“I’m pretty sure it’s your fuel pump fuse that’s gone to shit. Maybe your boyfriend can fix it? It’s easy enough if he knows what he’s doing.” I was obviously assuming she had someone.
She looked over at me. “No boyfriend to fix anything, and I have no idea what a fuel pump is.” She laughed uncomfortably.
The fact that she didn’t have a boyfriend shouldn’t have pleased me as much as it did. “It’s an easy enough fix, but not something I can do in the parking lot. I do work at Mickey’s in town. I can see about getting you a tow there?”
She started biting at her bottom lip, her straight white teeth gently pulling at the pink flesh. She glanced at me as if my words pulled her from her thoughts. “Thanks. But I can have my dad work it out. He knows Mickey so I might get lucky and not have to pay for that tow.” She laughed softly and I liked how the sound made me feel.
I was getting fucking hard. What in the fuck was my problem?
I cleared my throat and turned away from her, closing my eyes and thinking about doing laundry, fixing cars, hell, stirring a pot of fucking soup. I thought about anything and everything that could help get my sudden arousal in check. When I felt my erection start to get under control, I exhaled and turned back around.
“Thanks anyways. You saved me some trouble trying to figure out what was wrong then having to pay somebody to tell me what to fix.” She looked back at her car again and started biting on that lush lower lip once more.
I clenched my jaw as I felt that arousal start to spike again. “Do you have a ride home? Someone you can call?” I don’t know why I asked that. It wasn’t any of my business. But knowing she needed help had this part of me rising up, wanting to take the lead. When she looked back at me, she gave me the sweetest fucking smile. The things I felt in this moment were unusual, but they also felt pretty damn good.
She pulled out her phone and looked at the screen then glanced up and around the parking lot. It had pretty much cleared out by now. When she looked back at me, I knew what she was going to say.
“My dad gets off in about an hour. I’ll wait.”
She actually thought I’d let her stay here by herself? Even if it was school property, I wasn’t an asshole. Besides, I didn’t want to leave her just yet.
“I can take you home if you’re okay with that?”
She gave me this warm smile. “Really? I’m not putting you out too much?”
God, no.
Although I didn’t say that.
“No. Besides, I’m not just going to leave you here alone, even if it is just for an hour.”
Her smile broadened and she nodded slowly. “Who would have known?” The way she said it was more to herself.
“Who would have known what?”
She nodded and flashed me a pretty smile. “Yeah, that the silent loner new kid is actually a gentleman.”
I didn’t know about all that, but I’d let her think I was something I wasn’t if it meant she kept looking at me like that.
“If you’re sure it’s not a problem,” she prompted, and I shook my head. “I’m only about a ten-minute ride from the school.”
I tipped my head toward my car. “Hop on in.”
She grabbed her bag out of her car, locked it up, and then hopped in the passenger seat of the Firebird. I started the engine, the deep rumble loud, the vibrations from the engine shaking the car. I looked over at her, expecting her to maybe seem a little bit disgusted. A lot of people who attended Silver Creek had sticks up their assess, were posh as fuck and not my scene at all.
The car was outdated, loud, and obnoxious, and it was a massive step down from her little Civic. But the expression she had on her face was… excitement. She glanced over at me with a big grin.
“This thing is a beast,” she said, her voice enthusiastic as she looked around. “It’s awesome. Do you ever race people in it?”
I was a little bit taken aback, shocked that she was actually interested in the Pontiac. Back in the day, it had been one hell of a ride. But those days were long gone. “Nah,” I said and put the car in gear before pulling out of the parking spot and heading out of the lot. “I don’t think the Firebird will be winning any races anytime soon.”
She started laughing softly, and I felt my muscles tighten at the sound. I liked it. I liked it a hell of a lot. I curled my hands around the steering wheel tightly as I pulled onto the main street, following her directions to get to her house. There were intervals of silence between us, but it wasn’t awkward. I was surprised at how much I liked her company, even if we were just sitting in silence for some of it.
Five minutes into the trip, and I felt her focus on me again. I glanced at her and saw she looked at me with an almost quizzical expression on her face.
“What?” I asked, feeling amusement, knowing she was probably about to dig a little deeper. Normally, that would annoy me if someone wanted to be nosy, but for some reason, with Harlow, I liked that she wanted to know more about who I was. We were stuck in the vehicle together, so it was only natural she wanted to ask some questions. But what surprised me was that I wanted to answer them, that I wanted her to know about me.
“Are you liking Silver Creek so far?”
I felt my jaw clench before I realized I was doing it. “Honestly? The people here are fucking assholes.”
She started laughing, and I felt myself grin that she was so easygoing. God, she was so damn cute.
“So true, Aiden.”
Fuck, I liked how she said my name.
“Yeah, the people at the school suck,” she added, and I was surprised she admitted it and felt the same way. I’d seen the people she hung out with, the popular crowd, although she didn’t seem like them. She didn’t seem like a fucking prick like the majority of them did.
I sure as hell thought the same thing. “Well, if I’m being honest, the last couple schools I’ve been to have all had the same shitty people.”
She made a sound of agreement, and then we sat in that comfortable silence for a couple more minutes.
“Do you have any plans for after graduation? College, a major picked out?”
The truth was, no one had really given a shit about me to care what I had to say, no one but my mother. I felt a little off balance with Harlow wanting to know, caring. She didn’t even know me, yet she acted like she was really interested in what I had to say.
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, not used to this attention. I hadn’t answered, and I felt the comfortable feeling that had once filled the interior of the car between us start to get tense.
“I’m sorry I’m prying. You don’t have to answer.”
I glanced at her and saw she stared out the passenger side window. I’d made things awkward with my silence. I didn’t want that. “No, you didn’t pry. I’m just not used to people… giving a shit about what I have to say.” I focused on the road again, but I felt her look at me. Long seconds passed with her doing just that, but I refused to glance at her and make this even more weird.
“That’s really sad,” she finally said softly, and I heard the genuine sincerity in her voice. “Nobody deserves to not have people give a shit about what they have to say.”
I did look at her then, and I felt my heart lurch in my chest. “I’d like to go to college after this, if nothing else than to make something of myself and my mom proud.”