TMI-Deleted Scenes

TMI - Deleted Scene - Chase hates the museum

Chase’s feet were practically crying while he stood in the long line in the gift shop. He’d never complain, all too happy to let Megan drag him from exhibit to exhibit. And Megan had. Often. To his astonishment, he actually thought some of the art was decent. But a lot of it was no big deal. 

He picked up a Cooper Union brochure from a stand by the register, skimmed it while he waited. Art school, he sniffed. He’d said the same damn thing but got shot down. Ryder says it and suddenly, it’s Meg’s greatest ambition. He tried not to let that annoy him, but failed. She never even met this guy —

He put a stop to his stupid immature thoughts. She’d kept asking him his opinions, hadn’t she? At first, he figured she was doing that purposely to piss him off. But then it finally dawned on him that she really wanted to hear what he thought. She’d never asked for Bailey’s opinions — only his. He tried to be cool about it but damn, it meant something. When they’d reached the clock painting, he had to admit, it was kind of cool in a sick and twisted way.

Maybe Dali was nuts. He’d do some research when they got home, see if he could impress her again with tales from Dali’s life. Chase didn’t know much about Dali — other than the dude had a really serious mustache problem. He swallowed back a laugh, amused that he was planning to do homework, for God’s sake, just to impress a girl. If the guys ever found about that, they’d razz him for the rest of his life.

Luckily, none of the guys were here. It was just the three of them — okay, four, since it was obvious Ryder was there in spirit. He imagined how much that must be torturing Megan right now and rolled his eyes.

“Can I help you?” The cashier — finally — addressed him with a polite raise of her eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’d like to have this sent as a gift.” He handed her the poster he’d picked out, plunked down the cash and gave the woman Megan’s address. Twenty minutes later, he spotted the girls just as Bailey flipped open her phone to read a text.

She didn’t see the way Megan’s mouth thinned into a tight line, but he did and it put a hitch in his stride. He hadn’t noticed it before, not really. Megan was jealous. She was so jealous, she was practically dripping in green paint.

He smiled wide.

He could work with jealous.