"Are you going to tell me yet what's wrong with you?"
It had been nearly a week since Brantley and I had argued, and the two of us hadn't spoken since. We hadn't so much as looked at each other. Whenever we ran into each other, we acted like the other person isn't in the room. We had a stiff way of ignoring each other.
Callie, Rose and I were eating breakfast at the diner that she worked at, and I stifled a laugh. She had been prying for the past six days, trying to get me to talk about it. But I didn't want to talk to her about her brother.
"Nope," I said, shaking my head as I put some creamer in my coffee.
"Does it have to do with Brantley?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at me.
I leaned back in the booth, taking a drink of my coffee.
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"Because we've talked about everything, Kennedy. Everything. But when it comes to this, you haven't made a peep. I can only make one conclusion," She said smugly, her tone matter of fact.
"I don't want to talk you about your brother, Cal. It's weird," I said, wrinkling my nose at her.
"Did he do something stupid? Do you want me to kick his ass? Because I can. He won't hit me," She offered. I giggled.
"No, no. It's nothing like that. Brantley and I are just better off having nothing to do with each other."
"Does it have something to do when you kissed at that party?" She asked. I blushed.
"I don't know how you know about this, but no, it doesn't," I shook my head at her, laughing. "Can we drop this?"
Callie raised her hands in a mock surrender.
"Okay, okay. Let's drop it. So what's up with that girl Mia?"
I fumbled over my words, wanting to change the subject as fast as possible. So, instead, I turned may attention to Rose. I had thought about our fight enough over the past seven days, and I didn't want to talk about it.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"She seems kind of...Off. I don't know. She doesn't seem like she likes me."
"Mia is an acquired taste. I'll ask her if she has some sort of problem with you."
"I don't exactly trust her."
"She's always been a pretty good friend to me," Rose said, almost defensively. She hid it with a smile. Rose slid a hand across the table, covering my own. "Give her a chance. For me?"
My heart melted a little bit. Rose had been a friend of mine for a long, long time. If she saw something good in Mia, then there had to be something good in her. I smiled at Rose in an encouraging way.
"Of course."
"How about we have a girls dinner at my place?" I suggested. "Tonight."
"I can't go," Callie spoke up. "I have to babysit. But ya'll have fun."
"Are you sure? We can reschedule."
"Nah," She said, waving off our worries. "I can come another time."
When we departed ways after our breakfast, I felt good. Really good. Maybe I had just caught Mia on a bad couple of days. And as far as the bad feeling I had about her; I didn't really know her.
I was determined to have her as a friend.
I had a couple of things for the house to pick up in town, grabbing things like groceries and things for Apollo and Grace. I had been working with Grace every day since I'd gotten her.
She was still a little bit skittish, but she seemed to like me a great deal. I knew it would be next to no time until she was no longer shy or afraid. Grace followed Apollo around like he was Grace's mother, but my older horse didn't seem to mind one bit.
When I got back home, I cleaned up around the house and took Apollo for a long ride. I brought Grace with us, hooking a halter to her and tying it to Apollo's saddle. She didn't like being away from him.
After that, I washed and brushed down each horse and took a shower myself. I started getting ready for dinner, putting out the food supplies.
I thought it would be fun to make tacos with Rose and Mia. The doorbell rang at half past seven, and the two girls greeted me.
"Thanks for coming," I said, smiling at the pair of them.
"Thanks for having us."
The words didn't come from Rose, as I had expected, but from Mia. She smiled at me graciously. Maybe this would go better than I had expected it to. Her words even seemed genuine. They closed the door after them and I led them into the kitchen.
"So, I thought it would be fun to make tacos. I hope you guys don't mind."
"That sounds amazing," Rose said.
We got to cooking, and we were all having a pretty good time. Mia was being engaged and friendly, and I was just starting to think that maybe I had had it wrong about her.
"Oh, hold on. I've got to take this," Rose said after her phone had gone off. She walked out of the room.
Mia turned to me, her expression flattening.
"Just drop it, okay?"
Her voice was so rude and full of malice and it caught me off guard. Her eyes were narrowed, her expression so full of hate the full one sixty gave me whiplash. I blinked a couple of times, unsure how to respond.
"I'm sorry?" I asked, confused.
"I know you don't like me and I definitely don't like you. So just stop pretending, alright?"
I shook my head.
"I'm not pretending anything, Mia. I thought you didn't like me and there wasn't something to trust about you. I told that to Rose, and she asked me to give you a chance. I figured since she was good friends with you, that there had to be something good about you. So I told her I would. And I've been having a nice time with you two. I thought that you...I thought you liked me, too."
I had done what Rose asked me to do. I'd given Mia a chance and I really had been starting to like her. Genuinely like her.
I was surprised. And to be frank, I was hurt.
"Well, you thought wrong," She snapped.
I shook my head, more confused than anything.
"What is wrong here?" I asked.
"You sweep into town out of no where, and everybody instantly falls in love with you. You steal my friends, you charm every person you come across and you even get the guy I want. You know what? Fuck you. You're not that great. You're nothing, okay? Get over yourself."
I gaped at her, not able to believe the words coming out of her mouth? I wasn't confused any more. I wasn't hurt. I was pissed.
"What is your problem?" I asked, my voice raised.
"What is going on here?"
I looked back towards the kitchen door to notice that Rose had walked back in the door. I felt relieved at her appearance.
"She just went on some psycho rant!" I explained, pointing at Mia.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"She pretty much just told me she hates me for no reason. I haven't even done anything to her."
"Is that true, Mia?" Rose asked.
Now she's going to get it.
Mia's eyes widened.
"No, of course not," She said in that fake friendly voice. "I just told her that maybe the meat needed a little bit more seasoning and now she's freaking out."
"That is not true," I said, shaking my head. "She told me she's angry I've walked into town and everybody likes me. She said 'fuck you' to me and told me I was nothing."
Now Mia's eyes were watering.
"She's lying, Rose. I don't know why she's saying those things. I was just telling her that I was having a nice time with you two and I was starting to like her a lot. Then I said she needed more seasoning and it turned into this."
"No! She is the one that is lying."
Mia sniffled, letting a fake tear slide down her face. She couldn't be serious.
"I don't understand," She said, burying her face in her hands. "I was just trying to be her friend."
Rose turned to me, angrier than I'd ever seen her.
"What is your problem? You said you would give her a chance."
"I did, Rose. I really did. Do you honestly believe her over me?" I asked hotly. She looked at Rose and then at me.
"You know what? Yeah, I do. You made her cry. I don't know why you're being such a bitch, but we're leaving now."
She took Rose comfortingly by the arm and led her out of the kitchen. After they walked out of the house, I nearly screamed in frustration. I had tried to be a good friend to Rose, and this was what I got in return. I had honestly given the girl a chance, and she had done this to me.
I hadn't even done anything to her.
I stormed out of the house, grabbing my keys on the way. I needed a drink...Or three. Since I had moved to Hudson, I had drank about four times. There wasn't anything wrong with that, though. I didn't drive drunk or do stupid things. After tonight, though, I was taking a few weeks - at least - away from alcohol.
I drove to the bar, not caring that I wasn't well dressed. Not caring that I didn't even have any make up on. Not caring that I was alone.
xxx
It was quarter to two, and I was more drunk than I had been in a long time. I felt a lot better than I did before I walked in. There wasn't that many people in the bar, but that didn't bother me.
The bar was closing, and that mean I had to go.
I wasn't sure where I was going to go, or how I was going to get there. Maybe I would sleep in my truck. Yeah. That was a good idea! I'd just sleep it off in my back seat. I stumbled out, pulling out my keys.
I was fumbling with them, trying to unlock the door. A hand snaked around me, plucking the keys from my hand.
"What on earth are you doing?"
No.
I turned around, coming face to face with Brantley. Well, more like face to chest because he was so much taller than me. I looked up at him.
"I was going to go to sleep," I said flatly. I held out my hand. "Can I have my keys back?"
"How drunk are you?" He asked.
"Super drunk, but that's besides the point. Give me my keys back. I want to go to sleep now."
"Get in the truck," He said, pointing to his own truck, a few parking spots away.
"We're not friends, remember? I'm not going anywhere with you."
He crossed his arm over his chest, raising his eyebrows at me. There was a hint of an amused smile on his face, but I could tell that he was pissed.
"Listen, sweetheart. You are drunk and friend or not, you ain't sleeping in your vehicle. I am going to take you back to your house."
I crossed my own arms, mimicking him.
"You're not the boss of me."
"Get in the truck, Kennedy. Now."
He had the keys to my locked vehicle, and he clearly wasn't going to budge. I didn't want to go anywhere with him. In my drunken haze, I came up with the next best idea.
I spun around, sprinting away from him as fast as I could.
Author's Note: Woooo! Big long chapter with lots of drama! What do you think about what happened with Mia and Rose? With Brantley? LOL, how far do you think Kennedy will get before Brantley catches her? I thought that part was kind of comical.