Chapter 11 – A Matter of Pride

Bryce nearly jumped through the wall as Lara came barging into the Berkley Suite, hair down and flying behind her. He watched as she picked up the gilded alarm clock from beside the gigantic bed, hurling it across the room at the wall. It hit with a sickening smash, flying to bits and leaving a rather large dent in the wallpaper.

"Home a little early, aren't we?" he questioned tentatively. She whirled and glared at him.

"Don't even think about it Bryce! I've had it up to here with all the bullshit!" she screamed. He recoiled, holding up his fingers in the shape of a cross.

"Christ! Sorry! I didn't fucking do anything!" He shifted uncomfortably and turned back to his work. Lara watched him, breathing heavily. She looked at the dent in the wall she'd made only moments before with the unfortunate alarm clock. She ran a hand a across her face.

"Look Bryce, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bite," she said with her hands on her hips. He turned around to face her again, looking a little like a lost puppy.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one before." He smiled at her as she shook her head.

"You really are something, Bryce."

"Thanks for finally noticing, Lady Croft." She stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared into the closet. "So what exactly has you all bumfuddled?"

"Is that actually a word, Bryce?"

"It is now. Come on, out with it!" Lara emerged wearing a pair of pajama pants and a tank top.

"You're never going to believe it," she replied, flopping onto the bed.

"Try me." She sighed, draping her arm over her eyes.

"Alex West," she replied with a groan.

"What?" Bryce asked in disbelief.

"You heard me. The man Mason wanted me to meet for dinner tonight turned out to be none other than Alex West." Bryce let his jaw drop.

"You've got to be kidding!"

"Not in the fucking slightest," she replied. Bryce got up and flopped next to her.

"Lara. I'm sorry." She shook her head, climbing under the comforters.

"Like you said, you didn't do anything." She burrowed under the covers, pulling the top blanket up to her chin. She had decided she was going to allow herself a full-out pity party. She figured she deserved it.

"Oh, come on now!" Bryce goaded as he prodded her with his finger. "What's the big deal? We all know you're ten times better than that idiot, anyway! Why pout?" Lara sat up straight in the bed.

"I just can't believe that asshole!"

"Who? West?"

"No! Mason!"

"Aha! Now we're getting somewhere!"

"Bryce…"

"Sorry." Lara flopped back onto the pillows.

"I'm not going to stay on this project, Bryce." Bryce sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Lara… Come on. I know you don't really mean that."

"You bet your ass I do!" She turned over on her side, burrowing farther into the covers.

"Lara, this is huge! You don't want to pass an opportunity like this up! I mean, so what if Alex is in on it? Do you really want to play Pouty Pattie and let him get ALL of the credit?" When she didn't respond, he stood up on the bed and began to jump up and down like a monkey.

"Ahhh!" Lara screamed as she went tumbling around on the bed. "Bryce! You…stop it…at once…do you hear me…Bryce!" she screeched as she flopped this way and that.

"I'm sorry, Lara! I can't hear you over the cries of your injured pride!" Bryce replied with a sarcastic grin. He jumped closer to her, making her bounce all over the bed.

"Bryce! You stop it…this instant…I…mean it…Bryce!"

"I'm not stopping until you quit with the poochy lip disease you got going on down there!"

"Bryce…I…am getting really…sick over here!"

"Then I suggest you quit acting like a baby and suck it up!"

"It's a…matter of…pride!"

"To hell with your damn pride! Just cut it out!"

"Bryce…I…hate…his…guts!"

"And I'm sure he hates yours! Get over it! This is what you do, Lara! This is what you live for! And you should be the last person to forget that!"

"Okay…okay…I'll quit…just please…stop the…jumping!" Bryce stopped jumping, collapsing to the bed in a huff.

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Lara hit him with a pillow, sending him rolling off the bed.

"That's for making me dizzy, you stupid bastard!" Bryce landed on the floor with a grunt. Lara started laughing, curling herself back up into the covers.

"Ouch…" he groaned from the hotel room floor. "I think you broke something, Lara."

"I doubt you have anything left to break in that head of yours, Bryce." He sat up, his face just peeking over the edge of the bed.

"So, you're still going to do this, right?"

"Bryce, I'll admit. You talked me into it. I really wasn't going to do it. I know they won't find the Amulet without my help. I'm not so modest as to realize the obvious. I just wanted to spit in Mason's eye and then rub it in Alex's face when he came crawling back empty-handed."

"Jeeze, Lara. You really are pissed."

"Understatement of the year, Bryce." He got up, crawling into bed next to her.

"Lara, maybe next time we should just get a room with two beds. This is a little… weird." Lara shifted, turning around to face him.

"Honestly, Bryce. You'd think we were two strangers. We were in diapers together. We discovered our bellybuttons together. We graduated together. We work together. We live together!"

"Well, technically, I live in a trailer in the Southeast gardens."

"Only by choice, Bryce. The point is, we are as close as any two people get in a lifetime. We're best friends and partners in crime.

"Crimes. Plural."

"I really don't think sharing a bed large enough to fit the entire Ethiopian army in with me is really all that bad." With that, she turned over again.

"Bryce?"

"Yeah?"

"You really ought to become a motivational speaker. That really kicked my ass."

"I know. Works every time."