Stuck In Savannah

14. Like I Need a Thorn in My Side

Chapter 14: Like I Need a Thorn in My Side

I called Hannah on my way out of Connor’s house. She picked up on the second ring. Almost like she was waiting for my call. On a second thought, this was probably exactly what she was doing.

“Hey,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

“So I just talked to Connor,” I told her, skipping all the familiarities as I headed towards my car and unlocked it.

“What?” Hannah asked incredulously, perking up. “Why would you go to Connor? I thought you were going to talk to Margot, not him!”

“Yeah, about that,” I agreed, my voice trailing off uncertainly as I sucked on my lower lip and got into my car. I knew she wasn’t going to like what I was about to say next.

“What did you do?” Hannah asked accusingly, almost like she knew whatever I’d done wasn’t good. Sometimes I hated that she knew me so well. Sometimes I just wished my private thoughts stayed private.

“I sort of told him that Margot has a thing for him,” I admitted and for a second there, Hannah was dead silent, probably rendered speechless.

“Sort of?” she echoed, disbelief seeping into every word. “How do you sort of tell someone something? Did you or didn’t you?” she asked, sort of getting fed up with me. Maybe not even sort of. More like completely.

“Well, I did,” I corrected myself, then quickly went on before she had her opening to jump in, “but it’s okay because he already knew.”

“He knew?” she repeated, sounding distracted. “How?”

“Yeah, he did,” I confirmed, starting the engine, “but I don’t know how he figured it out. Bottom line is,” I paused to take a deep breath, “that I wasn’t the one to break it to him, so that cat was out of the bag way before I came into the picture.”

Instead of sounding relieved, Hannah groaned out loud in reply. “I don’t even know why you went to him in the first place! What were you thinking, Sav?” she asked angrily as I pulled out of Connor’s driveway and headed home.

“I just… wait, why are you yelling at me?” I shouted back at her, wondering why she sounded so mad at me and I knew she tended to be loud, but this was a different kind of loud – the mad kind, not the ‘god-Sav-you-and-your-big-mouth’ kind of mad I was used to. Even though she was the one everyone considered the resident gossip queen.

“Because you just did the opposite of what you said you would do! God, Savannah…” Hannah snapped back at me, then sighed into the speaker and I could almost picture her rubbing her temples as she spoke.

“Listen,” she went on before I had a chance to justify my reasons, “I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you later,” she said quickly before the line went dead.

I stared at the phone in my hand before I huffed and threw it on the passenger seat. This wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.

I drove around the neighborhood for a while because I didn’t feel like getting home. It was already getting dark outside by the time I got there and I was surprised to find Margot waiting for me by the front steps.

“Hey,” I greeted, walking towards her, “I was just about to call you,” I said as she got up to her feet and dusted herself off.

“Why?” she asked simply, her eyes hardening as she held my gaze and I came to a halt two feet away from her.

“Um, what do you mean?” I asked, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.

“Why would you tell him?” she asked, but she didn’t even sound angry with me. She merely sounded upset and unsettled, like she couldn’t figure out why I’d go behind her back.