The Bad Girl's Good Side

Chapter 16: "Not Yet Prepared To See You."

Chapter 16: "Not Yet Prepared To See You."

"Are you lost?" I ask the guy staring-more like fiercely glaring-at me with a disheveled look and in the same clothes he had worn during our stiff encounter earlier today.

"May I come in?" He grits out with a stiffened jaw and pushes himself past me and into my apartment without even waiting for my permission to enter.

How dare he?!

"What are you doing here, Tristan?" I shut the door and glare at the figure before me with arms crossed. "You can't just rock up here at eleven p.m. without even telling me." Then it dawns upon me that he never knew my apartment number because I never showed nor told him. "And how do you know my apartment number?"

A palpable, thick, and tension-filled silence then pervades the atmosphere since the idiot decides not to answer any of my inquiries. Instead, his heavy breathing is all I can hear which falls against my escalating heartbeat.

"You were supposed to come only tomorrow." He finally answers me after a pregnant silence, well, more like firmly states. "What are you doing here now?" He takes threatening steps towards me until his chest is almost colliding with my huffed one.

"And you expect me to answer your questions?" I snort at him, refusing to comply with his demands.

"Yours are not important," he rolls his eyes.

This guy!

"Yeah, 'cause my opinions or inquiries never matter," now it's my turn to roll my eyes and drop my arms.

"That's not true," his expression darkens as if the offense was directed to him. "They do matter." I feel his hand gently grab mine, and being the idiot I am, I don't resist. "Just, right now, I need you to answer my questions." His face morphs into a hardened glare, making me forget about his gentle hold.

"How about you ask your best friends since they seem to tell you everything," I pull my hand away from his and increase the intensity of the glare he has directed towards me, without a wither in the contact.

"Answer me," he growls and steps impossibly closer to me, causing his heavy breath to fan my forehead.

"Ask. Your. Friends." I enunciate every words so that the message can seep through his thick skull.

His gaze shifts to my lips for a quick second and mine does the same. Then, in an agonizingly tardy manner, the space between our lips seems to decrease with each slow breath. His lips then brush against mine, but I freeze at the contact before pulling away to gain back my sanity.

"You caught me off guard, you know?" He chuckles without a tint of humor, and shuts his eyes before tilting his head so it faces the ceiling. "You coming here today. I was not yet prepared to see you." He explains further and then throws himself on my couch and buries himself in his hands.

"Prepare yourself for what?" I crease my eyebrows, but make no attempt to step closer to him, still affected by the moment of vulnerability we shared a minute ago.

"You."

Cue the loud gulp.

Okay... That's awfully vague. What does he mean by saying he had to prepare himself for me? He's making me sound like some disaster which suddenly occurred in his life. Was he trying to brace himself for the impact? And am I the impact?