Dare You to Hate Me by B. Celeste (classic fiction .txt) 📕

I’m not sure I like that he knows that. I find the key and unlock the door before grabbing the food and heading down. My nose is hit with thick, musty air and what I can only think is mold. It reminds me of the abandoned house Ivy and I snuck into once on a dare. She wouldn’t back down when I told her it was haunted, and I couldn’t watch her go in by herself, so I followed a few feet behind. That was in better shape than the bullshit room I’m entering.

A form on the bed quickly flips over and sits up, nearly toppling off the mattress. “Get out!” she rasps in a hoarse voice.

“Relax, it’s just me,” I tell her, searching the dark room for a light switch. When I find it and flick it on, a groan comes from her direction.

Eyes snapping to her as she drops backward onto the bed, I walk over and examine the baggy clothes on her body and blanket tangled around her legs. Her glassy eyes meet mine, face pale, and I fight a frown when she rasps, “Is that Bea’s food I smell?”

Momentarily forgetting what I’m holding, I lift it with a nod. “Stopped by to see if you were there. She sent me on my way with a delivery. Said this stuff was your favorite. Don’t think she packed bagels though.”

She rolls her eyes, but even that movement is lagging. “I don’t want a bagel anyway. My throat hurts. Is that cream of broccoli in the cup?”

Looking around, I find a spot to set everything down before grabbing the soup and plastic spoon Bea thought to pack. “What’s wrong with you?”

She sits up and accepts the food with a glare, plucking the top open and watching the steam billow from it. “I know your mother taught you better manners than that.”

I huff out a dry laugh and nudge her legs out of the way so I can sit on the edge of the mattress. “You like pointing that out, huh? You’re not wrong. Now answer the question.”

Blowing on a spoonful of the soup, she peeks at me through her lashes. “I caught a cold or something. I’m just run down, that’s all.”

“You sound like shit,” I agree with a single shoulder lifting. “Odd. I seem to recall saying that this would happen not long ago.”

She sips the warm liquid, but it doesn’t hide the small smile that begins tipping the corners of her lips upward. “You always were a smooth talker.”

I peel my eyes away from her to examine her room. If that’s what you can call the shithole with only a few pieces of furniture. It’s basically storage for all the trash they don’t want elsewhere. “You don’t belong down here, Chaos.”

Remaining silent, she focuses even harder on the soup wrapped in her hands. Something on her face shifts, darkening as she slips into her thoughts.

I don’t relent. “There’s gotta be shit growing in here that you don’t need to be inhaling.”

“Stop talking.”

“Start listening.”

She levels with me. “I’m not leaving.”

Figured as much. “Even if this place is making you sick? You can’t go to work or school if you’re feeling like—”

“Please don’t,” she cuts me off, eyes glazed but hard on my face. “Don’t show that you care. That makes… It’s hard for me, okay?”

My jaw ticks, but I nod in understanding. I don’t know what’s happening between us, but neither of us is stupid enough to believe that it’s nothing. It means a lot more than we want to acknowledge—Ivy more than me for some reason.

She nibbles her bottom lip. “It’s probably from the weather changing, that’s all. Everyone gets sick this time of year.”

“Do you need anything? Medicine?” My tone is rough from the rejection, but I know it’s better that I ask even if I can guess her answer.

“No.”

I stare at the soup she stopped sipping, thinking about what Coach said about distractions. I ignore his words though. “Keep eating.”

“Don’t boss me around.”

“Don’t be stubborn.”

We stare at each other, her eyes narrow into a glare, mine distant but firm. To my surprise, she backs down first.

I glance at the watch on my wrist that doubles as my fitness tracker and sigh at the time. I promised Everly I’d stop by this afternoon. His mother won’t be happy if I bail like I had to last time because of the shit practice I had that left me in a bad mood.

“I need to get going soon, but I can run to the store for some—”

“Just go,” she tells me roughly, spooning out more broccoli pieces and staring at them. “I don’t need anything from you except for you to leave me alone. Get the hint.”

I stand, stuffing my hands in my jacket pockets to hide them clenching. “Tough luck for you. I’m not letting you get your way that easily. If I didn’t have anywhere else to go, I’d stay here and bug you until you fall asleep.”

She deadpans. “Then what? You’d watch me snore?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Silence.

I know I’m not being fair, but when is life ever that way? We all have to come to terms with what we’re given, and the nights I got to watch her sleep peacefully beside me in bed were some of my favorites. When I dozed next to her, it was usually the best sleep I got. I wasn’t going to tell her I slept like shit after she left.

“I’ll check in on you later,” I tell her, grabbing one of the drinks Bea slipped into the carrier. I’m a few steps away when I turn to look at her again and ask what haunts me. “Did they ever do anything to you that I don’t know about?”

Confusion twists her face as she lowers her soup again. “Who?”

I drag the tip of my tongue across my bottom lip and shift my weight. “Your parents. Did they ever… I don’t know, did they hit you?