Given Time

♡9♡

Zara sighs.

"Yep, that sounds like something Tanner would do. He was a bit of a man-whore last year with the girls. Although... Are you sure that's why he did it? He could just secretly like you," she says teasingly.

I make a disgusted noise in the back of my throat as we take a right so that our building comes into view behind the trees. "Trust me. Even if Tanner ever had an ounce of romantic feelings toward me, I'd never get with him. I don't know if you know this, but he's not a really nice person. At least to me he's not."

Zara scrunches her face up. "What has he done to you to make you dislike him so much?"

"Where do I begin," I joke darkly.

For the next ten minutes, I tell Zara every story I can think of from my childhood that involves Tanner pissing me off in some way.

Seeing as I've known Tanner since we were little, I have to make sure I pick the best examples to show exactly why I don't like him. Every so often, Zara gasps or throws out an occasional cuss word in response to my memories of Tanner. Including the time he locked me out in the snow for an hour, deflating all the tires on my old car when I was trying to get to a summer job, and endlessly making out with my friends at parties.

"I think the worst thing he has ever done though, is the time he punched Shawn."

"You mean your ex?" Zara asks as we enter the building.

I nod my head in confirmation as we walk up the stairs to our room.

"It came out of nowhere. Shawn was just standing next to me when Tanner appeared from thin air and punched him square on in the jaw."

I shiver as I recall the noise of Tanner's fist connecting with Shawn's face. "He hit him with such force that Shawn fell to the floor."

I take a shaky breath as I remember how worse it could have gotten. "Then Tanner jumped straight on him and had his arm pulled back, ready to deliver another blow. Luckily, his friends showed up in time and pulled him off of Shawn before he could do any further damage."

Zara places her hands behind her head. "Fuck! I know that Tanner can have a short temper sometimes, but just fuck."

We're quiet for a couple of minutes while Zara processes this news. "Are you sure Tanner doesn't like you? That sounds like a guy who's jealous."

I roll my eyes. "For the last time, Tanner doesn't think of me that way," I say as I put the key in the door and push it open. "It was all to do with a fight they had on the ice earlier."

I swing the door shut behind us and collapse on my bed while Zara sits against her headboard. "Both our school hockey teams were playing against each other, and at some point in the game, they started fighting over a foul hit that Shawn apparently delivered to one of Tanner's teammates."

"Did he?"

I frown as I still don't know exactly what happened on the ice that day. "I actually don't know. I got bored with the game at that point and was on my phone when I heard the commotion on the ice. Shawn said one thing while Tanner said another.

"But everyone was certain that Tanner pushed Shawn first on the ice. That fact pissed me off, and when I saw Tanner at the after-party, I couldn't help myself when I threw my drink on him."

Now that I think about it, it wasn't one of my finest hours. But still, Tanner went too far that night when he punched Shawn over it.

Zara brings her hand to her mouth to stop the giggles from escaping. "Oh no. Poor Tanner."

"I do feel a bit bad about that part."

She rests her head in one of her hands and seems deep in thought. "Do you think you two could ever get past your differences? It seems Tanner is up for that idea."