The Boss Crush

“Seriously? Is that what it’s going to take to get you to help me out here?”

“Honestly. . .” She pauses, rolling her eyes forward so she’s looking straight down the hall. “No. If Dalia wants to talk to you, she will. If she doesn’t, well that’s too fucking bad for you now, isn’t it?” Kira stops short, grabbing my arm, and spinning me to face her. “But you need to hear me, and hear me good, Lyle. I think you need to just leave her alone. You and your sister really hurt her. She doesn’t deserve to be hurt anymore.”

“I di—”

“Leave her alone,” she demands, cutting the air with her hand. “And stop fucking following me.” Kira storms off, pushing her way through the crowded hall.

“What the hell was that about?” my sister asks as she steps up from behind me, coming out of nowhere.

“Jesus, Sandy,” I say, my breathing slightly labored. “Don’t fucking do that. I hate when you sneak up on me like that.”

“Sorry,” she says all snotty as her eyes open wide, and she looks up away. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“What was that all about?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“It didn’t look like nothing.” She crosses an arm over her stomach as she watches Kira walk away.

“I was just asking Kira for a favor, but it doesn’t matter, she won’t do it.”

“A favor. . . What the hell do you need her for when you have me? You need a favor, you ask your sister, not a twat like Kira Benson.”

“Right, well that’s all fine most of the time, except this is something you can’t help me with.” I start walking, and my sister stays with me. “Actually,” I say, looking over at her briefly, “you’re the reason I need her help anyway. So, it’s probably just better for you to stay out of this one.”

“Oh, okay, I get it. This has to do with her doesn’t it?” Her voice slices and spits, choking out the single word. And she’s not even using her actual name.

The way she says her goes up my ass. “She has a name.”

“Yeah—whore.”

Stopping, I snag Sandy by the wrist, and pull her to the side. “Why do you have to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say shit like that?”

“Awe, what’s wrong? Does the poor baby not like it when I make fun of his girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Sandy. See? This is exactly what I’m talking about.” Running my hand across my jaw, I shake my head. “You’re such a bitch sometimes.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have to be such a bitch if your taste in women was better.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she says matter of fact.

“All right, who would you chose for me then? Sara Noones? Callie Wise?”

“Come on, Lyle, you’re better than both of those girls. You’re better than majority of the girls in our school, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t pick anyone here.” She looks up and down the hall, glancing over the girls around us. “I can tell you whoever I pick would have to be like me.”

“You? That’s gross, Sandy, I don’t want a girl that’s like you. That’d be like I was dating my sister.” Sticking out my tongue, I fake gag as I hold my chest.

“What’s so gross about that? If there’s anyone who’s a perfect fit for you, it’s your twin.”

Is she serious right now?

Arching a brow, I stare at her. Her lip is pulling back into a small smile, and she’s staring right back. I’m questioning the seriousness of what she’s saying.

She can’t really think she’s the perfect match for me. We’re brother and sister, that’s disgusting. Shaking the thought away, I ignore the idea completely.

She’s just fucking with me, I know she’s fucking with me.

“Fuck you, stop being weird,” I say, giving her a playful shove.

“I’m just saying that you have to find someone who’s compatible, and it’s definitely not her.”

Crooking my jaw, I counter her. “Obviously we see things differently because I was going to ask her to prom, and you went and fucked it all up with your little portfolio game. Now she won’t talk to me at all.”

“Wow, you’re getting shot down by a fucking loser.” Sandy laughs, adjusting her purse on her shoulder, and her books in her arms. “You’re a fucking idiot, you know that?”

“I’m an idiot?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. You’re an idiot.”

“Please, tell me why I’m the idiot here?” I draw out my voice, making sure she knows I don’t really give a shit what she thinks, or believe her anyway.

I don’t need my sister to try and give me life lessons, we’re the same freaking age. We’ve been through the same shit. There’s nothing she can tell me that I don’t already know.

“You’re an idiot because you actually give a fuck about that girl and what she thinks. Why can’t you see that she’s a nobody? What is it going to take for you to see she’ll never be on your level? She means nothing and she is nothing. We’re Vox’s, Lyle, mingling with a girl like her will only bring you down.”