Chapter Seventeen

Evelyn pulls up into the parking lot and tosses me the keys.

"I'm hanging out with friends tonight so you're gonna need those." She says referring to the keys. I simply nod and turn to walk inside, just as a car screeches to a stop less that two feet in front of me.

"What the hell! Watch where you're driving!" My first instinct is to scream at this reckless driver. Who do they think they are?

The driver rolls down the window and in the driver seat is the oh so famous nose piercing boy. I roll my eyes dramatically.

"Hey, babygirl. Did I scare ya?" He sounds awfully chirpy today.

"Uh hey, and yeah, you kinda almost ran me over." I motion towards the little distance there is between his car and me. He peeks his head out and his eyes shoot back and forth, as if measuring the distance.

"Sorry, it wasn't intentional."

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Don't you have to attend lectures?" I try to get this unnecessary conversation over with.

"Fucking lectures. I'm skipping classes today. Wanna join?"

"No thank you. I've got classes to attend." I begin to turn, tightening the strap on my bag.

"Come on! Don't be such a bummer." He whines.

"I need to get to class, sorry."

"Are you still mad at me for making you watch that movie?"

"Oh, don't even remind me. I finally got over those nightmares." I wince at some of the images still flashing through my head.

"Come on, no one actually eats human flesh."

"Oh my god, just stop! You're grossing me out!" I scream, covering my ears with the palms of my hands.

"Well, I'm sorry. I already told you that, but come on, at least consider skipping classes today. Please?" He almost begs.

His dark brown eyes look like pools of honey in the sunlight, full of hope.

"I really can't. Sorry." I say, blinking my eyes away from his and turn to walk around his black car.

"Skip at least one. Or I can pick you up during your lunch?" He asks, hopefully.

"Don't you have boy stuff to do? Like I can't skip classes to keep you entertained. For gods sake, I don't even know you name!" And with that, I continue walking without turning back. And by the silence, I know he isn't following me. What's with this boy?

***

"So he asked you to skip today cause he was skipping?"

"Yeah, stupid I know." I rest my head in my palms.

"That is not stupid. He clearly likes you. Give it a try."

I thought she told me not to spend time with him...

Currently, I'm stuck with Avery and her Cupid advice.

"Never. He's annoying as hell. Who does he think he is to just show up and tell me to skip all my classes to be with him?" I say throwing my arms up in the air, causing a fit.

"He thinks you are interested in him which you clearly are." I give her a look, to which she wiggles her eyebrows.

"Just shut up already. I am not." I cross my arms like a little kid.

"Well, I don't know who you are trying to convince. Anyway, I gotta go to class early. I don't even know why. I'll see ya later sis." She grabs her belongings and leaves with a small wave.

"Yeah, see ya." I say, and get up to go to my locker before my last class of the day.

There are fifteen minutes.

Okay, now fourteen minutes and fifty two seconds until the bell goes. And the teacher doesn't wanna keep his mouth shut. Of course, lecture me with last minute things that I won't even remember.

Even in the loudness of the classroom, I seem to make out the small vibration of my phone in my desk. I pull it out to see a message from nose piercing boy.

can you pick me up

car broke down

Wow, that was some nice car he had. Looked really new too. But me out of all people, ugh.

I don't have the car today

I lie

lies

He almost instantly replies

u had car keys in your hand when I was trying to convince u

Why don't you ask Corey or whatever your messengers name was

he's not my messenger and he's busy so can u plz

Fine, where r u

I'll share my location

K

And with that, I wait for his location. The bell rings and I pack my things quickly, barely zipping up the zipper, and rush to the car. I push pass groups of socializing people and make it to he parking lot, that is filled with smoking and vaping teenagers.

I'm not completely against it, but sometimes it just gets on my nerves.

"Move it!" I shove a boy, who looks to be a freshman, who drops his vape and gawks at me. I ignore him and get in my car.

It's now the beginning of December and it's snowing. I admire the little snowflakes resting on the windows before they quickly fade away. I hop into the driver's seat and insert the key into the ignition, just as my phone beeps with his location. I quickly set it into the GPS and take off, driving to wherever he is.

I end up somewhere that the movie could've been shot. It seems to be a crusty road with an abandoned gas station on the side of the road with only a single pump. There is absolutely no sign of life, other than the fallen leaves crunching under the tires of my car. I remove my keys from the ignition and text him, asking for his whereabouts.

come inside the gas station

I step outside and instantly feel the annoying sound of the dried leaves crunching under my vans. I cautiously walk towards the gas station in the distance, looking around to make sure no foxes or grizzly bears will pop out from the trees on the sides of the road.

I feel like I'm in a movie.

The gas station is built on gravel, and I cringe at the bumpy travel across it. I slowly grip my hands around the now rusty metal handles and instantly draw back at the greasy feeling. Rubbing my hands on my jeans, I grip the handles again, this time giving it a pull, causing it to jerk back and open.

I slowly push the heavy door back, as I walk inside. I let it close on its own, causing a loud thump. It's pretty dark inside, with very dim spotlights. On the far end of the building, there's a small wooden table with a cash register and stacks and stacks of cash. The place is filled with empty racks, that should probably be filled with Sun Chips and Gatorade.

Instead, its covered in a thick layer of dust. Behind the desk, there is slight movement that I can barely make out through the open door.

In walks a tall, muscular man, who looks like he's in his late-twenties, followed by the devil himself. He walks in nonchalantly, with a stack of cash in his hand, his fingers glistening from his rings. As soon as he spots me, he shoves the cash into the front pocket of his black hoodie and tries to play it calm, by shooting a smile my way.

"You came." He says, but it sounds like a question.

"Yeah. Took a while. I thought you were luring me into the middle of the forest to chop me to pieces or something." I say trying to sound as calm as ever, but inside my heartbeat is running a marathon.

"Who's this?" The tall guy asks him, nodding his head towards me. He has a thick southern accent. I notice he's wearing a cap, covering his bald head. He has a lip piercing, that shines as he moves his head.

His skin is olive and he has dark eyes. He's wearing a leather jacket with camo pants and black boots. He thrusts his thumb my way and raises a furry eyebrow.

"Just some chick." He says, making me feel offended. 'Chick' was not the right word to describe me.

The man laughs, oblivious to what's going on, throwing his head back in the process. He walks over to me and shoves his hand out.

"Vic." He says, with a bright smile. If he wasn't bald and old, I'd consider him attractive.

"I'm Erin." I say, ignoring his attempt to make a handshake. He instantly draws his hand back and nods. I notice nose piercing boy grab another stack of cash and shoving it into the same pocket before striding over to my side.

"I grabbed another." He says.

"Of course." The man says.

So he's okay with people just taking his money? He probably doesn't make much from this place he calls 'a gas station.'

There's one gas pump for god's sake. It'd be heaven if it worked, given that the car was running low on gas. The drive was forty five minutes and I don't even know where I am right now.

I quickly blurt out,

"Does the gas pump work?" And realize that might have come out offensive.

"I mean, can I use it? It was a long drive." I correct myself, smiling slightly.

"Of course, honey." He nods and looks me up and down, making me uncomfortable.

"Hey, back off." Nose piercing boy says, narrowing his eyes at him.

"She's not up for sale." He adds, leaving me confused. They buy girls?

"Don't worry, I was just joking. Seems like she's yours." He says, trying to shove all of the stacks of cash into a leather bag.

"Nah, she's not." He mutters, holding the bag open for him.

"Well, she must be sumthin' if she drove all this way to pick you up." He says and smiles, giving us a small wave before walking inside through that door they came from.

"Gas is free!" He yells, as he walks without turning back.

"Uh, thanks." I say much too quietly. He definitely couldn't have heard that.

"So let's fill up that tank now, shall we?" He says and presses his large hand to the small of my lower back leading me to the door. This gets me thinking, do they actually buy girls?