Black & White [Jeremiah Fisher]

twenty-eight

ROWAN

Jeremiah cranked the heat to high once we both returned to his vehicle. We were both drenched from the rain, our hair matted and clothes glued to our bodies.

A shiver crawls all over my body, causing me to shake as I try to dry my shirt with the car vent. I know it'll be impossible to dry, but it's worth a shot.

Cousins must be in the heart of the storm right now because the rain pelting the vehicle is very prompt and noisy. So noisy that I barely hear Jeremiah as he speaks to me.

"Your lips are purple, Rowan." He points out, and once his words register, I flip down the passenger visor and once my eyes land on my facial appears, I want to scream.

I look TERRIBLE.

So terrible I would rather run home and spare Jeremiah his eyes.

"I look like a raccoon." My mascara is completely gone from my eyelashes and surrounds my lower and upper eyes. Somehow I have mascara on my nose and chin.

My hair, Jesus Christ, my hair is visibly snarly and whatever curls I had left are matted down to a big mess.

I look like I just crawled out of the sewer.

"You look beautiful."

I turn and send a glare at Jeremiah. "You are only saying that because you have to."

He shakes his head and scoffs. "Wrong, I think you look beautiful all the time."

I roll my eyes at him, trying to keep a straight face. I have to turn away from him because a smile that I can't stop is appearing on my face.

"Well, I hope you like a red face because I'm about to scrub the shit out of it with my shirt." I declare as I lift the bottom of my wet shirt up to my face, my stomach and bra exposed.

I begin to wipe away at my face, surprisingly, wiping most of my mascara from it. While I'm doing this, Jeremiah stays silent, and from the dim light of the passenger visor, I can slightly see him looking at me.

When I'm finished, I set my shirt back down, and once it meets my stomach, I shiver once again.

"I have a blanket if you would rather wrap yourself in that than be in your wet clothes." Jeremiah offers, leaning over the center counsel to shift through the back seat. I look back as well, noticing that his back seats are flipped down. I remember that he had to haul some tables and chairs for the volleyball tournament today, he must have never flipped them back up.

Jeremiah sets the blanket down in between us and I know right away that I'd rather be dry than be stuck in these clothes.

"Thank you, I'm about to get naked so don't look." I joke, reaching the bottom of my shirt to lift it over my head.

Jeremiah chuckles, shifting in his seat to look the other way.

I don't know what takes over me, but my next actions I didn't plan or imagine happening.
Maybe it's the fact that we are in the middle of nowhere, stuck in the heaviest rain storm, in the dark, and Jeremiah's back seat is conveniently down.

Or maybe it's partially because this boy drives my hormones into overdrive whenever I'm near or around him.

And maybe it's also the fact that I am certain that this is just the beginning of us.

I stop taking off my own shirt and with my heart beating out of my chest, I say, "Jeremiah, I think I need help."

It's incredibly dark in here now, the only light coming from the dashboard, but it's light enough for me to see Jeremiah's pupils dilate as he turns back to me.