Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

9. Mind Games

When Megan got home, she headed up to her room, dragging her shopping bags behind her. She'd planned on throwing them on her bed and going through them later, but as soon as she walked through the door she realized that wasn't going to happen; the genie was lounging on her bed, reading a book. Megan didn't like how comfortable he seemed to be getting in her room.

"Having fun?" she asked a little sharply, setting her bags down on the floor.

She knew she told him he didn't have to stay in the bottle all the time, but this was still her room. And that was definitely her bed.

"I was just reading." he said casually, closing the book.

"Yeah." Megan had seen that – he was propped up on her pillows, looking like he owned the place. Except for the fact that almost everything in the room was pink, she would have sworn it was his.

"Why don't you ever go to the library or something?" she asked, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn't like the idea of having what basically amounted to a strange guy in her room – especially when she wasn't there.

"What for?" he asked. Like the thought had never occurred to him.

"For entertainment. You know, get some of your own books or something?"

She was pretty sure her books weren't exactly the kind of thing he would have normally chosen to read, especially not the one he'd managed to pick up.

"What? You don't think I read romance stories?" he asked, grinning wickedly.

"No." she told him flatly.

She wasn't even sure she read romance stories. The one he was currently holding had been a hand-me-down from an old aunt. Megan could never even get through the first couple of chapters.

"You're right – they're too sappy for me. Too much like fairy tales."

Megan looked at him in surprise. She would have thought that if anybody liked those, it'd be someone like him.

"I would have thought those would be right up your alley." she said without really thinking.

"Why?"

"Well, because...you know..." Megan started lamely.

He'd sounded a little defensive, and it took her by surprise. He raised an eyebrow expectantly, and she suddenly found it incredibly hard to say that it was because he was practically a fairy tale character himself. But it looked like he knew what she was thinking without her having to actually say it out loud.

"Actually, that's part of why I don't really like those kinds of stories – too unrealistic. Happily ever after?" he looked disgusted by the very idea. "Unless we're talking about Grimm's fairy tales. Now those I like."

"Well, that figures." Megan mumbled to herself.

She turned and started going through her bags, absentmindedly hanging up her new clothes.

"Shopping trip?" the genie asked.

He looked more interested than Megan thought was probably normal, especially for a guy. He leaned forward, trying to see what she'd bought.

"Yeah." Megan said, not bothering to take her attention away from the closet. She never realized she had so many clothes before! Half of these things she hadn't even worn in years.

"You know, if you wanted new clothes, I could have helped you with that."

"Really?" Megan asked incredulously, turning around to face him.