Chapter Seven

"Wow, I thought you were my personal driver." I say with a laugh, remembering what he told me when he dropped me home that day.

Bahahaha, in your face!

"I am, it's just that my car broke down and I need to get it fixed, but I need to be somewhere important today, and I kinda have a reputation and it would suck if I had to ask one of my mates to drive me." He admits sheepishly and I kinda feel bad for him. Just a little bit.

He pauses for a bit and then adds, "You just need to drop me a bit away from the place. It's not that far so don't worry, you won't be driving for hours. I bussed it out here but I missed the next bus that goes near there and I kinda need to get there like fast and you were the first person that came up. It's alright if you can't-" he rambles on before I cut him off.

"Just tell me where you are, but sir, you have quite a bit of explaining to do." I say, patting down my clothes with a lopsided smile, feeling somewhat useful.

"Okay babygirl, I'll text you the address. Hurry okay? Thanks."

"Yeah," and with that the line goes dead. I fix my hair and pop the keys into the ignition, pulling out of my driveway, as I make a mental note to tell him to not call me that again.

I end up a bit into the city part of the next city, if that makes any sense. All I hear is blaring car horns and, cars screeching and people doing whatever. Plain chaos.

I try to look around for him, but see no sign of him. I dial his number and he picks up instantly, even before I can put my phone to my ear.

"Hey, do you see that coffee shop at the corner of the intersection?" My eyes slowly travel to a small brick building.

I apologize for my anything but not 20/20 vision. I'm not blind either.

"I'm in there, come to the parking lot." He says quickly, before ending the call.

We need to be like normal people and figure out how to end conversations.

Did I say we?

I meant him and I.

When I get there, he walks out with two cups of coffee. The last time I saw him was weeks ago, when he drove me home from the....incident.

I notice the slight stubble he has around his chin from not shaving for a few days. He's wearing an all black outfit; a thick black hoodie and Adidas sweatpants, paired with white low top Air Forces. He's got his ear piercings in and of course his nose piercing in, as well as a silver chain with a cross on it.

Not knowing what to do, I hop out of the car and meet him by the passenger side. He hands me a cup of coffee and I manage a thank you, holding it in between my palms. He opens the passenger door and I hurry to the driver's seat, without another word.

I place my cup in the cup holder, while he turns over to put in his seatbelt and begins sipping on his coffee.

"So, where to?" I ask, buckling myself in and tugging on it to make sure I did it correctly.

It would be super embarrassing if I didn't.

"Um, I'll say as you drive. First get on to the main road." He says casually, continuing to sip on his coffee.

"It'd be great if you'd just tell me so I could follow google maps." I suggest, because I'm more comfortable following directions.

"Well, I know my way around here pretty well so google maps isn't needed." He says more forcefully, causing a shrill to go down my spine. He notices and brings his large hand towards me, but decides otherwise and draws back, causing me to flinch.

"Sorry, it wasn't meant to come out like that. It's just I'm already late. Here, pass me your phone." And he punches in letters and starts the directions. I just watch him, making sure he doesn't crack my screen with those huge freaking fingers of his.

No one speaks during the drive. Twenty mins in, he looks over at me and asks "What name have you come up with for me, babygirl?" He emphasizes his nickname for me, causing me to internally shoot him a glare.

"Um nothing yet." I reply casually.

"How come my contact is called nose piercing boy then?" He asks cockily, making my eyes shoot open.

When did this boy check? I swear I was watching him the whole time. Shoot.

"I don't know. It's been that since I first got your number. It's been three months, can I know your name now?" I ask, desperately trying to get myself out of the situation.

"Why so desperate?" He asks with smirk.

Yes, I am desperate.

"I'm not desperate. It's just it'd probably be better if I actually knew who I was talking to." I push, not going to admit that I was desperate in a way.

"Okay okay. Seems like babygirl's getting mad. But I'm still not gonna tell you. Your contact name's nice and unique, so keep it. I just realized we don't know much about ourselves. So ask up."

I think and say, "tell me more about your brother. You barely said anything." Good job Erin. Nice one.

"He's 5. His name's Jay."

"That wasn't much." I say, annoyed that his description was so short. Kids are cute and there's a lot you can say about them.

"That's all I can tell you." He responds curtly again.

"How about your family?" I try, nervously.

"Different question please." He says in a monotone voice.

Pang.

Ignoring those topics, I decide to ask about school.

"What school do you go to?"

"The one in this city, about twenty mins from here."

So he doesn't go where Evan goes.

"I know where you go babygirl, Lanaor Besette High, the one not too far from your house." He says proudly with a boyish grin, that surprisingly suits his face.

Stalker much?

"How did you know?" I ask, trying to focus on driving and the boy sitting next to me.

"Trust me, this one was a plain guess. I ain't got any sources for this." He says smiling slightly.

Aw, maybe just a little cute?

"Okay, next question, what's the reason for where I'm taking you?" I ask, trying to make good use of my questions.

"Honestly babygirl, it's none of your business. You wouldn't get it anyway. Kinda like a meet up with a bunch of my mates."

"Seems like a really important one." I say rolling my eyes.

"I guess." And the conversation ends there.

I drop him off at another cafe, before waving bye and driving off, thinking about everything I know about him- absolutely nothing so far.

***

It's finally the oh-so-famous Halloween, and Avery and Reagan are over at my house, again trying to get me into a costume. This year, I'm supposed to be Simon from Alvin and the chipmunks, and they insist they can't go without me because it wouldn't make sense if there was just an Alvin and Theodore.

Evelyn just left with her friends dressed up as lifeguards and Evans been out since five at his friend's, setting up for a Halloween party.

"Just get your head into this! It's not so bad Erin!" Avery yells, trying to put the shirt over my head.

"It's not revealing, just a crop top that isn't so cropped. Specially made for you." Reagan adds, trying to sound convincing.

And here I am, fighting four arms off of me for the past ten mins. This should be in the book of records for lazy people.

"Guys, I don't want to. Handing out candy is a great job. You guys should totally try it." I argue, shoving away their arms from my pretty face.

It's called self-love guys.

"We will, when we are fifty." Avery, says continuing to shuffle through her bag for makeup products that she will cake up on my face.

"Why not forty? Or thirty?" I ask, trying to keep up verbally.

"Because then we'll be out with our kids, no shit." Reagan says, finally getting ahold of both my arms, while Avery shoves the shirt down my head.

Defeated, I plop down on the edge of my bed and let them take over.

In thirty mins, I look like Simon. With the nerdy glasses and a natural face of makeup. My hair is straightened and falls beneath my shoulders, down my back. I'm wearing a slightly cropped blue shirt that reveals a strip of my stomach, with white socks with blue stripes near the top, over top of black leggings, as well as sneakers and chipmunk ears. Honestly, I don't look too bad.

"You look great!" Avery exclaims, proud of her work.

"Well it's 7:00. We should get going soon if we wanna make it to Mason's party after. Heard there's lots of booze and it's gonna be packed." Reagan says, looking down at her phone. I'm instantly frozen, sad that my friends didn't remember how much I hate parties.

Noticing my state, Reagan says, "You don't have to come if you don't want to. Like you could read books and watch movies like you always do. Cause we know you don't like the noise and people and you don't drink and-" I cut off her useless rant.

"Yeah, but I'll think about it." I say a little shakily.

Avery's face lights up and she screams, "really, sis you've gotta be joking?! Don't fucking lie to me! You're gonna come?!" She practically jumps up and down, shaking the whole damn house.

Poor thing is like thirty years old.

"I said I'll consider it." I say more confidently.

"Well that's a great first step you're taking out of your shell. I'm proud of you babe." Reagan says, giving me a side hug. She's not too fond of hugs anyway, I'm surprised she did that.

"Anyway, it's getting late we should go." I say and we all grab our bags and head out the door.

Oh here we go.