Ignoring the lingering drowsiness spreading through her satisfied limbs, Sara forced herself to dress quickly. This whole thing was ridiculous. No one ever liked being snowed in, but her friends had planned to stay the entire weekend anyway. With the exception of Jane – whose annoyance she understood – the rest of them had no reason to be melting down like this was the last civilization on Earth.
What was wrong with everyone? They’d been there for one night, not two years.
The scene in the kitchen had a surreal quality that would be comical if it hadn’t just interrupted the most peace Sara had in five years. Michael was backed into a corner with only an aerosol hairspray-wielding Nika standing between him and both Lincoln and Veronica.
To their left, Jane stood calmly at the sink, straining the water from a pot of what appeared to be pasta.
The blonde felt Sara’s eyes and said, “What? I was hungry, found the pasta and figured I’d go ahead and make enough for everyone else.”
At what point did Jane become the lone sane person in the house?
Paul gave words to her thoughts better than she could hope to. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? I feel like I keep walking in on a parade of stupid this weekend.”
“Everything’s totally under control.” Nika smiled and brandished the hairspray can when Lincoln inched forward. “You can go back to whatever you were doing. We’re fine here.”
“No,” Veronica growled, “I’ll be fine once I get my hands on that jackass.”
“That jackass is my brother and no one’s getting their hands on him until after I rip him from limb to limb.”
Paul caught Sara’s eye and she nodded in wordless agreement. She pulled Veronica back while Paul struggled to get Lincoln under control, giving Nika a measure of breathing room. She may not know why everyone was suddenly going after Michael, but she wondered whether Nika would still leap to his defense if she knew about the moves he’d been making on her.
What she did know was that Michael didn’t deserve a girlfriend – or fiancé – like Nika Volek, just as he hadn’t deserved Sara back when she thought he had her.
“You know, I’m inclined to let you beat the hell out of your brother right now since he’s been a prick to Sara since he got here, but how about someone tells me why everyone else wants to tear him apart?”
Something told Sara that if Paul knew what Michael had really been trying to do since yesterday, no one would be able to hold him back – Nika’s makeshift mace notwithstanding.
“He’s a shitty brother and he crossed the one line you don’t cross, Kellerman. Let. Me. Go.”
Veronica chose that moment to test Sara’s grip on her, her hair flicking Sara in the eye in the process. In the instant her grip wavered, she advanced on Michael. Nika sprayed her with a mist of sticky liquid. If Sara’s eyes hadn’t been closed, it would be her eyes covered in the hairspray, not her eyelids.
“Of all people, Nika…How can you be defending him right now?” Veronica’s tone was murderous, but at least she wasn’t going after Michael in the time it took Sara to get her eyes to stop watering.
“Because we’d barely started sleeping together. Nothing was serious.” Her gaze flickered from Veronica to Lincoln then back to Veronica. “What I don’t understand is why the two of you are freaking out over this.”
Sara could see the effort it was taking Paul to keep Lincoln under control after Nika’s question. “My brother tried to sleep with my girl. Damned right I’m going to be pissed off.”
Whoa. What?
“Ummm…bro, are you forgetting that you actually did sleep with Nika?”
Nika glared back at Michael. “You are so not helping right now.”
Michael rolled his eyes and reclined back against the counter, arms folded. “And you really think the magic can of hairspray is, babe?”
“Might want to rethink turning on your one ally, sweetie.”
What was this? Was Michael trying to make the rounds through the group to sleep with all his female friends? It might be a double-standard, but it barely bothered her to know that Nika had done the same thing. With Michael…she’d offered up her virginity to him because of the supposed feelings he had for her. Knowing that it hadn’t been real was bad enough; knowing he later tried to pull the same game on Nika and Veronica…
It was different. A lot different.
Sara fought to keep the waver out of her voice when she spoke. “Would anyone like to give an answer that makes some semblance of sense?”
Jane walked over, emptying the jar of marinara into a saucepan. “I was only half paying attention, but it sounded like Linc’s brother tried to hook up with her one night while she was drunk and home from college during one of the 9,000 times they’ve apparently broken up.” She tossed the jar in the trash and stirred the sauce with her free hand. “I must’ve missed the part of the conversation where it made sense to announce it to everyone.”
Michael glared first at Jane, then shifted his anger back to Veronica. “I wasn’t announcing anything. I was simply stating that she had no right to be as mad about Linc sleeping with you when they weren’t together when she’d done plenty he could be pissed about if he knew.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have said a word about it if she hadn’t tried to turn it back around like it was all me that night.”
“That is such bullshit, Michael Scofield and you know it!” Veronica’s voice echoed through the room. “You’ve been looking for a way to hurt me for years. I saw that little gleam in your eyes when you said it. Don’t pretend this is you being the wronged good guy when it’s really your way to finally get revenge.”
“You know, you shouldn’t call it revenge. It’s just your own bad karma coming back to bite you in the ass. If you hadn’t stuck your nose in a relationship that didn’t involve you in the slightest, none of us would be standing here right now.” His voice went icy calm. “And we both know it.”
“I know no such thing. You didn’t have a relationship for me to stick my nose in. You were using and manipulating her. Someone had to stop you. That’s what I know.”
Dread crept into the pit of Sara’s stomach. She had the sinking feeling this whole thing was somehow tied to Veronica’s interference to keep Michael away from her after her mother’s death.
The can of hairspray wavered in Nika’s hand. “What are you two talking about?”
© 2010, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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Oh god I love sarcastic Michael…. Magic hairspray lmao
Yep, we’re staying in the present of the story for the next chapter. No jumping around just yet. But I can’t say for sure that we’ll get all the answers on what really happened between Mike and V. There might be another skeleton to drag out of the closet.
Is Mikey really a bad guy who’s using everyone for his own benefit or is this just the perception of him based on other things he did? Hard to say. (But we already know what V did to keep Mike away from Sara. We covered that in the chapter where she told Sara about it after she thought she was pregnant.)
One thing I can answer for sure…the next chapter is already scheduled for Friday, so even if my week totally falls apart like it did this week, the chapter won’t be late.
Oh my god! What are they talking about?? Are we close to find out?? Pleaseee I have to know!!
So, this is all Veronica fault??
Michael really tried to sleep with every girl.. but I’m wondering if it depends on what Veronica did to keep him away from Sara..
In the next chapter we’ll still be in present of the story? Can’t wait for more