I was only telling him this because he happened to be the only other person in the room. Sean was the last person I needed to be talking about academics with. He lived in a new development in an apartment he shouldn't have been able to afford since he didn't have a job. His family was pretty wealthy and paid for both that apartment he lived in and that education he was hardly getting. They had paid for the massive television and gaming consoles that took up all his time, too.
"I don't know. I think I want to get all my studying done off top then have time and money for the rest of the stuff," I said.
"What's the deal with you and school? You're not ugly, it isn't like you have to be smart to get by," he said.
I closed my eyes, calming down before I sai
d something to him that I might have regretted. It was my mistake for keeping him around, I knew that, but he wasn't always like this. What was that Tiffany had said to me about him? That I was projecting and no, he wasn't actually the kind of guy I thought he could be?
"You know what? I'm busy today, Sean. You have to leave."
"You're going to school, then coming right back. That doesn't sound busy to me," he said.
"Just go."
"Are you waiting on someone?" he asked, suddenly interested. "A date?"
"Since you asked, yeah, I actually might be going out with someone tomorrow night," I said, crossing my arms.
"Might? Like you aren't sure? Just go," he said lightly.
"What?"
"Yeah. Were you waiting to ask me permission or something? It's not like you're the only girl I've been talking to. We're not exclusive, you can date whoever you want," he said. I knew that. I already knew that, so why was it making me so mad to hear him say it?
"Do you go to all their houses when you run out of food at your place?" I asked. The pasta was gone and he had left the banana peel in a heap on the edge of one of my end tables.
"Naw. Just you. You're the best cook, baby," he said coming up to me and putting a hand around my waist.
"Get out. Just leave, okay? I want you to go."
"Okay, okay," he said, putting his hands up. "I'll go."
"Thank you," I said, relieved.
"Have fun on your date. Call me afterward," he said. I said I would so I could hurry him out the door. I took the empty Tupperware to the sink and threw out the banana peel. What a hound. His place was messy, but it wasn't a sty. He had to have a maid service or something keeping it together for him.
He still hadn't made up for the day at the coffee shop that he had stood me up. I had gone to his place during the week, but he had just given me a bullshit throwaway excuse when I had called him on it. He had said all this stuff about how I was being too intense and needed to dial it back, and then we had had sex and just hadn't brought it up again.
It was so dumb that I was feeling like this when he was so unbothered. It was getting harder and harder to see those redeeming qualities that I spent so much time trying to show Tiffany that he had. He had encouraged me to go out with another guy – he didn't give a fuck.
I went to my room to grab my phone. I'd take his advice and go out with another guy since dating me was too much of a responsibility for him. If nothing else, I'd get a good night out with decent company and a meal. What did I have to lose? I held the phone to my ear waiting for Tiffany to pick up. I knew she would already be at work, but I wasn't going to take long.
"Hello?"
"Tiff?"
"Hey, what's up? I can't really talk right now, could you text me?" she asked.
"I'll be quick. I wanted to talk to you about that date," I said.
"Yeah?" she said expectantly.
"Tell your mystery man I'll be there."
Chapter Nine
Roman