Secrets Not Lies

Chapter Eight - One Mess of a Rehearsal

"Dan, oh my god, could you please hurry up?" Phil was saying to me though the bathroom door. He wasn't holding back on complaining about my slowness anymore as he used to.

"My straightener can only heat up so fast," I answered in an irritated tone.

"You don't even need to straighten your hair," he told me impatiently.

I scoffed. He'd never really seen my natural hair so he clearly didn't know what he was talking about.

"Yes, I do," I argued. "You're a hypocrite anyway, you straighten yours too."

"But I don't take half an hour," Phil countered and I had to admit he was right.

I stayed silent, hoping he'd get the message that'd he'd won the argument. I assumed he did when I heard his footsteps retreating from the bathroom door. I couldn't believe how I'd thought for even a moment I liked him over Brooklyn. She let me take my time getting ready while Phil just rushed and argued with me.

I took my time straightening my hair just to be malicious and when I strolled out of the bathroom half an hour later, Phil was walking from his bedroom. He squinted his eyes at me as we passed each other in the small hallway before I went into my bedroom to get dressed.

We weren't having the best day, that was for sure. I'd woken up in the morning—early, might I add—to find Phil in the kitchen eating my cereal. After I snatched the box from him, already running low on patience since I'd just gotten out of bed, he grabbed it right back. I didn't know if it was just my bitter mood that had gotten to him or something had happened, but he'd been just as sour as me the whole day.

I tugged my shirt over my head and flung it to the ground before pulling on a fresh one. I changed from sweatpants into jeans before throwing myself onto my bed. Even though we were supposed to leave to go to Chris's almost an hour ago, I laid there for a few minutes, unmoving.

There was a knock on the door followed by Phil saying something angrily, which I tuned out. I pushed myself from my warm bed before stalking toward the door. I ripped it open and was met by Phil's judgmental scowl.

"Calm down, Jesus, we can go now," I muttered sullenly.

He followed me to the entryway and I could feel his eyes burning into the back of my head. I knew that if he said another word to me I'd have to resist a strong urge to strangle him, so was grateful when he kept his mouth shut.

We pulled on our jackets and shoes before marching from the apartment.

The whole walk to Chris's was in a tense silence where I took the time to think about how annoying Phil was.

He'd been the reason I'd woken up so early in the morning, which I wasn't happy about. I didn't understand why he'd thought to make a smoothie at six in the morning with our incredibly loud blender. I was sure our neighbors were just as annoyed as I was about it.

I entered Chris's apartment building first, letting the door fall closed behind me in Phil's face. He grumbled something incoherent after he reopened it and caught up to me once I reached the stairs. We climbed them quite angrily as anyone would be able to tell by our stomping.

Phil passed me once we reached the right floor so he could open the door to Chris's apartment first, letting it fall closed like I had for him. I ripped it right back open and trudged inside.

Without any greetings whatsoever, we both plopped down into chairs at the table. Chris and Pj looked up at our surly expressions seeming slightly amused, which made my frown deepen.