From my seat in the back row I have the perfect view of the entire class, Mr. Harrington has his back to us, writing something on the board, as he excitedly tries to explain some historical event that I can guarantee not a single person in this room gives a fuck about. Unable to resist, I slide my cell from my blazer pocket and open my text app, typing out a message to Carrigan before I can think better of it.
Me – Where are you Priss?
I stare at the screen for a minute like I can will her to reply, but just like I expected, I get nothing. When the bell rings for lunch I’m really fucking pissed. She was so compliant, so obedient the other day. I told her when I asked her a question I expect her to reply, but now she’s ghosting me.
My annoyance only builds during the rest of the day and by the time I’m heading for my Mercedes I’m seething.
“You coming to ours?” Arlo asks, his fingers entwined with Tally’s.
“Nah, I’ve got a video chat with the folks,” I say.
Arlo and Tally finally admitted their feelings for each other just before their engagement party and I’m happy for them, but there’s only so much of their blissfully in love company I can take. I genuinely love them both, but I’m at the limit of how much PDA I can watch.
Tally’s eyes soften a little as she looks at me. “Where are your parents?”
“Dubai I think, I can’t really remember, I’m surprised they were here as long as they were this time. They just can’t stand staying in one place and Grant is almost as bad.”
“You don’t want to see Dubai?” she asks, a little wistfully.
“I’ve been a few times, we have a house there.”
“Oh,” she says with a giggle. “So you’re living in that big house of yours all alone?”
“No, I’m staying on the boat, I hate rattling around the house on my own when they’re not here,” I say absentmindedly.
“Why don’t you just come and stay at Arlo’s, it’s not like you don’t already have your own room there,” Tally says, looking to Arlo who just shrugs.
“Bro, you know you’re always welcome, you have your key, just move in till your parents get back,” Arlo says.
“I’m fine. Staying on The Escape isn’t exactly a punishment and Tally honey, you know I adore you, you’re like my sister. But you’re loud and I can’t listen to you scream Arlo’s name anymore, I had enough of that when we were all staying there,” I say, laughing at her horrified expression.
“Carson,” she screams, slapping my arm before she turns and buries her bright red face in Arlo’s chest.
“Little Ghost I love it when you scream my name,” Arlo laughs, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.
“See you guys tomorrow,” I say, laughing as I lean down and press a kiss to Tally’s cheek before I climb into my car and drive away from school.
The marina is bustling with life by the time I park my car in the lot and I cross the short distance to The Escape, nodding and waving at all the people who greet me. I’ve stayed here every night since mine and Priss’s morning here and I refuse to think about why that is. Her scent is gone, but I still haven’t gone home even though I know I should. I should let the cleaning crew erase every trace of her being here, but for some inexplicable reason I just can’t.
Priss doesn’t owe me anything, we’re not a couple, we had one meaningless sexual encounter. So why is it that I’m furious that she dismissed me like I was a barely tolerated employee. Carrigan Archibald is a bitch. She treated her identical twin sister like shit for years, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that she would do the same to me.
“Thank you for the help.”
I can still hear her voice saying the words in my head and anger bursts to life inside of me.
“Thank you for the help.”
After what we shared, does she even care how much of a punch in the teeth a thank you and fuck off was?
When I think about Carrigan, all I can see is the way she’s hurt Tally, how manipulative she is, how evil. But Priss, the girl I spent the morning with the other day, she’s nothing like that, she’s quiet and nervous and unsure. Priss was beautiful and passionate and complex. But the problem is that Carrigan and Priss are the same person and I don’t know how to accept that. I don’t know how to combine the two sides of the single person.
Heading for my bedroom, I strip out of my uniform and pull on a pair of loose basketball shorts before making my way back into the living room and slumping down onto the couch, reaching for the TV remote.
There’s homework I should be doing, but I don’t care, I want some food, a few beers, and to talk to my parents and brother, but instead I find my fingers reaching for my cell and typing out another text to Priss.
Me – I thought I made myself clear, if I ask you a question I expect you to reply.
I wait for a moment, but she doesn’t reply and the urge to hunt her ass down becomes so potent I almost rise from my seat before I remember that she’s nothing to me.
It was my condition that it was only once, that we’d have sex once and then it would be done, only now I’m not finished and this isn’t over. My cell beeps, pulling me
