Only Fools

Chapter Thirty Eight

Me: Fucking bitch.

Margot: What?

Me: You know what you did.

Margot: I do?

Me: You fucking left.

Tears well in my eyes as I glance at the empty space in the bed beside me, but I quickly blink them away before turning back to look at my phone in an attempt to will her to respond faster.

I shouldn't have expected anything different this time.

Margot: Come downstairs dumbass

Furrowing my eyebrows, I swing my legs over the side of the bed before hopping down. I tug on a sweatshirt from a pile of clothes next to my bed before sleepily walking across my room and then proceeding down the stairs and to the kitchen where Margot is standing in front of the stove with her back to me.

"Hey," I say shyly as I cross my arms over my chest.

"Hey," she responds, though she doesn't turn to look at me as she continues to cook whatever she's preparing on the stove. Hesitantly, I drag my feet over to stand beside her and begin to watch as she methodically flips pancakes before sliding them onto a plate on the countertop beside her.

Not exactly sure what to say to her, I begin to set the small kitchen table for the two of us. After a couple minutes of the only sounds being the scraping of the spatula against the bottom of the pan and the clanging of plates as I set them in the table, I sit down in my seat without a word as Margot turns off the burner with a satisfying click and then proceeds to bring the plate of pancakes over to set them down on the table between us.

"These are really good. Thank you," I finally break the silence after I take my first bite of the pancakes.

"You actually thought I just left you?" she asks me.

"I.... yeah?"

"Yeah?"

Letting out a sigh, I shake my head, not knowing what else to say about it.

"Why?" she asks me quietly.

"I just.... I woke up and I realized that I was alone in my room...." I tell Margot quietly.

"So you assumed the worst?"

"I'm really good at it," I respond with a small smile that's very clearly fake.

"You don't have to do that with me," Margot attempts to reassure me, yet I still furrow my eyebrows in response, wanting her to explain herself further.

"I'll only leave if you want me to," she tells me, though it sounds more like a promise.

"Don't do that," I say quietly as I begin to mindlessly push my pancakes around with my fork.

"I just-"

"No. We just started this thing. We haven't even gone on a proper date yet, so don't just try and tell me what you think I want to hear because for all I know you could just decide that you don't like me as anything more than a friend and I'm suddenly cast to the friend zone. Except, it's something much worse than the friend zone because I'm going to be stuck still liking you while you try to ignore it, which creates a rift that we can never overcome," I ramble on anxiously.

"That won't happen," Margot says, shaking her head.

"I don't know that," I counter.

"Then we'll go on a date. I'm both free today and ready to prove you wrong,"

"It's going to take more than one date, Margot,"

"I know, but I figured we should start this thing as soon as possible,"