I knew that I needed to be persistent, however, to resist thinking about him. It’s what needed to be done, so I told myself that’s what I’d do. Simple as that. The funny thing is that, at the time, I thought it would be easy. Turns out resisting Bo was anything but easy.
“Ridley, you need a ride?” Trinity was calling to me from the rear of the bus. We were back at school, unloading people and equipment into the parking lot.
“No, thanks. I drove. I’ll just see you tomorrow night,” I replied, lugging my duffel to my car way out at the end of the lot.
“T,” Drew hollered from behind me. I stopped and waited for him to catch up. “Why don’t you leave your car and I’ll take you home tonight. I can bring you back over tomorrow before the party to get it,” he suggested.
“My mom will worry if she doesn’t see my car in the driveway.”
“You can call her when you get home,” he said. He stepped closer to me and rubbed my arm suggestively. “We can take a detour on the way to your house.”
I looked up at Drew, at the wholesome, handsome face of the most popular guy in school, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I liked him. I mean, he’s occasionally funny, fairly smart, sporadically thoughtful and he used to turn me on, but now it seemed that whatever was between us was just gone.
Unbidden, luminous coffee-colored eyes drifted through my mind. Angrily, I swept them aside. Again.
“No. I’m tired. I’m going home. I’ve got plans in the morning anyway,” I fibbed.
He sighed deeply and gave in. “Alright. So I’ll pick you up for Caster’s party tomorrow night?”
I briefly considered making up some excuse, but I knew that would sound suspicious. I’d wait and see how I felt tomorrow. Maybe I was just having an off day. Maybe the demise of our relationship wasn’t really as imminent as it felt.
Come tomorrow night, though, if I still felt the same way, I’d have to have a talk with Drew. At least he’d be loose and happy after a party and a few beers. It might actually work out better that way. Maybe he’d take the news a little more gracefully.
Though I already dreaded the fallout, I felt like there was no sense in pretending that I liked Drew when I didn’t. I wouldn’t string him along; it wasn’t right. Unlike some of the other girls, I wasn’t so obsessed with being popular that I would date a guy I’m not even interested in just because he has great social standing.
Drew prompted me. “T?”
He looked irritated that he’d been forced to bring me back to the present when I’d drifted off into my own thoughts.
“Sorry. Uh, yeah. Pick me up at nine?”
“Good deal,” he said, taking me into his arms to kiss me goodnight.
I could tell by his effort that he was trying to get me to change my mind, but it was so not working! In fact, I could hardly wait for it to be over. What’s worse is that I don’t think he even knew that I wasn’t into it.
“See you tomorrow night,” he said and then turned to walk back down to the front of the lot where he’d parked.
I proceeded on to my car, unlocked the door and slid my bag inside before dropping my tense body into the driver’s seat. I pulled the door shut, leaned my head back and just sat there for a few minutes, thinking about the strange details of my day. I really did feel out of sorts. Even when I tried to describe it in my own mind, that was the most accurate label I could come up with: out of sorts.
I listened to the sounds of my friends’ voices as they giggled and whooped, making their plans and saying their goodbyes. I felt sure that many of them would gather at Trinity’s house later for a small party. But tonight, I just wasn’t in the mood to be a joiner.
When all the lights had faded and my car was the only one left in the parking lot other than the empty bus, I leaned forward to start the engine. Only it didn’t start.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I growled into the silence.
I turned the key again and pushed on the gas pedal, but it only made a tired whirring sound. The dash lights were noticeably dim and when I turned on the headlights, they barely dinted the darkness in front of the car.
While I’m no mechanic, I have enough sense to know when the battery’s dead. And that battery was dead.
I shouted out in frustration. “Crap!”
Options, options, options, I thought to myself, hating to call Drew, but unable to readily think of another choice. After all, I was my own plan B.
I stared out into the night, racking my brain for a person to call that could help me. I doubted Trinity even had jumper cables and most of the other girls probably didn’t even know what they were. Mom was out, as usual, and Dad was gone, as usual. That left me. And since I wasn’t much help to myself at this particular juncture, I was left with Drew.
Frustrated yet resigned, I looked up and out into the night as I rooted around in the console for my cell phone. It startled me when I caught a hint of movement in the gloom. My heart picked up the pace, pounding in my chest like the hoof beats of herd of wild Mustangs. Frantically, I searched blindly for my cell phone, afraid to take my eyes off the windshield for even one second.
A disembodied hoodie materialized in front of my dim headlights and my runaway heart jumped up into my throat. But just before panic could officially set in, I saw a hauntingly familiar pale face come into view. Though my pulse slowed somewhat, all the excitement seemed to transfer to my stomach, where a nest of butterflies fluttered anxiously.
Some part of my brain warned me that I should be scared, that this was creepy and that I should lock my door and call for help. But it was a small part, one quickly silenced by the voice of my growing attraction. Even more bizarre than that, though, was the feeling in my gut, the feeling that said I could trust him with my life. Now that made no sense at all.
Hands resting casually in the pockets of his jacket, Bo approached my window and sank down into a squat. Obligingly, I reached to lower the window. My fading battery didn’t have enough juice to work the mechanism, however, so I had to open the door in order to address him.
Bo rose and shifted to the side to let me push the door wide. When it was open as far as it would go, he stepped into the V and squatted down right in front of me.