Free The Last Thing by Briana Gaitan Page A

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present. I squinted up at the white ceiling.  Large tears spilled down my
freshly cleansed face as I laid on the bathroom floor. Was I crying? No, I was
sobbing uncontrollably. This was why I didn’t think about Bash. I never thought
about him or the past. This always happened. He was a reminder of how my life
had gone terribly wrong. The guilt weighed heavily on my shoulders.
    The bathroom door cracked open just slightly. In popped Chase,
sliding in through the crack and shutting it behind him. Startled by his
presence, I scrambled up from the floor and hid my face so that I could wipe
the tears away.
    “What do are you doing? This is the woman’s bathroom?”
    “Quinn, are you okay? Your coworker told me you were in the
bathroom. I thought I heard crying and I—I wanted to make sure you weren’t
hurt.” There was genuine concern in his voice, but he was an actor. It was
probably all an act.
    “What if I’d been peeing?  You can’t just barge into the
bathroom like that.”
    “You’re not peeing, and I didn’t barge in. I slipped in.”
    “What do you care? You acted like you didn’t even know me
back there.”
    “I know. I was mad.”
       “I’m fine. Please go. I want to be alone,” I told him with
my back turned to him. This was humiliating. Here I was, crying over an
ex-boyfriend in front of the father of my child.
    “Quinn, I hope you’re not crying because of how mean I was
back there. I’m a complete jackass.”
    I laughed at him and smiled before agreeing.
     “You’re a jackass.” Suddenly, things didn’t seem so bad
anymore. I wiped away my tears and turned around to face him.
    “Look. I came to find you because I felt bad for pretending
like I didn’t know you. I was acting childish… Dammit, I’m not good with
apologies.  I don’t usually have to do things like this.”
    “Let’s just forget it okay. And FYI I’m not crying because of
you.”
    “Did someone hurt you?” he asked. The muscles in his neck
tightened and he frowned at me. He reached out and pushed a stray piece of hair
off my face.
    I couldn’t help but feel a bit of delight from the way he was
acting. Maybe Chase wasn’t as conceited as I’d originally thought. My eyes
traveled from his face down to his broad shoulders. I let myself think about
what his skin had done to me. I even wondered if he still smelt like mints.
    Bad idea, Quinn. Don’t go there again.
    “No,” I shook my head, “I’ve got a lot going on. Not
everything in this world revolves around you, ya know.” My words were cruel,
but we hardly knew each other and it wasn’t any of his business anyway. I
pushed past him to open the bathroom door, but spun around when something
tugged on my arm.
    “Please tell me you forgive me, I don’t think I could live knowing
that you hate me.”
    He dramatically put his hand over his heart and stuck out his
bottom lip. Normally, I would have rolled my eyes, but he looked so cute
standing there. Like a little lost puppy.  Maybe I should give in before he
started humping my leg.
    “Oh, you would survive, but you’re forgiven.” I was letting
him off the hook too easy, but I didn’t want to fight anymore. I wanted us to
get along. I figured he’d accept my answer and go on his way, but he didn’t. He
took a deep breath and opened his mouth like he was trying to gather the
courage to say something important.
    “Why didn’t you ever call me back?” he blurted out.
    I didn’t know what to say. Did I blame the whiskey? No, I
wasn’t that wasted. Did I blame my fear of commitment? Possibly. We both knew
the answer to his question. He didn’t want me.
    “And you never called me back either. You promised.”
    “I was busy.”
    “You don’t like me. You only like the idea of me. You think
I’m fascinating and different from the other girls you spend your days with.
Even if I’d called you back, nothing would have changed. We may have exchanged
a few flirty text messages, but that would