C'est La Vie

18. Games

               “Please get back into the car Faye!” Ryder pleads for the umpteenth time.

He drives his Benz at snail pace, keeping up with my angry strides. He got tons of honks and eventually stopped giving the apologetic look and started giving everyone the finger.

               “I didn’t mean it like that. Come on!” he tries again.

               “Go away man whore!” I spit coldly.

Ryder sighs irritably before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. I ignore him as best as I can until my curiosity gets the best of me.

               “She’s on the main road. Walking,” he complains lazily into his phone.

               “Me? Okay, so maybe I said a couple of stuff, but I tell you, she wasn’t innocent! Can you just tell her to get back into the car?” he snaps after a muffled reply from the other end of the phone.

He must be talking to Logan.

               “Listen, do you want Faye your best friend or do you want Faye the road kill?” he murmurs dramatically.

There’s a momentary pause where Ryder rolls his eyes in impatience.

               “Hey Pip, Logan wants to speak to you,” Ryder informs me, holding his phone out for me.

I snatch it out of his hands and press it to my ear. “Hey Lolo,” I mumble.

               “Faye, get back in the car,” Logan murmurs softly.

               “I am not riding with your arrogant, rude...asshole of a brother!” I snap.

               “Listen, I know he probably deserves it. But why tire yourself? Get in the car. At least you can sit comfortably and all, right? You can ignore him from inside the car. Come on Faye,” Logan reasons.

He’s right of course. I cuss silently and toss the phone onto Ryder’s lap. He grins at me and raises an eyebrow. “Get in,” he instructs arrogantly, smirking.

I sigh dramatically before stomping over to the passenger’s side door. I climb in and slam the door closed. Ryder loves his car, and it gives me a sort of perverse satisfaction to make him wince like that!

I cross my arms and glare outside the window, trying my best to pretend Ryder isn’t around.

               “Oh come on! I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” he moans after nearly half an hour of the silent treatment.

               “Sorry isn’t a cure! Maybe you should learn to think before you open that stupid mouth of yours,” I mutter snarkily.

               “Made you talk to me,” Ryder murmurs smugly and I have to resist the urge not to pinch him! Damn it! Why does he bring out the absolute worst in me?!

               “So...what’s new?” he finally asks.

               “Seriously? You’re going to try to make small talk after calling me a skank and comparing me to my mother?” I snap angrily.

Ryder sighs in frustration before turning up the radio. He nods his head to the beat, occasionally tapping his steering wheel as if he was playing the beat of the song. If I wasn’t so mad at him, I might have found it adorable.

               “Have you realised that you tend to look at me a lot nowadays?” Ryder comments, smirking.

I can feel my cheeks heat up as I try to think of a way to dodge this one. “I do not!” I blurt out like a kid. I had planned to say something mature and intelligent...no such luck!