He’s manipulative
1065 Words
He stepped out of the shower in a pair of low-slung sweatpants, rubbing a towel through his hair.
I forced myself not to blush and look away at the sight of his chest and abs. "Was this everything whoever you asked found?" I asked.
He threw the towel on the stand beside his bed, and turned away from me. I knew he was ignoring me purposely instead of just not hearing me since it was quiet inside the RV. Surprising since I had always thought New York was loud, but maybe it was because the RV had soundproof walls or something.
I chewed my bottom lip. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"I'm sure you are," he sneered, without turning around.
I blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't worry," he said. "We all manipulate people. You're just not very good at hiding it."
"I'm not-" I started, but before I could finish, he flipped off the lights. I heard some shuffling, probably him getting into bed. "I'm not trying to manipulate you," I whispered.
Christian didn't reply.
I fumbled to climb under the covers in the dark, biting back a curse when I stubbed my toe against the metal frame. I couldn't stop thinking about whatChristian had said. I wasn't trying to manipulate him, not on purpose at least, not like consciously. But thinking about it now, l guess could kind of see why he had thought I was.
After the whole sleeping with him thing that I didn't want to think about, I had ignored him. Not that he'd tried to make a conversation as we were driving out of Arizona, but still. Then I had only spoken to him to ask him for a favor. And once I had gotten the file, I had been a bit of a b***h to him. Then, again, I tried to talk to him only because I wanted something.
That was pretty shitty and obvious manipulating though, for Jacen to jump to that conclusion.
The guy's probably had people kissing his ass since he was a kid,Gig, what do expect?
Then my thoughts shifted to Lucas.
He had always been the best at manipulating people.
The first people That had watched Lucas manipulate were my best friend and my brother.
After what had happened during Christmas, I had decided to stop hiding my relationship with Lucas and told Shirley, my best friend at the time, who had also happened to have a rocky on-and-off relationship with my brother's best friend, Fede. I wasn't' sure if she really loved him, but she was pretty bitchy after their frequent fights.
I hadn't known it until after that night that I had really shitty timing.
"Lucas Troop,Gigs , really?" Shirley said after I finished the story about how my parents had almost caught us. She pulled down the sun visor of her car to re-apply her mascara after parking in the driveway of some random senior throwing the party we were going to. "I mean, he's hot, but I didn't think he was your type."
I blinked at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"He barely graduated, he's not going to university, he's two years older than you-" She paused and glanced at me. "Is that even legal?"
"Two years isn't horrible," I said defensively. I had even Googled it. Just to make sure. "And you don't know Lucas."
A lot of people knew of Lucas, and I wasn't surprised that Shirley did since she was a year older than me, the same age as Abel and Fede, but they just thought he was some bad guy from the wrong side of town.
"And you do?" She gave me a dubious look. "How do you know he's not cheating on you or something?"
"Lucas wouldn't do that," I defended. "And it's not like you and Fede's relationship is any better."
"I've never cheated on him," she replied. "You can't just believe everything he tells you. He's probably just wants to get in your pants."
I bristled at the accusation, wanting to tell her that we had already done it, and he was still with me, thank you very much. But I didn't, since that would probably just dig me deeper in her eyes. "You're being a b***h, Shirley ," I said quietly instead.
"Don't be naive, Gigs," she told me in a condescending tone.
"So what are you saying? That a guy would only ever like me for s*x?" I shook my head. Ugh, I didn't want to listen to anymore of her bullshit I climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind me before she could protest.
I made my way into the house, and climbed up the stairs to find a quiet corner. I stayed away from what looks liked bedrooms, and eventually found a small closet-like room that blocked out the noise from the party.
There I pulled out my phone and called Lucas.
He picked up after a couple rings. "Hello?"
"Hey, is this a bad time?" I asked. There was some kind of chatter or music in the background that made it hard for me to hear him.
"It's fine. What's up?"
I hesitated. "How do you feel about a party tonight?"
"Sure. Where are you?"
I glanced around as if the empty closet would give me a clue. "I don't know. Some big house near Hampton Hills."
Lucas chuckled. "I think I'm already here."
"Really?" He didn't frequent parties too much, but he didn't completely avoid them either. He went if I asked him to come to one with me, or if he needed to be there for whatever reason. I wondered briefly why he was already here, but decided not to ask since I was kinda grateful that he was. "I'll come find you."
"I'm in the kitchen," he told me before I hung up. I stepped out of the closet then made my way downstairs, but before I could get halfway down the stairs, someone grabbed my arm.
I looked up to see Abel in front of me.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked. I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could he added, "Did Lucas Troop bring you here?"
"No. Shirley did." I paused. "But Lucas is here too."
"You shouldn't be here-"
I rolled my eyes. "I'm a year younger than you, Abel, not ten."
- Writer
