Dusk (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 37 - Stars

"Sorry," Rowan muttered after his mom's attention had been shifted to one of her excited admirers. His voice was quiet- almost dazed, and I wondered if it was due to his mother's blatant admittance of his interest in me, or something else. "She gets weird sometimes about the meanings of her paintings and whatnot. Doesn't make sense most of the time."

I glanced at his mother, who looked just as cheerful as she had when she'd been talking to us, not a single action seeming out of place. I felt my smile grow as I turned back to him,

"Why apologize? Your mom is awesome."

***

Rowan and I left the building after saying our goodbyes to his mother, who'd hugged me tightly once more after making me promise to visit with Rowan the next time he came for the weekend.

"You hungry?" Rowan asked, his keys hanging from his fingertips. He leaned against his car, his eyes lowering to my arms, which were crossed tightly against my chest from the cold.

"I could eat something. What're you thinking?"

"Let's go get pizza," Rowan popped his trunk open, grabbed a black hoodie, and handed it to me. "We can take my car and I'll drop you off at yours later?"

"Thank you," I took the hoodie, quickly slipping it over my head as butterflies fluttered in my stomach at his act of chivalry. "Sure, let's do it." His hoodie was soft, it smelled like him.

Rowan turned the heat on once we'd gotten in his car, and pulled out of the parking lot smoothly.

"Let's get the pizza to-go, I have an idea."

I looked curiously over to him, waiting for an explanation, but he kept his mouth shut, glancing sideways at me with an infectious smile on his face.

"Okay," I said, pulling out my phone to call it in, and trying to ignore the fluttery feeling in my stomach amplifying.

He pulled right in front of a pizza place on the outskirts of town ten minutes later.

"You can wait here, I'll go pick it up." Rowan opened his door, but I lunged forward and grabbed his wrist.

"Wait-" I grabbed my credit card and shoved it in his hands, "It's my turn to pay. Add twenty percent for the tip too."

Rowan looked at the card in his hands, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Fine," he slid it into his pocket as he got out of the car.

"I'll be checking my phone too to make sure you used it," I waved my phone in front of his face, the credit card company's app shining brightly on the screen.

Rowan strung his eyebrows together, feigning a look of offense.

"You don't trust me?"

"Absolutely not."

Rowan's expression broke into a smile and he stood up.

"I'll be right back."

It was weird, being in Rowan's car alone. The city was behind me, and the buildings were farther away from each other. I wondered where we were going. If I were with someone else I would've been nervous. But I trusted Rowan. I knew he had secrets, but I'd slowly been pushing those to the back of my mind the more time we spent together.

I looked around, noticing that the gravel road led to what looked like fields and farms in the distance.

The door opened a few minutes later and Rowan got in, putting the pizza in the backseat, and handing me a small piece of paper with my credit card,