“Hello Liv.”
“Xander.” I nodded and glared at him. “What are you doing here? You woke me up, you know?”
“It’s Sunday afternoon, Liv.” He pushed past me and into the apartment. “Why are you in bed still?”
“I’m tired.” I muttered. “And come in, why don’t you?”
“Why did you leave so early this morning?” He glared at me as we stood in the hallway.
“What?” I yawned and glared back at him.
“You and Alice left before everyone else woke up.”
“We needed to get back. We had work to do.”
“Who is it?” Alice chose that moment to exit her bedroom, rubbing her eyes.
“You were sleeping as well?” Xander asked Alice.
“Yeah, why?” She walked up to us and yawned again.
“So what work did you guys have to do, Liv?” Xander raised an eyebrow and looked at me.
“I don’t have to tell you.” I looked away from him. Why was he here? “How did you get my address?”
“Aiden gave it to me.” He said shortly.
“I’m surprised he didn’t come as well.” I said annoyed.
“I don’t think he wanted to come.” Xander said and I looked over at Alice, who was blushing. What had gone down with Alice and Aiden? I stared at her for a few seconds, but she avoided my stare.
“I’m going to make some coffee.” She said finally. “Anyone want some?”
“I’ll take a cup.” Xander said. “Black please.”
“I’ll have a cup as well, milk and sugar, you know how I like it.” I said and she walked into the kitchen. “Shall we sit in the living room then?” I turned back to Xander. “I assume you’re not going to leave before you have your coffee?”
“You assume correct.” He said stiffly and he followed me to the living room.
“So what do you want, Xander?” I sighed. “I thought we said everything we needed to say last night.”
“You didn’t say goodbye.”
“What?” I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You left this morning without saying goodbye.” He stared at me and I wondered what I looked like. I was sure hot and mess would describe me pretty well. I hadn’t bothered to take off my makeup the night before and I could feel that my hair was no longer a wavy cacophony of beauty, but more a frizzy bush.
“Are you fucking joking me? Why do I need to say bye?” I shook my head and tried not to notice how pink his lips looked this morning.
“Why do you have to be so immature, Liv?” He shook his head at me. “I thought we made up last night. I thought you understood where I was coming from. I thought we were friends.”
“What do you want from me, Xander?” I groaned out loud, unable to stop my frustration from coming out. We stared at each other for a few seconds and he shrugged.
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Nothing I guess.”
“Then leave.” I sat back and looked away from him.
“I don’t want to leave.” He said softly.
“I’m not having sex with you.” I shifted away from him. “If that’s why you’re here.”
“That’s not why I’m here.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. “I don’t know what to say Liv. I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t even know you. I know nothing about you really. I can’t just change my life for you.”
“You already told me that.” I sighed and pulled my hand away from him.
“I’m the guy that has sexual relationships. I’m the guy that goes after what he wants and gets it. I’m the guy that leaves in the morning.”
“Well good for you.” I jumped up as Alice walked into the living room with the coffee. “We’re done here, Xander.” I looked at him and folded my arms as I chose my words carefully. “It’s like you said, you don’t know me. If you did know me, you would know that I’m not the sort of girl that just has sexual relationships. I’m not the girl that is the fuck buddy. I’m not the girl that lets a guy trample all over her.” I stared at his face and looked into his impenetrable green eyes. “I don’t know what you want. And you don’t know what you want. And that’s just not good enough, Xander. I’m not going to settle to be second best, I don’t care what your issues are.” And then I walked out of the living room and directly to my bedroom. I locked the door behind me, turned on my laptop and played my music as loud as it would go and then walked into my bathroom and turned on the bath and poured some Epsom salts in and waited for the tub to fill up. I was not going to think about Xander. I was not going to let him get to me. I didn’t care what he thought as he left. I didn’t care if he thought I was rude. I didn’t care. I didn’t care. I didn’t care. I kept repeating that to myself as I stripped my clothes off and settled into the bath. I sat back and closed my eyes and let the water calm me down. He was a jerk for playing with my feelings like this. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?
***
“Want to watch a movie, Alice?” I exited my room about four hours later, feeling refreshed. I could hear the TV on in the living room and I made my way to the room, determined to keep my mind off of Xander.
“What do you want to watch?” Xander sat there next to Alice with a warm smile on his face.