Let It Rain Pennies

=Four=

I ran to Sam's car and throw my backpack in the back seats. I hopped into the passengers side and he just stared at me.

    "What?" I buckle up.

    "You didn't ask to drive with me today."

    "Okay? We always drive."

    "You always ask." He takes his hands off the steering wheel.

    "Sorry? Can I drive to school with you?"

    "Yeah, but we have to pick up Steph." He put his foot on the brake and put the car in reverse. Looking over his shoulder to see where he was going.

    "What? When did you ask Steph?"

    "She always ask but you always ask first so I tell her she is always welcome to join us but she declines." He pulls out into the road, and drove to the stop sign at the end of the road.

    "She declines when I ask first?" I didn't give him enough time to talk, not like I needed him to say it again, "That's kind of rude."

    "Well, you said it yourself: she doesn't like you." He shrugs.

    I turn my entire body to him, "Which is complete bullshit. I can easily fake liking someone for you."

    "Wow, that's a skill you should be proud of." He said sarcastically.

    "I'd say you're correct. It is a skill to pretend to like people you hate."

    "Let's not throw the H word around now-" He put his sunglasses on as the car faced the sunrise that stretched over the houses and sprawled into an open pink, cotton-candy sky.

    "Hoe? I didn't. Not yet at least."

    "No," he side-eyed me, "Hate. I don't like when you use that in context of my girlfriend."

"More of a girl and less of a friend." I mutter.

"Hey, I won't talk bad about any boyfriends you have," He turns down Steph's street.

"You don't know that. What if my boyfriend doesn't like you?"

"Too bad for him, because I'm awesome. And you don't have a boyfriend so I don't need to worry."

It hurt that he was making fun of me not having a boyfriend. So I lied. "What if I got asked out?"

He giggles, "You did not. You would've told me if a dude asked you out."

"What if I was mad at you so I didn't tell you tha-that....James Cline asked me out?" I blurted out a name.

Sam glanced at me, "James Cline asked you out?" Sam furrowed his brows—the corners of his mouth turned down into a soft frown as he parked the car.

I was about to respond but Steph walked over to Sam's window—he rolled it down. She wore low rise, white jeans, a pink halter top and a white hoodie. Her bangs brushed to the side and her hair in a tight ponytail.

    She stared at me as she whispered to Sam, "I thought you said she didn't ask?" Her gum chewing was loud and I could smell the bubble-gum mixing with her cotton-candy perfume.

    "She didn't, until a few minutes ago."

    "Ugh, well....I don't want to sit by her."

    "Then sit in the back?" He suggested.

    She stopped chewing her gum, her lip lacquer covered lips hung open for a little bit before she said, "You did not just say that."

    Sam put his hand on hers as he turned to me, which she pulled away quickly. "Um, wanna sit in the back?"