Chapter 27
"I need new friends," I said.
"Agreed." He said and opened the front door for me. I rolled my eyes at him as I walked through the door.
"You can just leave me here if you want. I don't really care." I told him as we walked to his car. Just then I realized that it must have been him who had slipped a large T-shirt on me before putting me to bed- the shirt that I was still wearing.
"Good. See you on Monday," he said and walked ahead of me. I rolled my eyes and continued to follow him.
"That was an empty gesture," I told him.
"Just get in," he said and opened the passenger seat door to his sleek black sports car.
"Such a gentleman," I mocked as I got in. I smelled the pleasant smell of his cologne once again when we were in the car.
I told him how to get to my house from Jessica's and took in how nice his car was. The braid that my hair was in had turned into one giant dread lock, and I didn't want to know how long it was going to take me to brush it out.
The ride home was silent, but not awkward. When we were almost to my house, he broke the comfortable silence.
"That was scary. You know, you almost drowning and all," he said, his eyes fixed on the road. I took in his comment, and realized the actual seriousness of what had happened. "You could have died."
"Yeah, well, a girl can only dream," I joked, expecting at least a slightly-amused eye roll in return as we halted at a stop sign. But instead, he looked over at me, his eyes locking with mine and stopping my heart for a brief moment.
"Joke about it all you want, but you're not allowed to die." He spoke, and my face heated up, my chest dropping slightly at the underlying emotion in his eyes. I could tell he was fighting hard to keep it all hidden, but I was starting to be able to see through it all.
"Don't word it like that, I have a tendency to break the rules," I tried to lighten the air again, but he still wasn't laughing. "Listen, I'm sorry. I am," I gave up on trying to brush past it, but not on trying to clear the air.
"Don't be sorry, just try and maybe be a little less idiotic all the time," he said, and I finally saw a slight hint of amusement in his expression. I narrowed my eyes with a grin and shook my head.
"I almost die and you're still a prick. What's it gonna take to get a compliment from you once in a while?" I chuckled, and he bit back his own laugh as he pulled forward again.
"You're good at almost dying," he complimented, and I laughed.
"Ain't that the truth," I chuckled, then sighed. I looked over at him as he stared forward at the road, the sharp angle of his jaw shifting slightly as he casually clenched it and unclenched it. I noticed he did that a lot, and I'd be downright lying if I said it wasn't attractive.
"Well, thanks for saving my life, I guess," I awkwardly said.
"Yeah, anytime," he joked as we pulled up to my house. When the car stopped, I turned and looked him in the eyes.
"I mean it." I restated.
"I know," he replied, staring back at me. I didn't get it- I could never get tired of looking into his blue eyes.
"And um," I took a deep breath, "I meant it before when I said that it was all in the past. I don't want to die anymore. Really," I insisted, my face heating up in slight shame at the reference to my past. It still killed me that he knew that much.
"Alright, but if you do need a lifeguard again in the future, I'm here. You know, if you're too embarrassed to ask your friends for help or whatever," he said, and I was pretty taken aback. He didn't meet my eyes, and I wondered if it was because he didn't know if he could adequately seem cold enough while saying that to me.
"Well, thank you," was all I could think to say, still taken aback. He merely nodded and placed his hand on the wheel again, getting ready to back out once I got out. "See you later," I said.
"Unfortunately," he replied, and I rolled my eyes again.
"I knew you were being too nice," I commented and opened my door.
I got out of the car and walked up to my house. My mother was grocery shopping, and I was home by myself.
I decided to just sleep.
Because when in doubt-
Sleep it out.