Bookmarked - A Rodrick x Reader Fan Fiction

Chapter 18 - The Drive

"Aren't you from a city? Why are you so shocked we're going to New York?" Rodrick's hand holds onto the steering wheel, the other on his right leg. You think to yourself what that hand would be like on yours instead. Focus. Focus. You look like a weirdo not answering questions and staring at legs.

"Well it's THE New York City, I thought maybe we would-" you freeze for a moment, something clicking. "How do you know I'm from a city?" Throwing him a questioning look, you wonder if maybe he is stalking you so he could murder you.

"You mentioned it to my mom, right? You go to school in Seattle? For psychology?" He looks towards you, as if you were the crazy one. He shouldn't know these things about you. You never even mentioned it. And no way Greg would remember something like that from Rowley's letters. And tell someone else about it. It was stuff about school, something Greg hated.

"Yes." You flatly say. You didn't think from the conversation you had with Mrs. Heffley, her meltdown soon after and then Rodrick calming her down would result in so much information being shared. He also remembered it. That struck you as odd.

"I thought maybe you were tired of the suburbs and needed to be somewhere bright and alive. So, New York is only an hour away. Thought it would also be a very unconventional first date. We could literally do anything you want tonight."

"I like the suburbs," You defend. "It's quiet, but not... If you listen close enough at night, the wind in the trees and the crickets... It's not so bad." You try to convince yourself. You did enjoy that you didn't need headphones to read outside. All of the trees. The birds. Plus, there are no rats the size of small cats in Plainview. At least, you hope there wasn't.

"Trust me [Y/N], I hate it here and I've lived here all my life. So you must hate it even more. You've gotten to experience life and music. God, the music in New York is great! Is the music scene any good in Seattle or is it all hipsters?" Rodrick rattles on. His fingers were drumming against the steering wheel, the excitement radiating through him. He felt so alive and seemed jittery tonight.

Maybe that's what Rodrick was. Alive. He didn't have troubles or didn't care to worry about them. It's why he acted the way he did. Why he answers the door in a towel or why he could just break into a school. Tell people to fuck off and offer to fuck you. He didn't care. That was the difference between you two.

"I don't know what the music scene is like. I never went out at night." Your voice comes out quiet. You lay your head against the window for a moment, but feel the heat of the vents hitting you directly. You instead roll the window down, letting the night air cool you.

"What!? Are you kidding me! Why not? Why didn't you go out?" Rodrick was in such shock, he kept going into the other lane of traffic as you got onto the highway. You quickly reach over and correct him, earning honks from other drivers. One gave a finger. Rodrick gave one right back.

"Watch the road, dingus," you say as you take your hands off the wheel, placing them back in your lap. "I don't want to be a female alone at night, Rodrick. So, I never went out. Even on Campus." Calming yourself from almost getting hit, you sigh. Rodrick takes driving more seriously from that point. Both hands are now on the wheel. You think how nice it would be to just hold his hand, but you don't want to distract him even more.

"Go with friends." He simply says. As if it were that simple.

"I didn't have any. Most of my friends were people I met online. I just went to class, the library, maybe a coffee shop." Your life was not glamorous. When you actually thought about it, it was lonely. It was always bad, but when you saw groups of friends come into the coffee shop, you would pretend with them. Pretend you were a part of the group. Which one would be your closest friend, who was always late, which two friends had crushes on each other.