My Best Friend Brother

Chapter Nine

Scarlett POV

I looked at him sternly and decided to cut to

the chase. “I’m just not impressed with people who want more money for the sake of more money and at the expense of everyone

else.” He dark, dismissive gaze shot through me like sharpened, poisoned arrows. God, why did he have to look so handsome? Couldn’t he have been born with some disfigurement that

would make me less attracted to him? It put me at a distinct disadvantage when sparring with him. “Well, in that case, you’ll be happy to know

that you’re the last person I’m looking to impress, Scarlett.” I could feel my face turn red. Why did I care so much how he felt about me?

I abruptly stood up and started to clear the

table. Mrs. Bashir gave a stern look to Annika. She rolled her eyes and then stood up reluctantly. “Let me help, Scarlett,” she offered.

Oddly, Dev stopped her. “Actually, Annika, I

wanted to talk to you for a moment.”She shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”They left the room while I continued cleaning up. I sighed. Typical Annika. Funny how she always finds a way

to get out of dish duty.

A few minutes later, I walked down the long

hall off the kitchen to use the bathroom near the study where Dev and Annika had retreated to for their chat. Why couldn’t I have used a bathroom elsewhere? While I washed my hands, I studied myself in the

mirror. Everyone told me that I was pretty, but it didn’t seem to matter to me like it did other girls my age. I knew I got my looks from my mother: her same heart-shaped face, high cheekbones, and porcelain skin that always burns in the relentless Texas sun. From old pictures, I could tell that I had her same green-blue eyes; but

I didn’t want to look like her, so I pretended I was plain. That didn’t stop guys from hitting on me, but there wasn’t anyone at school who made me feel that certain “something” I

was sure I was supposed to feel with a boy. The boys at school were such immature jackasses; the only feeling I had for them was

aversion. As I dried my hands, I heard Dev’s deep voice through the vent at the floor. He was in the next room, and I couldn’t resist eavesdropping. What did he want to tell Annika?

He never talks to her. Part of me wondered if I had something to do with it. I knelt down to the vent and smashed my cheek up

against it. I was right. Dev’s voice was irate. “Why is she even here?”

“She’s my best friend and I didn’t want her

to go to Nevada. You don’t understand that because you don’t have friends.”

“You have nothing in common. What does her

father do? Fix cars? She’s just…white trash. Remember, you become your friends,” Dev warned, as if “w*********h” were an infectious disease Annika could catch from me.

White trash.Of all the names I had been called throughout my life, this one stung the most. It was the identity I was so desperately trying to escape, but couldn’t, and through no fault of

my own. I leaned back against the bathroom wall, my heart heavy. I wished I hadn’t heard it even if I knew he thought it. Hearing it out loud confirmed my deepest, darkest fear: that I

was just like my parents, never going to amount to anything but a cheap, rusted out trailer, a high school diploma and a minimum wage

job. As hard as I fought them, the tears came.

I was alone in the world and the one place I

sought refuge now felt hostile. The pressure was too much. I rushed out of the bathroom half-blinded by the tears in my eyes. Naturally, of all the things that could happen next, I ran into someone. Into Dev. He was walking quickly down the hallway from the study when I blasted into his side. I tripped over his foot and

nearly fell, but he caught me in the nick of time, in an awkward embrace. For a moment, I forgot that he was my enemy.His touch was electric—and it was the first time I had felt it. But

the moment passed and I remembered who he really was and what he had just said about me.

I turned my face to prevent him from seeing

my tears, but I couldn’t be sure if I was successful. “Sorry,” I uttered, before rushing off. I caught a glimpse of his stunned

expression, like I was the last person he thought he would see at that moment. I thought maybe there was guilt in his eyes, or regret, but then he would be a normal person with a heart.

And I had already decided that he didn’t have

one.

The last few weeks of summer were hellish. I

worked every day at the hotel with Dev who barely could look me in the eye let alone speak to me.Thankfully, there was a glimmer of happiness that helped me get through it: Texas Monthly gave me a small interview with a renowned Texas artist and they were going to

publish it in the next issue. Every time Dev made me feel unworthy, I thought about that article and how I was going to show him one

day: I was not w*********h. Serendipitously, he was there when Annika

rushed over with the latest issue of Texas Monthly. “It’s here!” she screamed in the hotel lobby. The two elderly guests I was checking in nearly had simultaneous heart attacks.

“Sorry about that,” I said to them. “Annika,

just a moment, okay?” I handed the couple their card keys. “You’re in room 302. You can take the elevator behind the lobby.” It felt like an eternity before they finally left and I could leap out from behind the desk. It’s here. It’s

really here! Annika had the plastic wrapped issue in her hands. “Should I open it?”

I grabbed at it. “No. Let me. I just want to

savor this moment.” I held the crisp, brand new magazine to my heart and took a deep breath.

And then Dev strolled in.Moment ruined. “Annika,” he barked, “why did you scream in front of guests? You weren’t raised that way.” He glanced at me like it was obvious that my influence was taking hold. We w*********h love to make us some noise! “Sorry. I’m so excited for Scarlett! She’s in Texas Monthly!” Dev looked confused. “What do you mean?“She wrote an article, dummy. Scarlett, did you find it?”I was leafing through the pages, my hands shaking. “Found it,” I whispered as my eyes lingered over my name in print. Annika threw her arms around me. “I knew you would do it! I’m going to read it when I get back.” She looked at her watch. “Oh hell, I’m already late for the dentist.” I hugged her back before she left…before she left me alone with Dev who was standing there, observing quietly.

“You wrote an article?” he asked incredulously as “if I were a dyslexic baboon and had accomplished the impossible. Of all the people to share this moment with, and it

had to be him.“Just a small one. It’s not a big deal. I mean, it kind of is. They usually don’t publish anything from their high school interns.”

He didn’t say anything. He just looked at

me…studying me like I studied him in the office that first day he returned. What did I want him to do? Gush over me? Tell me how impressed he was? Why did I care? I smoothed out my shirt again, feeling the weight of his stare.And just like that, he turned and went back to his office. Nothing. I got nothing.What killed me was that I wanted something from him in the first place, and I hated myself for it. No, I take that back.I hated him for it.