Elle and the Exchange Student

Chapter 12

Elle's Point of View:

"Of course, princess" he replied. And before I could look at his face, to see his expression after that kind of a comment, he stormed away towards the door.

Maybe I misheard him, he couldn't have said 'princess', right? It didn't sound like a nasty comeback for when I told him to pay for our food. But more like..

Deciding to not overthink it, I followed him. He's already leaning against the hood of, what I assume is his car, looking like he didn't say anything weird just thirty seconds ago. The car is huge, like a family car, I guess. I didn't know or care about cars, I know some some girls do, but I wasn't one of them. All that matters for me, is that it gets you from one place to another.

"You have a car here?" as I walk to the passenger door.

"It's Michael's dad's" he said, like I'm supposed to know who they are.

To my surprise, he opened the door for me. I blushed because no one has ever done that to me before. Even when it was Dae, who I hated, his nice gesture didn't go unnoticed. I just smiled in return, climbing into the passenger seat.

"Who's Michael?" I asked.

"Madison's twin" he said while starting the car.

Oh, I totally forgot that he's going out with Madison. I guess they are quite serious, if her father even borrowed his car for Dae. God, I feel so stupid right now, what am I even doing here, getting food with him?

For the rest of the ride, we sat in silence, only the quiet sound of the radio keeping the atmosphere not awkward.

"McDonald's?" I questioned, as I see the big yellow'M' sign.

"Yeah. Hope it's okay?" he asked as he took the final turn.

"I thought you said you were 'a-real-food -hungy'" I stated humorously.

"McDonald's is real food" he argued.

"No it's not!" I argued back.

"It is! Look, if you don't like it, then we can go somewhere else."

"I never said I didn't like it, I just don't agree with it being real food"

"Then what is it?" he asked, being fake insulted.

"It's fast food, Dae!" I laughed. We've never been like this before, carefree and having fun. I really liked it.

"Whatever" he stated, staring to park the car.

"What are you doing?" I said, trying not to sound too panicky.

"Parking the car?" he said, looking at me confused.

"Let's go to the drive-thru" I can't remember the last time being inside the restaurant, and I didn't want to go this time either, especially not with Dae.

"No, can't get any food crumbs in the car, Max would end me" I figured Max was Madison's father. "We can continue working here if we get a good table inside. Come on" he got out of the car, not waiting for me.

Doing a school project at McDonald's? Yeah right.

I took a couple of deep breaths and with a not-so-convincing 'You can do this', I got out of the car.

The place was packed. Why would the entire population of this town be at McDonald's on Sunday afternoon? And to add to it, all the self-serving kiosks were out of order. Just my luck.

Waiting in the line, I started to get more and more anxious. I tried to figure out what I was going to say and how I was going to say it when it would be my turn. All this preparation and planning was part of my process, yet most of the time it is for no use, I end up panicking anyway.

"Let's just go to the drive-thru. It's faster" I tried to make him to change his mind for the last time.

"No, there's only two people before us" He couldn't understand my fixation about this, and how could he?

I knew I couldn't get through this. It was all too much. I needed to get away. My chest tightened, with rapidly beating heart and trembling hands, I did the only thing I thought would get Dae's attention.

"Dae" I whispered and grasped his hand.

Shocked, he turned to look at me but immediately after seeing my face and condition, he seemed to come into realisation. He intertwined our fingers, and in a heartbeat, he started to drag me outside.

I was a mess. The only thing I could concentrate on, was Dae's big and warm hand on mine. It had a calming effect but somehow it made me even a bigger mess.

After unlocking the doors, Dae pushed me to the back seat of the car. He followed me and the moment he closed the door, leaving us sitting side by side, I lost it.

I totally, completely lost it.

Tears falling uncontrollably, my whole body shaking, I began to move away from Dae so I could lean against the door. Sensing what I was about to do, Dae put his arms around me, pulling me closer to him.

"This is why you didn't wanna go inside?" he whispered carefully.

I just nodded against him, crying even harder. God, now he knew my secret. So my choices were either to befriend him or kill him. I obviously didn't want to do either of those.

I didn't like the fact that my enemy knew the most vulnerable thing about me. And being the jerk he is, I was more than certain, that in the future, he would use it against me.

"Shh, you're safe now Elle" he whispered again, his other hand rubbing my back and other gently stroking my hair.

I hated that he was good at calming me down, even better than Fannie or Deli. I've never calmed down so quickly in my life.

"Take me home, please" I managed to get out.

He didn't say a word, as he climbed out of the back seat, taking me with him. After getting me to my seat, he walked to the driver's side. I told him my address, then turned away not daring to look at him.

For the entire car ride, Dae had his hand on my thigh. And it fucked me up big time.