Rule No. 1: No Romance (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 11

"We aren't dating," I say quickly, sitting in one of the bar stools in front of her. "I'm just the head of the division Louise is an intern at, I'm here because I gave her a ride. Nothing else."

"Oh, so it's that kind of relationship," she says, giving me a side-eye.

I simply stare back at her, not knowing what to say to that. "No, there's no kind of relationship other than boss and intern."

"Precisely, boss and intern relationship."

"No."

"It's ok, Ms. Agacia—"

"Agassi."

"Ms. Agassi, I'm not telling anyone. I know my sister is an asshole and an idiot, has no manners, can't walk in a straight line, and doesn't know how to talk to women but she's... a great person."

"You don't even have good things to say about her," I chuckle.

"I said she's a great person," she grins, I'm sure she doesn't even believe it herself.

It doesn't take long for Louise to come back with the very specific six potatoes, the cheese and a bottle of some kind of orange soda. "What were you two talking about?" she groans, placing the grocery bag on top of the counter. "Whatever she said, it isn't true."

"That's too bad, she was really trying to sell you to me," I say, immediately watching her face go from annoyed to flirtatious and then back to annoyed when both Claire and I laugh at what I said.

"Ugh, great," she murmurs, giving us her back and walking down a corridor that I'm guessing leads up to her room and then coming back with her hands on her waist. "Actually, you come with me, I don't trust you two together."

"What are you afraid of?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows. "I'm having a great time with Claire, she's the only teen that I don't immediately hate."

"She'll ruin my reputation."

"What reputation?" Claire butts in.

Louise simply grabs my arm, taking me with her through the corridor she came from. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm going to show you my turtle," she says, opening a door to the right, there were two others, one on the opposite side and one at the end of the corridor that I'm guessing must be the bathroom. "I have to feed it."

"Why? Are you so scared to leave with your sister that you'll show me your pet?" I laugh.

"Shut up."

I take in her room the moment she turns on the light, her pajamas are scattered across her badly made bed but other than that it looks clean or at least superficially organized. "Or was this an excuse to take me to your room?"

"You're too smart, aren't you?" she says in an amused tone, opening the lid of a large tank that pretty much took the whole length of one of the walls.

"How many of them do you have in there?"

"One," she says, taking a tiny turtle out of the tank, showing it to me.

"That's a really big tank for such a small turtle, you know that right?"

"She'll grow bigger," she says trying to hand it to me and it took everything in me to not swat the poor thing away. "She won't bite."

"Are you sure? She's literally trying to bite you right now."

"It won't hurt."

"I'd rather not," I say, taking a step back. It has a cute face but I have the impression that turtles are slimy and have the texture of lizards. Some animals are beautiful to watch, but not to touch, like fish — I'd never touch a live fish. "What's her name?"