woman, Jacqueline was beautiful, though she never allowed anyone else to see that. In fact, for as long as I’ve known this woman, she’s never worn her hair down, and it was today.

With a mental shake, I fought to lose those thoughts. They were unwanted and certainly not needed now, if ever.

This woman was a fireball that I didn’t want in my life.

“You’re such a prick, Jackson,” she muttered, storming past me and picking another path. I waited for a beat before nodding.

“Yup, I am,” I muttered, picking a different path to walk down.

Minutes later, I made another turn, frowning as I could have sworn I was just in this spot. I turned around, looking at the ground and then the places around me.

“What the actual fuck,” I muttered, walking back onto a path. “This place is totally great for a horror show.” With a grunt, I made another turn, seeing people and then almost jumped for joy. I tried to follow them, stopping short at the piles of hay before me. I couldn’t climb over them, which means I still didn’t have a way out of here.

I did an abrupt turn, grunting as a body collided with mine, knocking us both on the ground. I lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky as the clouds twisted and rolled by.

There was no doubt to me who that was that ran into me. It was just my luck today.

“I guess fate is being extra cruel to me today,” she told me. I turned my head to look at her.

“Didn’t think your clothes got soaked?”

She blushed slightly and then shook her head.

“I am sorry about that. I really didn’t mean to.”

“I know.” I threw my arm over my eyes. “I saw the people and thought I could get out.”

“Me too,” she muttered, finally sitting up. “This is like the worst damn maze I’ve ever been in.”

“Or the best one if we can’t get out.”

I finally stood up, helping her up as well.

“Do you think we should try to work together to figure out how to get out of here?” she quietly asked.

You know those moments that are really good and you should answer correctly but instead, you answer like a jackass because you’re just dumb?

Yeah, that was now.

“Together? Why? So, you can keep bumping into me?”

She brushed her skirt off after she stood and glared at me.

“I swear Jackson, I am going to stop running into you, because you are not just a prick, but the biggest jerk and grump, with the biggest damn chip on your shoulder. Grow up already.”

With that, she walked off, her hair blowing in the breeze.

She wasn’t wrong, though.

I was a grump, and I did have a chip.

And no words she could utter would change that. Not now, or ever.

I had the chip there well before I left this town, and she knew it. It just grew since my ex left.