Earth Dragon

Chapter Nine

"You low-down, dirty, dumb, son-of-a-female-dog," I say because, while I gave up on trying not to swear, I can at least cut back on it a bit.

Mason's frowning at me from his position on the couch. It's the next morning and I'm just back from my sleepover with Courtney. "Who?"

"You!"

"Me? What did I do?"

"You kissed my best friend!" I know I'm shouting, but I don't give a shit. I hear the door down the hall open and think, great, now we have an audience. Because, of course, Simon has to be front and center for all my most embarrassing moments. "That's what you did."

"Danae—"

"No. Hell no. Don't you 'Danae' me. You cheated on me!"

Now he looks annoyed. "I didn't cheat on you. It was one kiss."

Simon groans and gives his brother a look that says he agrees with me that Mason is dumb.

"So, you admit it, then. Why, Mason? Why'd you kiss my best friend?" I'm totally egging him on at this point because—damn it—I want the truth.

He's holding on for as long as he can, but then he just kind of explodes with the secret he's been hiding from me for so long. "Because I knew she liked me and I knew I could. I knew—huh, thought—that she'd never tell you and risk your friendship."

"Wow." Just wow. Because, those little red flags I was thinking about a month ago, yeah. This is why I was worried about them. I knew something was up. I just fucking knew it. "You're an ass," I tell him and storm down the hall past Simon to my room and slam the door. Yeah, you're sleeping on the couch tonight, you worm, I think in the direction of the door before I sit on the bed and close my eyes to will the tears away.

Then I eavesdrop.

"You kissed Courtney?" Simon's asking with obvious amusement. Jerk.

Mason sighs heavily and I bet he's running his hands through his hair. "Yeah." He doesn't sound happy about it. Good.

"Why?"

"Really? You too?"

"No. I mean, seriously. Were you on drugs or something? Risking losing that?" His volume changes slightly and I think he must've turned to point towards my door. Why, thank you, Simon. I decide he might not be as bad as I think he is.

"How was I supposed to know she'd turn out to be so freaking amazing?" Mason asks petulantly and I want to run back out and pound on him for saying something so mean. Was he just playing with me all this time? Did he not take our relationship seriously? "It only happened once and it was nearly a year ago."

"You haven't done anything like that since then?" I listen even more intently. I desperately want to know the answer to that question. There's a pause and I'm pissed because the answer was non-verbal. "You're an idiot," Simon concludes and I hear him return to his room.

Damn. Does that mean he has done something like that since? I can't decide if the inflection Simon used means that Mason did or didn't do something else. Damn it, Simon. You couldn't help a girl out by getting details?

I'm still stewing about an hour later when a tentative knock sounds on the door. "Who is it?" I ask, all sweetly. If it's Mason, he should know that I'm still pissed.

"It's me. Can we talk?"

I get up and go to the door and open it to see a very apologetic Mason standing on the other side with a bouquet of flowers in his hands that he immediately pushes towards me. "No," I tell him and push him backwards to close the door in his face.