Page 52 of Embracing the Beat
If nothing else, the attraction I feel for him is honest. Even when he’s being a bonehead.
“Would you please stop calling me that ridiculous nickname?” I growl, spinning around and crossing my arms over my chest to hide my body’s natural response to him. “It’s not my name.”
“I’ve called you that since we were kids,” he defends.
“I’m no longer a child, West. I grew up a long time ago.”
“But—”
“You know, for being so smart, you sure are pretty stupid.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
I close the distance between us again. “It means I’m attracted to you, dummy. And for you to ignore it, pretending it doesn’t exist by calling me by a nickname I had as a kid? It’s either your way of telling me you don’t feel the same attraction, or your way of telling me I’m somehow beneath you.”
“How do you figure that?”
I hold up a hand in response. “It’s not about thinking, West, it’s about feeling. And I’m tired of ramming my head against the brick wall you’ve erected between us. You wanna be friends? Fine. We’re friends. But I’m going to go inside, pal, and try to stuff all my feelings down, because I’m tired of them biting me in the ass every damn day.”
Spinning back toward the house, I ignore my name when he calls after me. I can’t keep fighting my attraction to him, and I refuse to defend myself over crimes I didn’t commit. Using my code for the garage, I let myself into the house and trudge up the stairs to my room. No sign of West, so he must have kept walking.
Good. Let him. Maybe then he’ll figure out the truth he needs to tell me.
MICHAELA: Boys are dumb.
MIA: Not Garrett.
MICHAELA: Mi! I need you on my side here, please.
MIA: Sorry, sorry.
MIA: Agreed, boys are dumb.
MIA: Better?
MICHAELA: Much.
MIA: Which boy is being the dumbest?
MICHAELA: West.
MIA: Uh-oh. What happened?
MICHAELA: He saw the video. And a bunch of other shit articles on the internet.
MIA: Oh, honey, I’m sorry.
MICHAELA: Then instead of asking me about it like a friend, he accuses me of being pregnant with Fucker’s kid.
MIA: That article was the worst! *eye-roll emoji*
MICHAELA: I hate it.
MICHAELA: Do you ever feel like you’re fighting a never-ending battle?
MICHAELA: Not only does the general public not believe me, but apparently a person I’ve known most of my life doesn’t either.
MIA: Do you think he could have been jealous?
