Asymptote (bxb)

Chapter 13: Don't Be Stupid

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't bring myself to send a half-assed response, trying to excuse it away. Because, although it wasn't intentional, I felt so relieved. Relieved that I wouldn't waste any more of his time on what I had just made so clear: that I, Bailey Agren, could not make up my mind. In fact, I had probably just saved Cian from the weeks of long discovery that I was caused more harm than I had worth.

I sighed, placing my phone down on my side table and settling back into my bed. The guilt of having to make a decision rolled off of my body, and I decided that tomorrow I could delete his texts and his number, and it would be like it had never happened. Like I had never hurt anyone.

"That's it, then?" Gemma was still standing by the door to my room, arms crossed, and sporting a green facemask. I simply turned away from her, facing the wall of my bedroom. I wasn't in the mood to try to explain the complexities of my life to someone who couldn't even drive yet.

"Bailey, you know you are without a doubt my favourite brother, but Jesus fucking Christ you make me want to scream sometimes. I literally know nothing about this guy, but how bad could he be that you would rather lie here in your self-pity party than have coffee with him?"

I abruptly turned back over, because the only way she could know we were having coffee would be if she had scrolled through our conversation. Sure enough, she was standing there with my phone in her left hand while she used her thumb to scroll down through my messages.

"Can you stay out of my damn life?" I aggressively reached out for my phone, but she stepped backward, forcing me to get up from my bed. Sometimes I wished we were still children, back when it was still acceptable for me to tie her up and leave her in the treehouse and I could tell people it was part of our game of cops and robbers.

I came towards her, but she held my phone behind her back, and while tackling her to the ground was acceptable when we were 5 and 7, I think at 15 and 17 it was a bit of a grey area.

"What do you want, Gemma?"

She looked up at me silently. It was infuriating. Withholding my phone was literally useless because I had no intention of using it, but at the same time, I couldn't risk missing a text or call from Miles. I couldn't risk not being there when he needed me. I was always there for him; I had built up this trust that he could always count on me. I couldn't ruin all of that because Gemma was trying to teach me some life lessons.

"Gemma," I said firmly.

My phone chimed from behind her back, and she held out her arm to push me away while she read it. Miles. She then thrust my phone into my chest, a little too harshly.

"Don't be stupid," was all she said to me before running back up the stairs, probably back to whatever sitcom was playing reruns at this hour.

My heart fell with the realization it was not Miles. I didn't know if I was more disappointed in the fact it wasn't, or that I was naïve enough to believe it could have been. It was Cian, again. I was confused.

I opened our chat to see that Gemma had texted him, pretending to be me.

Outgoing Message

Fashionably late?

Delivered

Incoming Message

Ha, I just call that Irish time. Be there in 10.

Sent 7:21

I froze for thirty seconds to let my brain catch up because thirty seconds was all the time that I allotted for my over-analysis of every future possible situation as anxiety pumped the blood through my veins. I couldn't cancel now, that was out of the question. I would seem completely crazy, and he was likely already on his way, meaning he may not even see my message until he was already at my house. The fact he knew where I lived was really complicating this whole situation for me.