Not a Valentine

Chapter 13

"I just want to go home," Mason complains in the passenger-side seat as I book it out of the parking lot. He was supposed to be the one telling me where I had parked my car, but he wasn't able to, considering he was having a hard time standing up straight.

It was funny how everything had changed with the fact that Mason had almost passed out. I had been having a nice time, teasing him and trying to find new machines I could use at the gym, and then everything changed. I mean, not too much. Mason was just hungry, but it was still a change nonetheless.

"Mase," I say with a sigh, "I'll just take us somewhere to eat and then drive you home."

Mason turns his head toward me, his eyes finding mine still in the dark. He looked so dissolved all of a sudden; his hoodie that he had thrown on before I made us rush out of the gym was put on backwards. He looked different; he looked a little... he just didn't look like the Mason I knew.

"I don't want you to trouble yourself, Thea." Mason says softly in the dark, and I look away from him as I cannot bear to look at the look in his eyes. If I did, I would turn the car around and take him straight home, but I couldn't. There was no way I could drive him home without getting him something to eat. I mean, I had to.

"It's no trouble," I answer back honestly. "I need to eat as well."

"Thea, you looked at me as if I were feeble. I'm not, I'm fine," he stresses out, his voice carrying a tone I hadn't recognized. He seemed to be worried, and I was worried about him.

"No, I know," I say with a little smile. "Mason, you're fine. You just need a little food, and I want to get food as well. We'll eat together."

"I don't want to eat with you," Mason says, and I turn around in my spot to glare at him once I come to a red light.

"What's wrong with eating with me?" I tell him with a stern look.

"I just want to go home," Mason stresses, and I reach over and place my hand in front of his face. His eyes trailed my hand as I put my hand in his hair and took it off his face.

"Mason, you're still pale. I just want to feed you," I say with a little smile. "You'll be able to go home in just a second, okay?"

"Okay," he grumbles out as he still looks at me, but just not at me. Maybe he didn't want to move his face from where he was leaning the back of his head on the car window. I give him a proud nod and move my head toward the front of the car.

A few moments later, I'm going through a drive-through of a local fast-food restaurant, where I order enough food for the both of us to be full to the brim. Once I get the food, I park the car in the parking lot and turn on the light so I can see him.

Mason is sleeping when I turn to him. I hold out our bags and say, "Hey, Mase? Wake up." He doesn't, so I have to reach over and slap his shoulder, which causes him to wake up with a jolt. His eyes are frantic as they search for his surroundings, and when they meet mine, he exhales through his mouth and slumps down on his seat.

"Shit," he whispers, then looks away from me. His eyes search the rather empty parking lot of the restaurant. He turns his face back to me and says, "So, um, you bought food?"

"You good?" I ask him with my eyes, wanting to meet his, but his blue eyes don't meet mine. He focuses his eyes on the bag in my lap and reaches over to take it. He answers absentmindedly, "Yeah, fine." I watch as he takes a burger out of the bag and doesn't bother with the sauce as he takes a bite.

I shouldn't be watching him. I didn't want to make this awkward, so I looked away from him and toward where I got my own food. I eat my chicken nuggets as I kind of think about how I was sort of worried about the way he had woken up. Maybe he was just sleepy and hungry, which caused his senses to be heightened. I couldn't blame him for being shocked that I had woken him up.