𝑨 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵 𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬 ✓ 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐞

𝟖. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐟

I gasp. Loudly. Blinking a few times to make sure I'm in my room, I look to my side where I see, and hear, the alarm on my phone ringing. Fuck. This was a dream. This was a fucking dream. And thank God it was a dream, I feel absolutely disgusting. Me? Making out with Ransom Drysdale? I don't think so. Never, ever, in my entire life, will I ever want to do that. I turn the annoying sound off, hop out of the comfortable bed and rosh into the bathroom. I brush my teeth, three times because only the thought of what I just dreamed about makes me want to throw up, get washed up and put on some simple clothes for the day. I put my hair up with a hair clip after filling my purse with the things I need, and make a short list of things I need to buy today. Whatever I do, whatever I write down, I keep thinking about the dream I had. Why would I even dream something like that? I hate his guts, he hates my guts. Nothing like that will ever happen between the two of us. We are barely even able to smile at each other, let alone debour each other's lips. Nope, nope, nope.

Once it's 9am, my phone buzzes. Nine o'clock exactly, not one minute later. I can't believe my eyes; Ransom is actually on time. He's never on time for stuff. He calls it 'fashionably late', but we just call it 'annoying'. For Lucas 21st birthday back then, he was three hours late. Can you imagine? Your best friend arriving after you ate cake and got gifts, plus had your first shot of tequila, while wanting him there with you so badly because you were there for his 21st birthday as well? I remember asking Luca that night why he was still friends with Ransom. He told me Ransom was just like that, he was used to it and he couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't understand, I know I would've felt very upset if my best friend didn't show up. Or, in this case, showed up three hours late. Ransom has always been part of our family. He didn't have a great bond with his, except for with his grandparents, so he spent a lot of time with us. Vacations, city trips, day trips, and even holidays. All was well, we always had a good time, until we started to hate each other. I let out a silent sigh as I think about it, and text Ransom back

Ransom
I'm downstairs. What floor and
number do I pick you up at?

Amelia-Rose
I'll come down, just a sec

I can't believe he's here at exactly the time he told me he'd be here, and I especially cannot believe he actually came inside the building and was planning on coming to my door to get me. I expected him to stay in the car, not turning it off, honking to let me know he's here. I guess this is a pleasant surprise. Making my way downstairs with a weird feeling of nerves in my stomach, I instantly see Ransom. He's looking around, viewing the art that's hanging on the walls of the hall of the building. I wonder what his house looks like. Slowly walking towards him, I put my hands behind my back. "Beautiful, right?". He looks back, studies me from head to toe and slowly nods. "Yeah. You coming?" Ransom asks. He turns back around, and already starts walking towards the exit of the building again. I let out a sigh, follow him outside and move up to his beautiful, gorgeous blue beauty on wheels over there. Without saying a single word, he and his annoyed expression step to his own side of the car. I'm not sure what to do, he made it pretty clear he'd rather die than let me step into his precious BMW.

"I thought I couldn't get into your car?" I carefully ask, slowly opening the door. His eyes shoot up at me, while he instantly sighs. He just stares at me, glaring for a few seconds until he decides to talk back anyway. "Are you gonna step in, or are you gonna walk instead? Both options are fine with me now, decide before I change my mind". He stepped into his car, as I raised my eyebrows in reply to his answer. I step in as well, being careful not to ruin anything in here, and fasten my seat belt. Let's get this over with. There's only silence in the car for at least five minutes, but then, Ransom takes a deep breath. "You got like a list or something?" he asks, not sounding too sincere. "I do. Don't you worry, it won't take too long. What do you need?". Ransom looks up, like he's trying to think of something. "I need... Bowls.". I frown, and lift and eyebrow after a second or two. "Bowls, okay" I mumble, slowly nodding my head as he keeps driving. His big hands grab the wheel tightly, and his jaw clenches every so often. We get some coffee and a slice of lemon pound cake at Starbucks on the way too, which he insists on paying for. If only he was a nice person, God knows what I'd want to do to him.

"Should we get your bowls first?" I ask, while Ransom gets a cart for us inside the store. "No, we'll get your stuff first and when we get to the bowls, I'll get my bowls. Now go walk, I can't pass you with this thing" he sighs, to which I roll my eyes. I walk further into the store, where my eyes land on some pretty pillows and blankets. Of course there's enough of them in the apartment already, but that doesn't mean I can't put my own style in there a little bit. I get some candles, other decoration stuff that catches my eye and finally get to the kitchen section of the store. It's the last section, all I need for my apartment now is kitchen equipment. "So, basically your apartment is just gonna be pastel colors all over the place?" Ransom asks, slowly walking after me as he looks into the cart. I asked for his opinion on some things, he said he liked the colors. "Well, yes. You said you liked it, liar" I reply, grabbing a pack of silverware. "I do like it, I'm just... Trying to make conversation, Am. Now where are the fucking bowls in the place?" he asks no one I particular, looking around for the thing he needs to find while I grab the plates, glasses and mugs of my choosing.

Picking white and pastel colored bowls, I see Ransom grabbing only one. A black one, a boring black one. "Don't you need more?" I ask, frowning slightly at the sight. "No, just one". I keep frowning, and shake my head. "Why did you come all the way to this store for one bowl you can basically buy in any store?" I ask once more, making sure everything I got is not able to break in the cart. I'm just using some of the towels and blankets for it. "Don't ask me this many questions, it's fucking early" he adds, so I sigh again. "It's like 11am, and you're still cranky. How late do you usually get up?" I ask, walking next to him now towards the checkout. "Whenever I want" he mumbles, and I roll my eyes again. "Right, I keep forgetting you don't work". His eyes shoot up at me, and he takes a deep breath. "I do work, just not in an office all the time. You know that, c'mon now" he mumbles, and I just giggle. I absolutely adore teasing him. I scan every thing I put in the cart, as well as his bowl. "You accidentally scanned mine" Ransom says, pointing at the simple bowl he picked. "It's fine, leave it. It's just a bowl, I can miss four bucks". He slowly nods his head as I pay by card, and helps me put the things in bags.

"You hungry? That thin piece of pound cake didn't full me up" he says, waking past the little restaurant built into the store, next to the exit. "I could eat, I'm pretty hungry too" I reply, nodding and almost drooling at the sight of hotdogs being made. It's 11.30pm now, is that too early for a hotdog? Probably, but I don't care. "Good, let's grab something then. You want a hotdog? I can see you staring" he chuckles, adjusting his hands on the cart slightly. "They look good, don't you think?" I ask in reply, looking up at him. He looks handsome today, not gonna lie. "They look very good. I want one too, which one do you want?" he asks me, pointing at the display. "I like the way that one is looking" I say, pointing at a hotdog with sweet chili sauce and something that looks like baked onions on it. "You don't want that one". I look up once again, and just frown. "I do want that one, look at the gorgeous baked onions on it. I like baked onions" I tell him, raising my eyebrows now. He sighs, and shakes his head. "Those aren't baked onions. That's ground beef, you hate ground beef. You don't want that one".