Wait until the music's over

35. Head-butts and hard heads

"Angie, I... wait... what the fu- MEG??" I'm basically on the verge of a confession when I realize she's just said the name of her friend.

"You like her, don't you?"she insists, moving her wide open eyes alternatively between me and the road.

"No!"

"No?"

"No, not at all!" maybe I'm denying too vehemently.

"How come? Why not?" she asks after a short moment of thinking over, and it's like she had just turned the tables completely because now she almost seems offended.

"What do you mean why? Because I don't, I mean, yeah, I like her, but-"

"HA!"

"I like her as a person, as a friend"

"Oh"

"That's all"

"Nothing more?"

"Nothing more"

"So why did you tell Violet you're in love with Meg?" Angie's brows knit together.

"I never told her anything like that" I deny and I'm almost laughing, even though there's really nothing to fucking laugh about.

"She says the opposite"

"I told her I like someone, but I never mentioned Meg"

"Uhmm"

"No offence, I mean, she's nice and all, but... I don't like her that way" I try to explain and Angie nods in silence. I must admit this is the last kind of conversation I was expecting to have with her tonight.

"And who do you like then?"

"Huh?"

"Who's the girl you like? You know, you told Violet that-"

"But it's not true"

"You've just told me it was!"

"What? When?"

"Like two minutes ago?? I asked you if it was true and you said something like: yes and no... yes, more or less..." she adds, making a really good impression of me speaking.

"I meant: yes because yes, I told her, and no because no, it isn't true that I like another girl, they're two different concepts"

"Are you telling me you made it up?"

"Yes" I had the nerve to answer, right while we're stuck in a queue in the traffic and she's turned to look at me in the eyes.

"Pfff I knew that! You're a champ in making your life complicated, huh? What ad idiot" she shakes her head and briefly looks out of the side window. Fortunately for me, she's not that good in reading people's mind.

"I thought I could get rid of her once and for all" I shrug and start torturing my lower lip with my fingers.

"Sure, giving her a rival to hate, excellent strategy"

"It wasn't a strategy, I hadn't planned it... it just... came out, like that, it seemed to work in the moment"

"Clearly it didn't, I saw her quite armed and ready, you know? And why did you suggest Meg among all humans in Seattle? The notoriously not riotous Meg..."

"Violet and Meg had a brawl?" I ask alarmed, but also kind of curious.

"No... not yet at least"

"Anyway, I didn't suggest Meg, she thought of her"

"Well, you told her it's someone who's just broken up with her boyfriend and that you know the guy"