Yeah, I Hate You Too, Sweetheart.

Chapter 12 - Justin

    Justin

    It was safe to say that I didn't sleep at all that night. I lay in bed, arms behind my head, staring up at the ceiling as the hours ticked by on the clock. I couldn't get the look on Laila's face after Maggie had kissed me out of my mind. And then she'd gone out of her way to ignore me the rest of the night, and then I'd responded by apologizing. Like an idiot. 

  It was well after noon the next day when I finally dragged myself out of bed and stumbled my way from my room. I'd barely fallen asleep after the sun had started to rise, and I'd slept fitfully through dreams that didn't make any sense whatsoever. 

  Dad was walking from the dining room as I stepped my way dazedly down the last few stairs. He glanced up from his folder of what were probably architectural designs and smirked at my disheveled appearance.

  "Laila get the better of you last night, eh?" he whistled, shaking his head.

I ran a hand through my tangled hair and grunted as I made past him for the kitchen. It was pretty much more than pathetic that Dad had actually hit the nail on the head with that one.  

  Even as I made my way down the spiraling stairs to the kitchen, I could still hear Dad's echoing laughter down the hallway.

I wasn't sure if I was surprised or not at the fact that Laila was sitting at the bar down in the kitchen, some thick looking book propped open before her, and her attention was thoroughly riveted there. The TV that was plugged in on the counter beside one of the fridges was playing The Golden Girls, a show that I really didn't understand.

 Laila's head shot up as I started banging around in the fridge and almost instantly flushed bright red.

  I stared curiously at her as she immediately ducked down to bury her head back in her book.

 I let the fridge door swing shut, clearing my throat.

"Did I, uh...do something?" I asked her slowly.

  "No," Laila mumbled into her book, frantically turning the pages.

That only made me more confused. It took me a minute to realize that maybe Laila was acting so nervous and skittish because I happened to be shirtless.

  Right. That was so typical Laila. But I figured it would've been mean of me to just burst out laughing.

  "Never seen a guy shirtless before, sweetheart?" I snickered, pouring myself a glass of orange juice.

 She seemed to forget that she was currently embarrassed out of her mind and whipped her head up, rolling her eyes.

  "Of course I have," she snapped, irritated. "Believe me, Richards; you haven't got anything I haven't seen before."

  Insert awkward silence here, right then. 

I arched an eyebrow, holding back a smirk. At that point, I didn't think she knew exactly what she'd just said. 

 Leaning against the counter, I crossed my arms over my chest.

"You want to test that theory?" I asked in the utmost sincerity. 

Just like clockwork, Laila figured out right away what she'd said.

  "...Forget I said that," she muttered quickly before ducking her head back into her book.

  I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to laugh or not.

"I don't know about that, sweetheart..." I trailed off, rubbing the back of my neck with a hand. "It's gonna be pretty hard to forget something that has you involved."

    Laila slammed her book shut with a disgusted scoff.

 "Must you always be a jerk, Richards?" she demanded, sounding pissed off.

I set my half-empty orange juice glass on the counter and returned her hardened glare.

 "Must you always provoke me, Hayes?" I fired back, leaning forward on the counter with my elbows.

  "I'm not provoking you!" she piped up, color flooding her cheeks. "You just go around all the time, acting like you know everything when you really don't and you're just so arrogant and ridiculous and -”

  "Don't you have a single pleasant thing to say about anyone, Laila?" 

I cut her off out of nowhere, my voice sounding a lot harsher than I intended.

 Okay, so there was no excuse for the way I was acting, but I was on a roll here and I’d kept all of my feelings and thoughts locked up for too long my mouth was now getting the better of me.

"What? I - of course I - why would you-?" Laila spluttered, looking embarrassed.

  "See? That right there tells me everything I need to know. You act like you’ve got everything put together and that you know everything about life, but you don’t. This isn’t some magical fantasy land in some book that we live in, sweetheart. Not everything is going to be sugar coated and sprinkled with rainbows. This is reality, and I’m not sure you even realize that."

Laila pursed her lips, taking a deep breath, her calm attitude rapidly fading. I had no idea why I was suddenly so angry and aggravated with her. Maybe it was because I was trying to replace what I was feeling for her with none too pleasant thoughts.

  Anything to prevent me from falling for her anymore than I already had. 

I stiffened, my grip tightening on the edge of the counter, realizing what I'd just thought.

  Ah, crap.

  “Clearly your brain is damaged because of your arrogance,” Laila all but snarled, glaring at me. “I can guarantee I’m ten times as smart as you’ll ever be and I know a hell of a lot more than you think I do, you asshole. The whole world doesn’t revolve around you, you know.”

  “Oh, I know it doesn’t,” I fired back quickly, “but it might as well.”

“I don’t think you realize that,” she returned in a mocking voice. “I’m surprised you’re even able to see properly, let alone think, since your head is so inflated from your ego. If anything, you’re the one that has a clouded view on life.”

 So apparently we’d been all but shouting at each other during this exchange, leaning across the countertop towards each other, and seconds later came the ever familiar sound of my father’s heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

 “What on Earth is going on down here?” Dad demanded, staring at the two of us with wide eyes.

 “Nothing, Dad,” I replied cheerily, forcing on a ridiculous smile. “Laila and I were simply having a lovely discussion about our feelings.”

 “Oh, come off it, Richards!” Laila snapped, glaring over at me. “Don’t be such a jerk! Why don’t you go ahead and tell your dad what we were really fighting about?”

  “Gladly,” I returned, forcing a sneer in her direction. “So, father, Laila seems to think that I – “

 “All right, that’s enough. Laila, stay here for a minute and cool off, okay? Justin, just go somewhere and stay away from her. Clearly you’re both going to have to be separated like you’re five years old again.”

 Dad’s voice was firm and serious as he spoke, and as embarrassing as it was, I didn’t dare disobey him. I knew what Laurence Richards was fully capable of when he was feeling particularly motivated.

 “Don’t worry, Dad,” I said, all but stomping my way towards the stairs. “I’ll gladly stay away from Laila. She’s all yours.”

____________________________________________________________________________   Dun dun dun....D: Uhm, so I hope you guys like this chapter, 'cause I'm not so sure how I feel about it, hahaha....thoughts, anyone?