Chapter Ten

"Here's your stop." He says referring to Corey, I think. He comes to a halt in front a normal sized detached home. It's got reddish bricks and some flower pots lining the outside of the house.

"What? I thought we were dropping her first?" He asks, waving his hand around like it was the most dramatic thing ever. He tilts his head to the side, before huffing when he shakes his head no.

"Nope, I told you you guys are getting out first." He says, which makes me feel a little awkward. I really thought he would let that slide. I wanted to go home.

"It's okay, you can drop me first." I pipe in, even though we've already reached Corey's house.

"Nah, I'm dropping them first. Get out, Corey." He says sternly, thrusting his thumbs towards the outside of the car.

"Ugh, fine. See ya." He gives us both a wave that I return awkwardly, not knowing how high or how much to wave. Can y'all relate?

We get to Jordan's house soon enough, it's not too far from Evan's campus. Without being asked, Jordan gets out and holds up his hand forming a phone, meaning call me. He just nods. We quickly pull out of the driveway and sit in silence as he drives at a moderate speed.

"You still didn't tell me your name." I break the silence with my tiny voice. I just wish I was more socially not awkward.

"Don't you already have one for me? Nose-piercing boy?" He teases, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

"That's not your real name though." I mutter, determined to figure out his name. It's getting onto my nerves. How difficult is to tell me his name?

"You don't really know me. I don't see the point." Be shrugs off, making a sharp turn.

"I can't know your name because I don't know you? I think that's how you get to know someone." I say slightly aggressive with the slightest bit of sass lacing my voice.

"I'll tell you some other time." My aggressiveness doesn't bother him and he simply brushes it off.

"It's not like we meet everyday you know. I don't know the next time I'll see you." I mumble, hoping it'll convince him and not give him mixed feelings.

"I could make it happen. Just show up to your school." He says casually and his smirk returns.

"That would make it look like I'm dating you, no thank you." I cross my arms over my chest.

"I could make that happen too, you know?" That leaves me shocked. And speechless and it takes me a few seconds to regain my normal behaviour.

"Definitely, no thank you." I say more surely to which he chuckles.

"You'll wish you hadn't said that babygirl." He says smirking. Like always.

"By the way, the costume's nice." He says referring to my fully clothed body. What does he think is "nice" about this?

"Uh, it's not very..um..revealing." I say quietly, almost unsurely.

"I didn't say it was. And "nice" doesn't always mean revealing. Anyway, just accept the compliment." He says, quoting his words by curling his fingers into quotations. I mentally face palm myself for sounding so dumb.

"Uh, thanks then." I reply, tugging on the hem of my shirt.

"Good girl." He whispers, with a genuine smile.

"Hey, where are you going?" I might be stupid, but I know the way to my house from Evan's campus.

"Are you falling asleep?" He asks, totally off topic.

"Um, no, not really." I say, scrunching yo my eyebrows in confusion.

"Then why are you in the rush to go home?"

I quickly think of the dumbest response alive,

"Virtue" what the-

"Haha, you're funny babygirl." Ohmygosh.

"I meant curfew." I correct myself, clearing my throat a little, so I don't sound like a chipmunk.

"Liar." I give up, I'm not planning on arguing with him at 12 at night. Too much effort for someone as lazy as me.

"Okay then, where are we going?" I ask, hoping he'll at least tell me where he's gonna take me to shred me into pieces and kill me alive.

"Somewhere nice." That isn't very convincing, I think to myself.

"Great, that helps." I say sarcastically, throwing my hands against my knees dramatically.

"Damn babygirl, you're getting tedious by the moment." He mutters, looking me up and down.

"Oh shut up."

We end up at the park. As in the park I used to come play at as a child. The one with the swings and monkey bars and slides. Great.

"Why are we here?" I ask, I'm not in the mood to slide down slides that are half my size. I'll probably get stuck and embarrass myself. I shiver at the picture forming in my head.

"Did you eat?" Question for a question. Nice going.

"Nope." Other than the marshmallow....

"Then sit on this." He lays out a picnic blanket across the grass. I didn't even realize he'd gotten out and I simply followed him and examined the blanket he'd laid on the ground. It's a checkered, red and white blanket with ties on the corners.

I plop down onto it and sit criss crossed. He brings out bags of food and drinks from the trunk of his car and spreads them out on the blanket, before sitting down himself, across from me.

"Here, a mini feast. Unless you wanna go out somewhere?" He begins to untie the grocery bags. Walmart....

"No, this is fine." I say admiring all these good Walmart goodies. I'm drooling.

"Then start eating." Without further ado, I grab two cupcakes and and some chocolate and gobble them down, hoping I don't look like a monster. He simply sits there and smiles.

"Wa dot wu ee?" I say, sounding ridiculous with he amount of food in my mouth.

"What?" he asks totally confused and laughs, showcasing his straight, pearly whites. I finish the food in my mouth and clearly asks again,"Why don't you eat?"

"Oh! That's what you mumbled with your mouth full of food!" he says making fun of me, mimicking what I said over and over. I turn away, ignoring his constant teasing.

"Don't worry, I ate before I had to come be your hero." He says proudly with his infamous smirk.

"You didn't have to. I didn't call you to come save me." I argue, continuing to shove food down my mouth, hoping it'll ease the tension and change the topic of the conversation.

"Well after being raped, you'd wish that you did." He says, hurtfully.

"Rape is when there is unwilling sexual intercourse." I emphasize.

"Yeah, good job smartass. Seems like you've been paying good attention during your health classes." He grumbles, slowly picking at the wrapping on one of the squished cupcakes.

"What if I was willing to?" I clarify for him, taking a huge bite from a sugar cookie.

"Well, drop the thought. Forget about him." He says his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Don't worry, already did. He kinda did seem a little off." I agree with him slightly. Now that I think about it, he just came up to me, offered me a drink and a marshmallow, only for us to talk? That seems like something in a children's picture book.

Maybe like, Erin Meets Logan, written by Erin Hawkwood. Illustrated by Erin Hawkwood.

"Finally, Miss Obvious." He says rolling his eyes.

"Are you done? You're gonna finish my 60 bucks worth of Walmart food." He says a few minutes later, once I'm done a few boxes of cookies and cupcakes and some more treats. I'm a fatass.

"Yup, I'm done." I say wiping the crumbs lining my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Get in the car. I'll just grab everything." I just do as he says, knowing he's right a lot of the time. Besides, I never win in any argument with him, according to all the times we've talked. He puts everything in the trunk of his car and begins driving, as I thank him for the food.

He pulls up at my house shortly. Neither Evan, nor Evelyn's car is here yet. Seems like they're partying out late, now that it's a little past 1.

"Here's your stop babygirl." Instead of a thank you, out comes a yawn. A huge, fat yawn. The ugly ones where you can't help but open your entire mouth and you can visibly see the saliva forming in your mouth.

"Get to bed." He says smiling, totally ignoring my ugly face.

"Yeah, thanks for the ride-oh and the food." I add quickly, rubbing my stomach happily. It's a little bloated and I make a mental reminder to work out soon.

"No problem, goodnight." He says waving, his huge hand covered with shiny rings.

"Goodnight, I don't know your name boy." I say sleepily, my voice draining out slowly.

"You'll get to know soon, babygirl, just be patient." He assures me, smirking.

"I'm not very patient." I admit with a lopsided smile.

"Well then, it sucks to suck. Bye Erin." He says, using something Avery would've said to me. I suddenly remember what that girl did to me.

Took body shots and left with Reagan without me.

The both of them are sure getting something from me tomorrow, but that's besides the point.

"Bye," I say, and with that he speeds off down the road, the light from his car slowly fading in the distance.

***

The next morning, it's gladly a Saturday. I mean, of course it couldn't be Monday.

"Ughhh!"

"Oh my fucking god!"

Is what I wake up to, unlike normal people.

I quickly pad down the stairs to see Evan, holding his head and screaming. What a great sight.

"Um, hangover?" I ask. Obviously, Miss Obvious.

"Yeah, no shit." I grab him some tablets and toss the container over to him.

"Thanks sis." He says just as Evelyn walks downstairs in almost the same state as Evan.

"Ugh, my head hurts so fucking much! Evan pass the tablets!" She yells, also holding her head. The both of them have the worst headaches once they're hungover, let alone just normal headaches. Yet, they drink every weekend.

"Seems like you two had a long night." I say walking over to the fridge, to find a note saying

Good morning babies, mom and I will be at work today. There's food in the fridge and some money in the second drawer for food. -Dad

"Yup, but it was totally worth it." Evan says as Evelyn nods in agreement. I offer them a small smile, not wanting to add that I was at the same party too. I may have caught a few glimpses of them while I was still inside the house, before the whole Logan incident.

"Mom and dad won't be home tonight." I say grabbing the milk carton.

"Well, neither will we." Evan says looking towards Evelyn who nods along. Again.

Nodding, I say "alright then, I have the house to myself. Might call Avery or Reagan over then to keep me company." I then walk over to grab the cereal.

Milk first, then cereal. Don't at me.

"Yeah, you could do that." Evelyn suggests. "Just don't make a mess. Mom won't be too happy with that." She adds quickly, remembering the last time we were home alone and she made a huge mess and had to help mom cook for three weeks after that.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry." I say before grabbing a spoon to eat my cereal.

It's approximately noon and I'm bored. Really bored. I sit on the couch, scrolling through the different shows I could watch. Evelyn and Evan have already left and the house is dead silent. I decide to ring up Reagan. She picks up after two rings.

"Hey sis," I say, trying to find a nice show to watch.

"Hey," she says quietly.

"You wanna come over? I got the whole house to myself." I offer, somewhat cheerfully.

"Um that would be great....if I wasn't going to Carter's to work on our science project." she says nervously.

Oh.

"Oh right, I forgot he's in your science class." I really did.

Recently all it's been is Carter. I should've known she had something planned with him. Not that I dislike it but he kinda takes too much of her time, kinda like she's obsessed and I've never seen this kind of Reagan before, so that definitely says something.

"Yeah.." she says unsure. "I could see if I could postpone it to tomorrow." She adds with the least hope possible. She clearly wants to go.

"No no, you go do your science project. I'll see if Avery will come. If not, I'll just binge watch shows." I add a little laugh to hide the little disappoint in my voice.

"Oh, okay then." She says also laughing lightly.

"Well, then I better go. See ya Monday sis." She says and ends the call as I barely say "bye."

I call Avery and she picks up instantly. Instantly, as in before I could put the phone up to my ear.

"Hey sisterrr!" She screams, oh so loudly.

"Ugh, I have a headache!" She groans, obviously disliking it. I imagine her to be like Evan or Evelyn.

"Yup, I heard what happened last night. Apparently, you were a hit for the audience." I chuckle.

"Yup, and apparently you found a guy. Yay I'm so happy for you Erin!" She cheers for me.

Gurl, you got it all wrong.

"Noooo, you got it all wrong! I don't like him. Well I kinda did but I don't anymore." I try to make it the shortest answer possible, not wanting to add the necessary but unnecessary details.

"What do you mean?"

"As in, he made me feel special, but apparently he isn't a good guy and won't treat me well."

"Who in the fucking world thought they could control your life? They deserve my fist to their face. It's your first man and he stole him from you! Who the hell was it?" She questions angrily. No joke, she'll fight whoever it was.

"You won't believe it.....it was nose piercing boy." I say, awfully quietly.

"As in the cocky jerk we met at the fair that you used to text? Him?" She asks, almost disappointed.

"Yup, it was him. One of his friends saw the guy take me into the corner and called him, so he drove from his house to the party to beat him up and take me away from him. Trust me, I was mad at first but he convinced me the guy was bad. Honestly he did kinda seem a little off at first. I was just too stupid to notice, now that I think of it." I add the last bit embarrassingly. I guess I am naive and innocent.

"Of course he convinced you and tried to be your hero. You should've been like fuck off and like he got no fucking right to take your man away from you! I don't like him no more! He's some asshole that beat up the guy you could've dated and you just left him alone! Wait, Reagan told me you caught a ride with someone.. don't tell me it was him..." she trails off and I debate on whether I should tell her or not.

"It..was...him." I say sheepishly.

"Erin! First you let him take your man and be your hero and then even drop you home!"

"Well maybe I could've gotten a ride if someone wasn't so drunk." I accuse her. Really, it was her fault. We were supposed to stick together anyway.

"Come on, I was just having a little fun. But still, I fucking hate the guy. I don't know what his intentions are, but be safe Erin, I don't want you getting hurt." She says truthfully. I love this girl.

"Yeah, thanks Avery. Anyway I wanted to know if you would wanna come over. Got the house to myself today."

"I mean we could trash the kitchen with gross cookie dough.." which gives me a little hope.

"But I have to babysit the neighbours daughter, Emily. You know her, naughty and cute all at the same time. I really wish I could though, sorry boo."

"No it's okay." Disappointment. Again.

"Reagan's busy too, she told me about her and Carter's little science project date. Hmm, who else...anyone but the fucking nose piercing boy or whatever you call him. Just cause you got the house to yourself, doesn't mean you call him over yet. I don't know if you like him, but if you want him, make him chase you. Don't be easy and naive Erin, he seems kinda tough." Naive... I brush away the thought.

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on calling him over. Yesterday itself was awkward. He-" I stop myself from continuing, knowing I'll have to tell her everything about yesterday. Not that it meant much anyway.

"Wait, what happened? Erin? Helloo? Bitch don't you fucking dare playing this trick on me! Er-" and with that I end the line and turn off my phone, not wanting to tell her everything. The gossip can wait till Monday.

I spend the next few hours eating and watching shows on the couch, all curled up in a ball with a thick blanket wrapped around me. I reach for the remote to play the next episode, when the doorbell rings. Maybe Reagan or Avery changed their minds, I hope. Thinking it's one of the two, I unlock the door and turn the doorknob, only to see someone I would have never expected.