LIABILITY (GxG)

CASE 12

"Can you stop acting weird?"

I pursed my lips into an awkward line, remaining seated on the bathroom counter as Fenix tended to my bloody knuckles.

"How am I being weird?" I defensively questioned.

But even I knew the answer already.

Ever since the blood on my face incident happened a little over thirty minutes ago—I had been anticipating Fenix to say something about it.

Stiffening whenever she so much as breathed—waiting for the moment when she demanded answers.

It was so unconscious and programmed into me that I didn't even realize I had been obviously doing it until Fenix said something.

Fenix looked away from the bandage that she was carefully wrapping around my hand—meeting my eyes with a knowing stare of her own.

And suddenly I felt like a child who had been caught red-handed.

The silence grew around us as we unconsciously held one another's stare—and even if it should've felt uncomfortable, it somehow didn't.

Finally, Fenix broke her eyes away from mine, staring back down at my hand that she carefully finished wrapping.

"I'm not going to ask you about it."

I stared up at her, carefully analyzing her face as she stared down at my hand that she was focused on.

I felt entirely caught off guard by the straightforward statement—it was hard to figure out what to say next.

And Fenix clearly knew that, especially when she met my stare again and said, "I mean, you assuming I care about your weird baggage after you slapped me and almost threw up in my car is such an egotistical move for you."

I unconsciously smiled, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Her words sounded so harsh and mean, but the small smile etched onto her smeared red lips told a completely different story.

"Who said I thought that?" I questioned her, raising a sharp brow before I said, "I just find it weird that you're bandaging up the hand that I used to slap you with."

Fenix laughed—and the sound alone made my heart skip a beat.

It was practically enough to make me go into cardiac arrest.

The genuine sound was so rare—yet so beautiful and it managed to consume me entirely.

It made me want to quit my day job and pursue a career as a comedian—hoping to somehow make her laugh again.

"Stop looking at me like that," Fenix said as her laughter died back down, giving me a narrowed look that I couldn't possibly take seriously with the smile on her lips.

Her lips that I...

I blinked a few times when I felt my stare unconsciously divert to her lips.

Feeling the need to cover up my obvious stare, I said, "Well, it's kind of hard when you have lipstick smeared all over your lips," I said, hoping it gave a good enough reason for my open stare.

Fenix raised a brow when I reached my thumb up to her lips, wiping the stray lipstick from the edges of them.

"You look ridiculous, Ellis," I said, trying to keep my tone light when all I could think about were her lips that I was now wiping lipstick from.

The events from earlier in the night easily passed through my head—especially with the smeared lipstick that resulted from them.

Fenix dramatically scoffed, "Oh, so now you want to steal my lingo?" she questioned.