You Had Me at "I Hate You"

Lincoln's crappy car pulled around the corner. I got up and hung my head, waiting on the curb for him to drive up.

He flung the passenger door open from the driver's side, and ordered:

"Get in."

I did so, and he sat there for a moment, white-kuncking the steering wheel.

I sniffed a bit more, and refused to look at him.

He opened his mouth and took a breath to say something, but he let it out. He twisted around in his seat to face me, and then repeated the same maneuver.

He took a sudden breath, and then let it out.
A breath in, and let it out.

Finally, after thinking about it for a few seconds, he came up with,

"Sorry."

A verbal tidal wave cascaded out of my mouth. Tears were flowing freely, and I didn't even bother to reach up to wipe them away.

"Oh, Lincoln! I'm so glad you said that! I can't believe you thought I would ever dream of turning in that article! Did you look at the date? It was months old! I wrote it when I was angry at the two of you! That was before I knew you both so well, though. Now, I wouldn't even think about writing something that had any potential to hurt you. And when you were yelling... I was so upset! And then I came to Aiden's, and there was Naomi at the door-"

"WHAT?"

Oh. Right. I'd forgotten that he didn't know exactly who the other woman was...

"Um... Your girlfriend... my boyfriend..." I said in a very small voice.
"I should have known."

He actually didn't seem too upset. It was more like he was angry at himself for not foreseeing it. He whipped his head around to face the open road, glaring at it. His fingers were shaking with the force of his grip of the steering wheel.

"L-Linc?" I asked, recovering. I wiped at my eyes. "You okay?"

Without warning, he put the car into drive, and took off. We careened up the block, and pulled up outside Aiden's house. Linc slammed on the brakes so hard that my seat-belt was caught in the safety.

I let out a strangled cry.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded.
Linc didn't answer. He ripped open my car door and leaned over me, unbuckling my seat-belt.

"No!" I shouted. "No way! I never want to see that slimy mother-"
He tugged on my wrist.
"No! Get off me!"

He huffed in annoyance. His mouth was a paper thin line, and his fists were clenched. His face had gone quite red, and his eyes had an evil glow about them.

"Suit yourself," he replied, and charged up the walkway.

I twisted around in my seat to get a better view of what was going on. Linc pounded on the door with an angry fist.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Aiden, answer the door!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Answer this goddamned door!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"YOU FILTHY SON OF A BITCH, ANSWER THE D-"
"WHAT?"

The door flew open, and there Aiden stood, looking angry.

Without another word, Lincoln reeled back, and punched him in the jaw. Aiden, who was taken by surprise, stumbled a few steps, and landed on his backside. Linc stepped into the house, picked him up by the collar of his wrinkled shirt, and hauled him to his feet.

Oh my God!

I jumped out of the heap of metal that Linc called a car, and raced to the door.

"Boys! Boys, stop it!" I cried, and yanked on the neck of Linc's shirt. He paused in mid-punch to shake me off of him.

Aiden took this momentary distraction as an advantage, and swung at Linc. His fist connected with the side of his head, and Linc blinked in surprise. To counter, he socked my ex in the stomach. Aiden doubled over, once again, falling to the ground.

"LINCOLN!" I screeched, beating uselessly at his back. "Cut it out!"

"Did you think you could have both at the same time?!" Linc roared, aiming a kick at Aiden. "HUH? IS THAT WHAT YOU THOUGHT?!"

Aiden rolled over, dodging the kick.

"No! Stop!" I shouted in vain.

"Yeah! As a matter of fact, I DID!" he shouted in defiance. "I've had the both of them for months now! And Violet didn't -- OOF!"

This time, Linc's kick hit it's target.

"DON'T YOU EVER HER NAME AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME?" Linc shouted.

"STOP IT!

"STAY OUT OF IT!" Both boys shouted in unison.

Aiden, using his lower position to his advantage, leaned back, and kicked Linc in the crotch. It was a cheap shot, and Linc doubled over in pain.

Aiden stood, and clocked Linc on the head again, leaving a slight pink mark above his left eyebrow. I winced and sucked in my breath.

Linc recovered quickly, and stood upright again. Aiden aimed another blow at Linc, but it was easily dodged. Lincoln countered with a swing to the face, and Aiden stumbled back, blinking in surprise when his nose started squirting blood. He pinched it and spat curses.

"You filthy bastard!" Linc bellowed. "How could you do this to her? How could you hurt her like that? I knew you weren't good enough for Violet!"

Linc was in a power stance, looking for all the world as if he'd just defeated a monster. Sure, he was bent over slightly in burning agony, but he looked like a victorious mad-man all the same. Aiden was tilting his head back, trying to stop his gushing nose.

Naomi appeared, and gasped as she saw Aiden.

"Baby!" she whined, running up to him and squinching her nose at the sight of blood. "What happened?"

Aiden staggered off to the bathroom, to clean not only himself -- but his dignity as well.

Naomi was left behind, looking dazed. I guess she wasn't bright enough to pick up on the fact that two boys had single-handedly hosted World War III in her front hallway.

"Hey Naomi," Linc nodded his head at her, still panting from the effort of the fight.
"Hi," she answered, as if she were talking to a smelly homeless man.
"So I guess we broke up, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Well, in that case, you remember that dress you wore to your cousin's wedding?"
"Yeah?"
"It made you look pregnant."
Naomi gasped.
"Nine months."

Naomi clasped her hands over her mouth, and her eyes widened in shock. It was as if he'd given her a death-threat.

And with that, Lincoln Fletcher whorled around, laced his fingers in between my own, and led me back out to the car.