Reluctantly Perfect: An Enemies to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Perfectly Imperfect Love Series Book 5)

by S. E. Rose

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Clark

  I pull up to the sorority house so that Megan can grab a few things.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she says as she goes inside, leaving me on the front porch to wait for her.

  As the door is closing, I notice how dark it is inside.

  “Where is everyone?” I ask with a hand on the door.

  “Oh, uh, some party. It’s fine. I’ll be quick,” she assures me as she heads upstairs.

  Something about the sorority house being this dark puts me on high alert. I’ve never seen a sorority house with all the lights out, ever, not once in three-plus years. I step inside and shut the door, as my instincts tell me that something isn’t right.

  I listen but only hear the rustle of what I assume is Megan in her room. I flick on a light switch and freeze.

  Written on the wall in spray paint are the words, “Die Bitch.” The place looks ransacked.

  “Megan!” I yell with my thumb hovering over the emergency call feature on my phone.

  “I’m up here,” she answers. Her calm voice soothes me as I slow my pace and round the corner into her room. Her room looks trashed.

  “I bet it was fucking frat pledges pulling a prank,” she says with a huff as she tries to find what she was looking for.

  “I…let’s get out of here and call the campus police,” I urge. “It’s ransacked downstairs too.”

  “Really?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

  I look around her room. It’s messy but nothing looks destroyed aside from her bedding that has been shredded.

  “Come on. Grab your things. You are staying with me,” I command.

  She stops and looks over at me. “You need to calm down.”

  “I am calm,” I say through gritted teeth. “We should get out of here and call the police.”

  “You are overreacting, seriously. I mean, don’t you remember last year when our rooms got trashed because ‘your’ brothers decided to pull a prank?”

  “This…feels different. And it definitely wasn’t my fraternity.”

  “Whatever, you need to chill. We can call the police in a bit,” she says calmly.

  I yank her from her room and down the stairs. She protests and tries to get out of my grasp.

  “Damn it, Clark! Let me go,” she squawks as I close the door behind us.

  “Call them now!”

  She holds out her phone and presses the number for the campus police. “You OK now?” she asks in an annoyed tone.

  I lean against the pillar of the front porch and listen as she explains that her sorority house has been vandalized. The cops tell her to wait there and that they are sending over a car.

  She presses end on the call and looks at me. “Happy?”

  “Yes,” I reply in a bitter tone.

  She groans. “Just go home. I’ll talk to you later. I need to handle this,” she says as she leans against the pillar on the other side of the porch. We both stare at each other. I want to yell. She’s the most frustrating woman that I’ve ever known, and I have three older sisters, so that’s saying something.

  “Fine,” I say in my most annoyed voice.

  “Fine,” she retorts.

  I see a campus cop car roll up and I watch as Megan pushes off the pillar and walks toward them. I follow her a second later. She’s already explaining things to one of the two officers.

  I look at the second one. “Do you need a statement from me or anything?” I ask.

  He shrugs and asks what I saw. I tell him and he essentially dismisses me.

  I look over at Megan but she’s now leading the first officer up to the house.

  Fuck it. If she doesn’t want me here, then I’ll go home. I storm back to my car and drive home, blaring my music and glaring at students who are walking past my car like some sort of petulant teenager.

  By the time I get home, I’m beyond fucking pissed. I’m pissed that Megan didn’t take the threat seriously. I’m pissed that she blew off my commands that were meant to keep her safe. I’m pissed that she’s pissed. I pound my steering wheel in frustration before turning my car off and heading inside. I’m thankful to find the apartment empty. The guys must be at the frat party. I decide to hit the small gym in the basement of our building. This building doesn’t have much, no pool, no fancy party rooms, no security guard, but it does have a laundry room and gym, and right now, I need to run or bench-press or something, anything to get my mind off the irritating woman that I want to kiss some sense into but also want to scream at for being such a stubborn ass. Maybe this isn’t going to work after all.

  Megan

  By the time the campus police leave, some of my sisters arrive, the police are done with taking pictures and filing a vandalism complaint.

  “What in the fucking hell happened here?” Stella asks, her mouth gaping open.

  I shrug. “Honestly, I think it was like last year’s pledge incident.”

  Stella looks around at the mess that I’ve started cleaning up, her eyes lock on the graffiti. “Wow, that’s fucked up if it was pledges,” she states.

  I shrug again. “Whatever, let’s just get all this shit cleaned up. The police have everything they need.”

  “The campus police?” Stella asks with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yep.”

  She rolls her eyes. “You might as well have reported this to the math club.”

  “We have a math club?” I ask because honestly, that sounds like something that I would have joined had I known about it.

  Groaning, Stella starts to pick up cushion stuffing. “Jesus, I love you, but you take nerd to a whole new level. I don’t fucking know if we have a math club, I was just trying to make a point. The campus cops aren’t going to do shit. They are just going to file this away and move on.”

  “Whatever. Fucking Clark acted like a serial killer was here. He’s such a drama king.”

  Stella stops and looks at me. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, he practically dragged me down the stairs and out the door and then demanded that I call the campus police,” I huff.

  “That’s sweet. He was protecting you,” Stella says.

  “Right. I mean, why does he think I can’t handle myself? He’s being so…so…ugh, this is why I haven’t dated anyone in forever. I’m a grown-ass woman and can take care of myself,” I snip as I set an unbroken vase back up on a table.

  Stella steps toward me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Megs, I get it. You take care of yourself and have for a long time. But you know what?”

  “What?” I mumble.

  “If I had been here with you, I probably would have done the same thing that Clark did. As your friend, I would have wanted to protect you too…and me.”

  I let her words sink in as she stares into my eyes. I turn around, suddenly overcome with emotion. Stella is my friend, a real friend. Clark cares about me, really cares about me. I’ve isolated myself from having people who loved me for so long that the torrent of feelings coming at me like a tidal wave is now too much.

  “Hey,” Stella says softly as she forces me to turn around and pulls me into a hug. And that’s when my emotional dam breaches. I let go and start sobbing. I sob for all the years I lost trying to be perfect, trying to be the very best, the very smartest. It’s like Stella understands that I just need to be held. She doesn’t speak but just gently rubs my back.

  Eventually, my eyes become swollen, and no more tears fall. I hiccup as I pull away from her. I realize her shirt is wet with my tears and snot.

  I place a hand over my face in horror. “I’m so sorry,” I say as I grab a smooshed tissue box on the floor.

  She giggles and gives me a big smile. “Megan, it’s OK. I can change shirts and, clearly, you needed a good cry. I mean, shit, how long have you been holding all that in?”

  I shrug and look around. A few of our sisters are glancing over at me from the kitchen and dining room. I start laughing at how ridiculous I must look. “
I swear, I’m fine, everyone. Nothing to see here. Just your normal senior year breakdown.”

  A few of them laugh and one by one they get back to cleaning up. I look at Stella again. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”

  She nods. “But I think you can fix it?”

  “Y-you think?” I stammer.

  “Sure. Shit, have you not seen how he looks at you?”

  “I…no.” I frown. “How does he look at me?” I try to think about it because Clark just looks at me like, well, I don’t really know.

  Stella steps toward me. I look at her. I’ve looked at Stella a thousand times, but tonight, I truly see just how beautiful she is. Her dark curly hair is braided. Her lips have that awesome crimson shade of lipstick she loves. Her dark skin is flawless. She searches my eyes with her dark ones, and I swear she sees inside my soul. “He looks at you like you are a glacial-fed stream and he’s a lost hiker who hasn’t had water in two days. That boy loves you.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I state skeptically.

  “Trust me. He does.” She says it as though there isn’t an argument to the contrary.

  I reach out and grab her hand. “Stella, I suck as a friend. I’ve been so absorbed in trying to ace all my classes, get the damn internship, and live some perfect life, that I didn’t bother looking around at the perfect life I already had. I’m sorry. You’ve been an awesome friend to me these past two and a half years.”

  Now her eyes well up and she smiles. “I fucking knew you’d come around eventually. Damn, it took you long enough.” She pulls her hand away from mine and punches me playfully.

  I laugh. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”

  She pulls me in for another hug and we both squeeze the other. “Never. We’re sisters. And besides, it’s not like you weren’t ever fun. We’ve had some great nights playing chess. No one else would ever play chess with me. And when I wanted to nerd out and watch documentaries, you were always there with popcorn or ice cream. And there was that time that I wanted to do the sleepover at the air and space museum, and you jumped on the opportunity while everyone else laughed at me.”

  I pull back and roll my eyes. “They were stupid. We got free astronaut ice cream. Like seriously, that alone made it worth it.”

  We both start laughing before we hug again and sway from side to side.

  “Uh, ladies, I hate to interrupt this love fest, but we’re gonna need more hands on deck in here,” Kendra’s voice rings out from the kitchen. We walk in to find the fridge trashed.

  “Fuck,” I mutter. “My ice cream.”

  I feel Stella’s hand on my shoulder. “Megs, you have bigger problems than melted ice cream. You need to figure out how to fix things with Clark. Because men like him do not come along twice in a lifetime.”

  I smirk at that because Clark did come along twice in a lifetime for me. And she’s right, there’s no way in hell that I’m letting him get away the second time.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Clark

  Me: Women are so frustrating!

  Lanie: Hey! I take offense to that.

  Di: Uh-oh. That sounds like a problem in Loveland.

  Kent: I plead the fifth.

  Tabby: You better fucking plead the fifth. Also, go change your daughter.

  Kylie: You all live in the same house. Just use that fancy intercom system. And what’s with the lady-hate, C-Dog?

  Me: Why is it that I try to help a woman out and she completely goes ape shit on me?

  Lanie: You’re gonna have to be more specific than that.

  Di: Yeah, we need more details.

  Me: Someone vandalized Meg’s sorority house. I made her leave and call the police and she got all pissy with me.

  Lanie: Like, how?

  Me: Like, she said she could take care of herself and that I was overstepping.

  Di: Were you?

  Me: NO!! I was worried about her safety.

  Lanie: Did you tell her that?

  Me: I mean, yeah, sort of.

  Kylie: OK. First, us independent ladies hate when men try to control our lives. Second, maybe she felt like she had things under control and just took your help as typical patriarchal behavior.

  Kent: WTF? What does that even mean?

  Tabby: Oh, example, like last night when you told me I should get up and deal with Vera because I’m her mother.

  Kent: You are her mother.

  Di: Anyhow, you guys are young. Figuring out how to be an independent woman isn’t exactly easy. Everything in society is set up to judge you. It sucks.

  Lanie: True that.

  Kylie: See?

  Tabby: I concur. And multiply that with being in your early twenties and just about to graduate. You want to think you have it figured out because if you don’t, that shit’s scary.

  Me: No shit, Sherlock. It is scary.

  Tabby: Yes, but now think about being a girl. We can’t just walk to our cars at night. We have to put our keys in between our fingers. We can’t just leave a drink on the bar and turn around because someone could roofie us.

  Lanie: Ugh, Tabby Cat, you are so right.

  Kylie: Now, I’m depressed. Levi, go buy us ice cream.

  Levi: What? I didn’t say anything.

  Kylie: ICE CREAM!

  Levi: On it. Leaving now.

  Brixton: I concur with the ladies. Girl power. Go, females. Vaginas rule the world. Slinking back to my corner now.

  Kent: Can I come with you?

  Garrett: Me three.

  Di: We aren’t trying to shit on you all. We’re just explaining to the baby bro how hard it is to be a young woman. All the men on this chat are the good guys, most of the time. OK, sometimes you are all asses. But we still love you.

  Me: Now I feel like an ass.

  Di: Good. Then our pep talk worked. Go get your Megladon. Also, while we are all here, I think we should paint the family room mint green.

  Kent: Fuck no.

  Lanie: What about like a seafoam green?

  Kylie: I say we just go with bright colors. Maybe like an accent wall?

  Kent: NO!

  Me: You guys pick. I suck at colors. But…if we are voting, I vote for seafoam.

  Kent: I hate you.

  Me: Can you feel the love tonight?

  Kent: Refer to my last text.

  Kylie: Whatever. We can talk about it this weekend.

  Me: You all have fun with that. I have to go fix things with my lady.

  I grin and I toss my phone on the counter and put some popcorn in the microwave.

  “No pussy tonight?” Grif’s voice says from behind me.

  I turn and find him standing with his arms crossed.

  “Nope. Meg and I had a fight.”

  “Uh-oh, problems in paradise?”

  I shrug. “I think we just miscommunicated, maybe. We need a night to cool off.”

  “Good, because I’m without a lady this evening and I need to blow some shit up.” He motions to our video game console.

  I nod. “Yep, grab the beers, I got the popcorn. Let’s kill our feelings with booze and video games because we are young and reckless.”

  He fist-bumps me and takes a six-pack of beer out of the fridge. It hits me that if I move out after the end of the semester, this might be one of our last nights doing this. God, I hate when things end, I just hope that they aren’t going to end with Megan and me.

  Megan

  I pace my room again. I think this is maybe the three hundredth time I’ve walked across it since I finished cleaning up an hour ago. It’s late now. Our house mom is here and there is massive drama, of course. Apparently, she has to contact our national headquarters and there’s talk of adding security measures. I shake my head at the irony of just discovering college fun and now being forced to live in a lockdown situation.

  Sighing, I stop pacing when my phone buzzes. I look over at my bed and slowly step toward it. It’s a text from an unknown number. I hesitate but eventually swipe to see the message.
>
  Unknown caller: Hey, Megan! It’s Kylie Moore. I heard my brother was a jackass tonight. Please know that us Moore women have set him straight. He needed a good talking-to, but he’s cool now. It was great to see you this weekend and I hope you won’t be a stranger anymore. Feel free to call or text anytime.

  I stare at the text for a long time. I wonder what she is up to at two in the morning. Kylie was always nice to me when we were kids, but we only played together for a few short years before she became a teenager and deemed Clark and me as cartoon-watching babies. There were only a little over three years between her and Connie, so they did hang out a bit more especially in high school. Kent I never hung out with much, and Lanie and Di were only around as babysitters. I’m not really surprised Clark told his siblings about our fight, but it does annoy me that it’s Kylie texting me and not him. Maybe he feels bad? That could work in my favor.

  I sit down and contemplate what I should do. I finally decide to call Kylie since she is clearly awake. If anyone can help me, it’s gonna be another Moore.

  “Hello?” Kylie’s voice answers.

  “Hey. Uh, it’s—”

  “Megan. I know it’s you. I saved your number in my phone.”

  “Oh, right,” I say as I make little circles on the floor of my bedroom with my big toe.

  “What’s up?” Kylie asks.

  “I’m…do you have a minute to chat?”

  “Sure. I was out with my friends and just got home. Levi is passed out and I’m still wide awake.”

  I take a deep breath. “I’m guessing you know that Clark and I had a fight tonight since you texted me.”

  “I do.”

  “Well, I…maybe overreacted to some things he said,” I start explaining. “And I just was curious if you think I should wait to talk to him or not?”

  Kylie laughs. “You two are perfect for each other. Give him a night to process and call him tomorrow.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. It sounds like he was an overprotective ass, and you were an overly sensitive woman and those two do not make good bedfellows. And for the record, I do think he was just trying to protect you because he really, really likes you.”