Lie Until You Laugh

28- Attacks (Again)

He takes a deep breath and then starts speaking. “Okay well first off, I just want to make it clear that I don’t really care if you like me or not. I’m not trying to appeal to you, I’m trying to appeal to my sister and for that to happen, I have to appeal to you so that you can talk her into giving me a chance. Anyway, I’ll start with before you were even here, when Stella first started to hate me. It wasn’t because of Gianna though. It was because of her freshman year best friend, Carmen. Anyway, I dated Carmen for a little while but she wouldn’t put out, so I broke up with her. I realize that it’s not the noblest thing to do, but I would rather just break up with her than try to put her in uncomfortable situations. So yeah, I broke up with her and then she was really upset. Like, so upset that she dropped out and went back to her home town to go to school there. Stella was really mad at me and she wasn’t talking to me, so I tried to get her attention by dating Gianna. I was only going to stay with her until Stella started talking to me again, but she only got madder so then I started to get mad at her for being mad at me, so I stayed with Gianna. It wasn’t totally my fault. And then I went back to Gianna- just as friends though- after she still wouldn’t forgive me after I broke up with her just a little while ago. So yeah, just tell her that I’m really extremely sorry for being a dick and tell her that she should forgive me, but don’t tell her that I told you to tell her to forgive me. Got that?”

“Maybe she’d forgive you if you didn’t do something stupider after you do something stupid. Buy her something, become a decent human being or something. Don’t sneak into somebody’s dorm and have them do all of the work for you. Asshole,” I grumble with a tired eye roll. “You’ve pushed me into a wall, nearly drown me in a pool, and now you’ve almost given me a panic attack by breaking into my dorm room at… whatever ungodly hour it is right now and if you think that I’m going to help you win your sister’s forgiveness, you must be on some type of illegal drug or something.”

He glares at me and I decide that I should get him out of my room now, but I still don’t know how without getting out from under my blankets. “I’m not your biggest fan either, Red. And are you ever going to stop whining about the pool thing? I was still there, hiding behind one of the trees. If Brian didn’t go in and get you, I was there. It’s not like you were ever actually in danger of dying. It was just a prank.”

“I’m aware that you don’t like me,” I say. “And I’m also not asking you for any favors either. Get out of my dorm.”

“What if I don’t?” He challenges, stepping closer to the bed.

Quickly, I text a quick ‘help’ to Penn under the blanket so that Anthony doesn’t see it and then I get out of my top bunk, plopping onto the carpeted floor. I’m self-conscious of my short shorts and tank top, but he’s pissing me off and I want him out. “Just leave.”

“Not until you agree to talk to Stella for me,” He demands, continuing to glare at me and he takes a step closer to me and his fist is clenched by his side. He’s really irritated apparently, but that doesn’t make any sense because I’ve literally done nothing to him that wasn’t self-defense or something.

“Are you going to hit me?” I wonder with a laugh. “You go ahead and do that, Anthony. Won’t be the first and it won’t be the last so just go ahead and hit me. See where that gets you.”

He glares at me for a moment and seems to ponder what I’ve said and I’m holding my breath because I don’t want him to even try to hit me. I keep saying that I can kick his ass if I want to, but now that I’m standing face to face to him, he seems very large and I’m not so confident anymore. “Whatever,” He mutters before turning his back on me and going back to the door that he just broke into a little bit ago. Once he’s gone, I let out a shaky breath of relief and lean against the post of the bed. My knees are too weak to actually climb back onto my bunk, so I just stand there for a moment, closing my eyes and trying to regain my composure.