Vienna

chapter twenty-one

I was sitting on a bench in front of the school, my legs tucked beneath me and my chin resting on my knees. I probably looked strange to other people, all curled up like this. But there were barely any people left on campus, most had gone home by now.

Unfortunately for me, neither Daisy nor Hannah could give me a ride home today. I considered walking, seeing as it would only be about a twenty minute walk, but ultimately decided just to call an Uber.

It was times like these I wish I could just get over my fear of driving and get my license already. It sure would be convenient.

I was trying not to think about my responsibilities for the rest of the day. We have a Calculus exam tomorrow and despite my general skill in the subject, I still needed to study. When in actuality, all I wanted to do was curl up under my wonderfully fluffy weighted blanket and watch some TV.

"What are you still doing here?" I looked up to see Nathan standing in front of me, his car keys hanging from his hands.

"Waiting for my Uber," I state simply.

Nathan looked down at me, seeming to consider his options for a moment.

"Come on, I'll drive you home," he offers, nodding his head towards the parking lot.

I consider his offer for a beat, looking down to check the status of my Uber on my phone. No one had picked up my ride request yet, so I nodded gratefully up at Nathan.

Untucking my legs from beneath me, I rise to my feet and start towards the parking lot. Nathan bends down and picks up my backpack, slinging the black bag over his shoulder.

The parking lot is nearly empty, only littered with a few cars here and there. Nathan silently leads me to a black jeep, polished and clean without a single scratch on it. As I climb into his passenger seat, I inhale Nathan's signature minty vanilla scent

"Why were you still at school?" I ask him, wondering why his car is one of the very few still here.

He looks over at me briefly before sticking his keys into the ignition. "I was talking to Mrs. Marshall," he replies from the driver's seat.

I hum in response. "You think you'll do okay on the test tomorrow?" I wonder.

He sends a small side smile my way, "Well I happen to have a good tutor, so I think so."

I raise a brow at him in amusement, before simply nodding in response.

I reach over to plug my phone into his car's aux cord before realizing my poor manners. "Cool if I control the aux?" I ask. Look at me being all polite and such. I'm guessing it won't last long though with Nathan involved.

He nods at me, a quiet laugh escaping from his pink lips.

I scroll through my playlist as he starts the car, feeling unsatisfied by my music choices today. After much deliberation I finally pick one, and a mellow Beatles song fills the silence of the car.

The radio is the only sound filling the air as Nathan pulls out of the parking lot.

"Why don't you ever drive?" he asks me without moving his eyes away from the road.

"Don't have my license," I reply simply.

"Why not?" he asks, his brows furrowing in question.

I shrug and try to think of a response. Obviously I'm not about to dump all my trauma and fears on him, so decide to give him a short and simple answer.

"Don't want it," I state.

"Why not?" he questions again, a more challenging tone entering his deep voice.

"Just don't," I say in a final tone, shrugging slightly.

He hums in response, seeming to take my hint to drop the subject.

"So what was that at lunch?" he questions me.

"What was what?" I retort, trying to sound as oblivious as possible.

He glances over at me with a roll of his eyes. "That tense thing, I don't know. The way you and Daisy looked at each other and at Lucas," he explains.

"How did you even notice that?" I sigh admittedly.

"I'm perceptive."

"I noticed," I replied honestly, making him turn to look at me. We made brief eye contact, his green eyes again flashing with something so quick I almost think I made it up.

I sighed in defeat, knowing no matter how much I can try to dance around the subject, Nathan will have a way of getting it out of me. He seems to be good at that.

"Lucas tried to kiss me."

I half expected him to have the same reaction as Daisy, eyes bugging out of his head and gasping in shock. But instead he nodded understandingly, as if he wasn't surprised in the slightest.

"Yeah, I figured he would at some point," he says simply, an emotion lacing his voice that I didn't recognize.

My eyes widen at his words and I look at him in surprise. "You did?" I ask incredulously.

He chuckles at my question. "Like I said, I'm pretty perceptive. But honestly, it'd take an idiot not to realize the guy has a thing for you," he said simply, as if it was no big deal.

I take a deep inhale and allow his words to wash over me for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right," I hum.

"Did you-" Nathan starts, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand awkwardly. "Did you let him?" he finishes.

"Did I let him?" I ask, looking at him in confusion.

"Did you let him, you know, kiss you?" he says, his voice faltering a bit at the end.

My eyes widen at his suggestion. Does he really think I'd kiss Lucas? I thought it was obvious to everyone that I only saw him as a friend. Well everyone except Lucas, that is.

"No!" I say defensively, my voice reaching a volume a bit louder than I intended.

Nathan lets out a breath I didn't know he was holding and nods silently in response. I guess he realized too how weird it would be if Lucas and I became involved.

"Now I get why it was so tense," he says, raising his eyebrows almost sympathetically.

"Yep," I mutter. Wanting to be done talking about this subject, I reached over and turned the volume of the music up.

The Beatles' A Day In The Life plays louder in the car, making the sides of my mouth twitch up happily. God, I love The Beatles.

Nathan seems to share my fondness for the song, and hums along softly to it. Normally I'd tell him to shut up, but his husky voice actually complements the melody well.

The rest of the car ride goes by quickly, my eyes trained on the passing trees the entire time. We didn't speak again after our earlier conversation, but the silence was surprisingly a comfortable one.

When we pull up to a stop in front of my house, I hesitate before removing my seatbelt. I go to turn to face Nathan to thank him for the ride, but stop short when I see him unclicking his seatbelt and moving to open his car door.

I scurry out of my seat and turn to look at him over the roof of the car. "What are you doing?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Well we have that calc test tomorrow, I thought we could study for it," he says cockily.

"So you only offered me a ride and were civil towards me for free tutoring?" I ask him suspiciously.

He sends a wink my way and slams his car door behind him, locking it with one click of his keys.

Was I really stupid enough to think he was actually capable of being nice to me with no ulterior motives? Actually, don't answer that.

Sighing in defeat, I hang my head down low and trudge up the driveway to my front door.