6 #3
“It’s just dinner to smooth things over,” he said. “For some reason, everyone thinks we hate each other, and I’ve nothing against you, and you’ve nothing against me, right?”
The silence around those words was tense, the kind of silence that hid truths.
“Of course not, that would be stupid,” I lied with a smile.
“Well then,” Aegan stretched out his arms as if to state the obvious and made his pitch, “Why don’t you, me, Adrik, and Artemis go out for dinner?”
“Me and who?” Adrik asked, suddenly confused.
Had he drifted off with his head in the clouds and simply tuned out of the conversation or what?
“Me, I’m Artemis,” Artie said, shocked.
Artie was short for Artemis, but Adrik hadn’t known that, so he looked at her like he’d only just noticed her. He gave a slow, polite nod, no more genuine than my strained smile. Then he looked at Aegan and me.
“I don’t think so,” he said, bored.
He headed for the door, seemingly with every intention of leaving.
We all have a cruel side, don’t we? We just don’t always let it get the best of us.
But right then, me and my cruel side were in rare agreement, for reasons I’ll get into later.
So, as Adrik walked away in slow motion, Dash’s words echoed in my mind: Jude could’ve agreed to go on a night out with him and then turned him down.
It would’ve crushed his ego. Simpler and less dangerous, right?
Accept and reject. Crush his ego. They were perfectly valid reasons, and the opportunity for some revenge was too perfect to pass up.
I got in Adrik’s way and stopped him. His imposing height unnerved me slightly, but I didn’t let it show.
“Don’t be silly, Driki, all of us going out isn’t such a bad idea,” I said, dragging out his nickname in a teasing tone.
“Don’t call me Driki,” he replied, sounding relaxed and obnoxious at the same time.
And his stubborn gaze shifted from me to his brother. There was a hint of reproach in his gaze, possibly because I’d let his nickname slip.
“You can choose what we eat,” I said, trying to mediate.
“No, he can’t,” Aegan laughed, trying to control things as usual.
“I’ve got things to do,” said Adrik.
“Nobody has anything to do at this time,” I replied, like he’d just said something ridiculous.
“I do,” he stressed in a hateful tone. “I have to go stick a fork in a socket.” In other words: I’ve got something better to do.
“Well, you can save that fork thing for later,” I snorted. “We’re all going out for dinner.”
I headed for the door, but Aegan shot the question at me just as I went to reach for the handle:
“Wait, you’re going to go like that?” he said incredulously.
I didn’t understand what like that meant until he looked me up and down.
“What’s the problem with how I look?” I wanted to know.
He looked me up and down again, this time with a slightly sunken brow. There was a judgmental spark in his eyes that he masked.
“It just looks like I pulled you out of a dust bin,” he blurted out directly, but in an expertly fake innocent voice of confusion.
I shot him a look that could’ve pierced someone’s brain like a bullet.
Well, I’d actually forgotten that I wasn’t wearing shoes, but I got the impression that was the least of Aegan’s concerns.
What caught him off guard was that I didn’t dress like a typical Tagus girl: always dressed to the nines, with makeup on, especially when going out with him.
What’s more, Aegan was also a great dresser, and how he looked was all part of his lifestyle.
Designer clothes, custom-made shoes, impeccable haircut.
A guy with a distinctly masculine sense of style. Like the Chuck Bass of today.
“Wait a minute,” I said, and ran to my room.
I grabbed my braided boots and put them on.
I looked in the mirror and let my hair down.
I didn’t think I looked bad; I mean, at least these clothes weren’t shabby.
But Aegan was used to high heels, nice hairstyles, handbags dangling from girls’ arms, and expensive perfumes.
And I wasn’t going to give him any of that.
I had no interest in pleasing him or conforming to stereotypes.
And if I wanted to do more than just get under his skin, I’d need to give it my all. In fact, I was going to hit him so hard that I’d crack that pretty boy shell and bring out the real animal in him, the one I suspected he was trying his best to hide.
I went back to the living room.
“Now I’m ready,” I announced.
Aegan cocked his head to one side and gave me another once-over, trying to pinpoint what changes I’d made to my outfit. I went up to him and frowned. Right then, I had an idea for how to liven up the evening: I’d play along with his little act, but in my own sarcastic way.
“Is there a problem?” I asked in mock disbelief. Aegan narrowed his eyes but then relaxed his expression.
“No. Let’s go.”
Artie, still in shock, followed me out the door. We started walking down the stairs, several steps ahead of them. Sneakily, she drew near and whispered in my ear.
“What the hell are you doing? What’s going on?”
“Just play along,” I whispered back. Aegan wanted a date, didn’t he?
So, I was going get to know the real Aegan.