The Back of my Truck

Chapter 6

But she didn't get it. The whole drive towards the town, Riley didn't say one word.

Why didn't James want to kiss her? Did he not like her? Did he not think that the moment back then was basically made for a kiss? Was he still thinking about the whole Marquez thing?

Well, practically, Riley was dating Marquez. If you go by the simple rules of dating, that is.

But she could not believe that James really cared much about her relationship with Marquez. If anything, James seemed to dislike him.

"Ready for part two?" James said, as he pulled into a street, before parking his car right in front of a house.

"What are we doing here?" She asked, before she got shut up by a hiss from James.

"Don't talk so loud. You'll wake Mr. Banter." James spoke, a smirk on his face.

"Mr. Banter? Wait- Is that his house?" Riley motioned towards the house they were standing in front of. "What are we doing here?"

"Come with me, and leave your door open." He instructed. And she followed.

She had no idea why, or how that guy got that much hold of her, but she did what he said. Riley couldn't help it.

"Tada!" He exclaimed, as she walked up to him to the back of his truck.

"Bowling balls?" She raised her eyebrows as she looked up at him. "What do we need those for?"

"Ever since I came- here, I've been putting bowling balls in front of our teachers front doors. Each week it's a different one. Banter is this weeks victim. And I never let myself get caught." He spoke, almost proud of what he was doing. "You know, I normally do that on my own, but I figured that I little help wouldn't hurt. So, that's why you're here."

In some weird and twisted way, that made Riley feel special. Although she always imagined something like that to be in a different kind of setting, you know, not in the middle of the night, parked in front of a teachers house, standing behind a bleached out truck, with a guy she properly just met a few days ago. But it was fine.

A small smile appeared on her face, as she nodded, hoping he didn't see her smile. "Okay." She said, looking down onto the bowling balls.

This was actually so weird. And Riley could have never even made it up in her mind to happen, but James impressed her. She didn't know why and how, but he did.

Picking up one of the bowling balls, he walked towards Mr. Banters house, before he stood in front of the front porch, still, waiting for Riley to catch up to him.

"Wanna do the honors? Just make sure you don't hit the door, otherwise he will wake up and catch us." James added, as he handed the bowling ball over to Riley, who looked up at him, just nodding.

She kneeled down, settling the ball into the wood of the porch, and started to slightly give it a push, so it would roll.

And quite frankly it did roll.

And hit the front door.

Both of the teenagers ran as fast as they could and entered the truck only moments later, James starting the engine and pulling into the street, so they could drive away.

"I'm sorry." Riley said, breathless, as they turned into the next street.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It was good, for a first timer." James chuckled, before his eyes landed on the clock on the dashboard.

2.43 am.

"We better get you home." He dragged the word you out. A smirk on his face at all times.

Riley didn't want to go home though, at least not until they spoke about their almost kiss. But James did not mention it in any way, not acted like anything was wrong. Maybe he just wasn't interested in her like that.

"Hey, you never told me where you live." She spoke up, as they pulled into her street and James put the vehicle to a stop, a few houses down Riley's actual house.

"Uh. Do you know the huge white one, with the gigantic front porch, at the start of Silicon Highway?" He asked.

"Yeah." Riley replied, nodding her head. Everyone knew that house. It was so different from almost all the others, and the fact that it was completely painted in white made it stand out on its own, honestly.

Riley was amazed by the fact that James was living in it.

"That's your house?" She smiled widely at him.

James just nodded, a slight smile on his face.

"I better get going. Thanks for the-" She wasn't sure what to call this whole thing. Normally, she would say it was a date. But this wasn't a normal situation.

"Non-date?" James raised his eyebrows, a smirk on his face now. This time it was a little bigger though.

"Right. See you." She rolled her eyes at him, yet there was still a smile on her face as she got out of the car.