Stars Landing [Book 3]

Chapter 24 - Sweet & Sour

Tegan waited to hear the jerk's reply.

"She's a wildcard," Christian answered. "I feel like I should warn Ahmad about her."

"You're fucking unbelievable," Sera was headstrong, reflecting Tegan's temperament. She rummaged through her purse and pulled out a pen. She walked over to the winker and took her available hand. "Tegan, what's your number?"

Tegan struggled to disclose it. "You don't have to go that far," she told her friend. "Let's just get out of here please."

Sera pulled out her phone, looked up Tegan's number herself, and wrote it out on the winner's arm. It was kind of embarrassing. Tegan couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with the posse, or Christian Lu who was looking angrier by the minute.

-

The air in the rented vehicle was constricting, making Tegan feel both uncomfortable and indifferent. Sera was still talking to the sketch master outside. The winker and his followers lingered nearby and waited for the drama to end. Christian was in the driver's seat, occasionally glancing back at Tegan to make sure she intervene on Sera's discussion with 'his client'. She honestly couldn't decide whether or not she should be angry at the jerk or not. It was starting to exhaust her. She felt like she was trapped in a vicious cycle, that any time Christian stuck his nose in her business, it only made her resent him more.

"Can I ask you something?" Tegan said, locking eyes with him in the rear view mirror.

Christian stirred in his seat. "What?"

"Can we be friends?"

There was a small pause. "I don't want to be friends with you," came the slow reply. "I think I have made that very clear."

"Right," Tegan nodded. "But I don't think I care anymore about what you want, I'm telling you that this is something we should consider. We aren't sleeping together, we aren't dating, but you keep acting like a boyfriend. It's really starting to rub me the wrong way. I want to get past this and move on, you know? Since our best friends are dating, I can't just walk away and ask people to choose sides."

"You don't want to be my friend," Christian reminded. "You want more, you always have."

Tegan shook her head. "I don't want anything from you anymore. I'm at that point where being with you makes me feel uncomfortable and awkward. I can't get my point across. I can't ask you not to touch me, I can't even get mad at you for being a jerk because I'm so exhausted by us."

Christian cleared his throat. "So you want to be friends and move on?"

"Yes," Tegan said. He looked so hurt, it was making her heart shrivel up like a raisin, but she had to ignore it. There was no point delaying the inevitable, they couldn't force their stars to align together. "Can we do that?"

"I don't know how to explain myself to you," Christian said. "I'm sorry for hurting you, I really am. It was a jerk move and I will be the first one to admit that I should not have slept with you when I knew you weren't that type of girl. And despite that, I don't regret it a single bit, Tegan. I enjoyed being with you, even before that, before you decided to take care of Wicked for me. I really liked having you around. You made things interesting and fun. Maybe it was a challenge at first to see how far I could push your buttons but it didn't stop there with you."

"But none of that matters if you can't be with me," Tegan said, her eyes glistening.

He sighed and stared at the wheel. "I want to be with you, I really do. It's just I can't right now. You should be with someone who can commit themselves to you."

"Then why do you get so angry when other guys flirt with me?" Tegan asked. "You think I deserve better, but then you are selfish and don't let me have a chance with anyone else. I thought it was only with Scotty at first, but even with the winker, you were being so protective."

Christian nodded. "That is something I need to work on. You're right."

"Can you work on it faster?" Tegan asked. "Is this really fair to me?"

Sera's abrupt entrance into the car cut the conversation short. Christian quickly placed both his hands on the wheel. "Get me the hell out of here."

"Did you cave?" Tegan asked her friend as Christian drove the rented vehicle out of the parking lot.

"I did not cave," Sera huffed putting on her seatbelt. "I will say that Lance and Christian here keep themselves in very poor company. After that guy was done taking your number Tegan, he asked me for mine. I was like seriously?"

"No," Tegan gasped. "Really?"

Sera rolled her eyes. "What a waste of an afternoon."

"Now you know why I was trying to make sure he didn't get close to Tegan," Christian said. "They are good guys but not when it comes to women."

"You're one to talk," Sera spat. "No offense buddy, but you should not be going around deciding who is good enough for Tegan and who isn't. Especially when the entire world can see how you look at her."

Tegan kept her comments to herself.

"How do I look at her?"

Sera shook her head. "If you need me to tell you that then you're dumber than I thought. And you can tell Lance to lose Harry's number? I will never agree to sing with him. He is a chauvinistic, arrogant, and self-righteous asshole."

"What exactly did he do to you?" Christian inquired.

"I want to know too," Tegan raised her hand.

Christian was dumbfounded. "You don't know either and you were all up in his face about how he hurt Sera? Really?"

"That's how friendships work," Tegan stated.