I lick my lips. “You did fuck it all up.”
“Do you need me to apologize again?”
“No. You’ve apologized enough.” He has, over the years, every time we see each other and we’re left alone he apologizes and I’m tired of it. “We were kids and you were right.”
“About what?” He frowns.
“About not having room in your life for more than one love. You were right to break it off. Now look at you.”
“Mitch, we’re going to head out,” Jagger calls out. I glance over to see him and my sister standing and picking up the table.
“I’ll do that.” I brush past Mitch and walk over to them, taking what I can from Jagger’s hands and then my sister. “I’m sorry we couldn’t hang out today. I would’ve called out, but Arch needed someone to cover Austin’s spot.”
“Austin is the cute, nerdy guy?” Jo asks. “With the Pokémon card collection?”
“How do you know so much about this guy?” Jagger frowns.
“That’s the one.” I laugh. “He’s at a convention this weekend.”
“For Pokémon?” Jo blinks.
“Yep.”
“This is the guy you’re sort of dating?” she asks, as if I know a ton of Pokémon collectors.
“You’re dating someone?” Mitchell asks. “When did this happen?”
“I’m not.” I sigh and shoot my sister a look. “We’re not dating.”
“Last time we spoke about him you said you were going on a date.”
“Yeah, but that was a while ago.”
“Who is this guy?” Mitch asks. “The guy you took to the dinner?”
“Yes.” I glance over at him.
“He does have a mean card collection,” he tells Jagger.
“Does he have that rare Charizard?” Jag asks.
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“I’m sure Austin will be happy to know his collection is being discussed in such detail,” I say, walking back over to the counter to drop off the things in my hands.
“Are you really dating him?” Mitch asks, walking over to me.
“I’m not dating anyone exclusively.” I turn around and look at him. “I already told you that.”
“Oh fuck. This is our cue,” Jagger says, glancing at his watch. “If you want us to drop you off at the training facility, let’s go, bro. We need to head home.”
“I have to go.” Mitch looks at me. “See you at seven.”
I nod as my sister pulls me into a hug, and then say goodbye to Jag and Mitch again before going back to work.
Chapter Thirty-One
Mitch
Desperation. That’s what I feel crawling through me as the day goes on. I tried to exhaust myself of it during practice, but it’s no use. I cannot get her out of my head. At six thirty, I look in the mirror and take a deep breath. I got this. I walk out of my room and find that we have visitors. Normally, this doesn’t bother me. We’re allowed to bring anyone we want into our shared space, but Silvie is here with her friends and the last thing I need right now is to deal with her. Dylan looks at me and shakes his head, like he knows what I’m thinking and he’s regretful about it. I ignore him and them, and instead of saying hello and being courteous as I normally would, I grab my keys and walk out the door. I’m ringing Misty’s doorbell when the door to my apartment opens and shuts and Silvie shows up.
“You’re not going to even say hi?” she asks, obviously upset.
“Hi.” I look at the door in front of me again, hoping Silvie gets a clue and gets lost.
“I came here for you, you know.”
“I didn’t ask you to.” I look at her. The door opens beside me and Misty is standing there wearing wide leg jeans and a black shirt that stops just beneath her breasts. It takes me a second to regain my thoughts and pick up my jaw from the ground.
“I thought you weren’t the dating type,” Silvie says. Misty peeks her head out of her apartment and glances over at Silvie, who looks at her.
“Silvie.” I take a deep breath and exhale. “Please don’t do this right now. Just go back to your friends or mine and let’s call it a night.”
“He’s a fucking asshole,” Silvie says to Misty.
“Oh, I know,” Misty responds. “Which is why I don’t understand why you’re still chasing him. Move on.”
“Don’t tell me to move on.” Silvia blinks. “I do whatever the fuck I want. I’m just telling you he’s a huge asshole so you should save yourself the heartache.”
“Thanks for the tip, but he already broke my heart.” Misty smiles like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever said in her life and it fucking kills me. She meets my eyes. “You ready to go?”
I nod because I can’t get over any of it—not the fact that Silvie is trying to ruin this for me, not the fact that Misty looks like a fucking supermodel, and definitely not the fact that at least tonight, she’s going to be on my arm. I lick my lips and offer her my hand to take.
“Wow,” Silvie says, shaking her head. “Just wow.”
“Please leave it alone,” I say as I squeeze Misty’s hand in mine and we walk past her.
“You are a literal piece of shit,” she says loudly. “I regret wasting any of my time with you.”
She’s still screaming after me as we get in the elevator and take it down to the lobby.
“Sorry about that,” I say.
“It’s fine.” Misty takes her hand out of mine and I shut my eyes momentarily.
“It’s not.”
“I’m no one to judge,” she says as we step out into the lobby and head to the door. “You should definitely reconsider the way you treat women though.”
“The way I treat women?” I let out a laugh. “I treat women exceptionally well.”
“Yep, and it shows from the little scene I just witnessed.” She shoots me a look as we walk outside and I open the door of my car for her.
“I was always nice to her,” I say as I get into the driver’s seat and turn on the car. “I broke things off and she can’t seem to accept it.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have given her hope. She obviously thought there was room for more in your relationship.”
“What relationship? We didn’t have a relationship.” I shake my head as I drive to the restaurant.
“Some people would say we didn’t have a relationship either,” she says. “I mean, two whole months? Does that even count?”
“Stop.” I glance at her as I turn onto the street and park the car in front of the valet. “Do not compare what we had to me and Silvie.”
We get out of the car and I hand over my keys to the valet, who recognizes me and asks for a selfie. Even though I’m wound up from my conversation, I oblige and smile for the camera, as I always do.
“I guess you better get used to that,” Misty says when I reach her.
I don’t respond. Instead, I open the door to the restaurant, greet the hostess, and let her know we have a reservation. Thankfully, even though I know she also wants to say something from the way her eyes light up, she doesn’t and just seats us immediately. Maybe I have a don’t-fuck-with-me look on my face now. I hope I do. I want to sit down and settle this as quickly as possible. We sit, grab our menus, and look through them. I set mine down.