But the older I got, the less my coping mechanisms worked.
I needed purpose, and the scallops had become a symbol of that. Perfecting them was a goal, and goals kept me from losing myself in the darkness.
The problem was,notperfecting them fucked with my head too. I couldn’t figure out what was worse—floating aimlessly or failing spectacularly. Either way, I couldn’t distill my feelings into words for Xavier.
Thankfully, an incoming call saved me from making up another bullshit excuse.
I was so relieved I picked up without checking the caller ID, but I tensed again when a familiar voice flowed over the line. “Sebastian Laurent, picking up on the first ring. Wonders never cease.”
“I’ll always pick up on the first ring for you, Sal.” I pushed my spiraling thoughts aside and slipped effortlessly into my Maya voice. Cool. Detached. Amused. Anything that hid how much she got under my skin. “All you have to do is call.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“You’re the one calling me on a Friday night.” I turned my back to Xavier, whose sly smile had returned when I said “Sal.” Whatever he thought this was, it wasn’t. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m only calling you because I have no choice,” Maya said. “If I wait for you to take the initiative, this collaboration will be dead in the water before it starts.”
That was fine with me.
“You might be fine with that,” she continued with eerie precision. “But I won’t let your lack of work ethic affect my track record, so I’m calling to set up a time for us to meet and hash out the details. I’ve already emailed you a proposed work schedule and initial ideas for the launch.”
“You were always an overachiever.”
“And you were always an underachiever.”
“Yet we’ve achieved roughly the same things so far. So who’s really getting the short end of the stick here?”
Her sputter of indignation brought a small grin to my face.
“Seriously, we’re already behind schedule,” she said after she calmed down. “It’s been a week, and we have nothing concrete to show for it. I sent you a couple of time slots for Monday. Pick one that works and come prepared with ideas.”
“I’m always prepared. Just don’t get mad when my ideas are better than yours.”
“Please.” Maya scoffed. “You couldn’t find a good idea if it crawled out of your closet and punched you in the face.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon,” I drawled. “See you Monday, Sal. Looking forward to it.”
She hung up.
My grin widened. I pocketed my phone and turned to find Xavier wearing a shit-eating grin of his own.
“What?” I placed the now-empty plate in the dishwasher—apparently, he’d finished off the food while I’d been on the phone—along with other utensils and cookware.
The club opened soon, and I wanted to get everything cleaned up before Xavier went downstairs to play host.
“Nothing.” He pushed off the counter and helped me with the trash. “But I can’t wait for your project updates. Making you two work together is like putting two starving lions in the same room. Only one of you is coming out alive.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. We’ve done school projects together before.”
“That was a long time ago, and you guys argued so much, everyone requested to transfer to another group.”
I shrugged. “Not everyone can handle the pressure.”
At the risk of sounding like an egotistical jerk, there was onlyone person who had ever kept up with me.
I might feel purposeless, but I still excelled at almost everything society deemed “important”—school, sports, work. I beat my peers in any of those fields without breaking a sweat—unless my opponent was Maya.
She was the only one who challenged me. Even when she lost a battle in our ongoing war, she didn’t make it easy. It intrigued me almost as much as it pissed me off.