Deafening Silence

Chapter 5

Beck

"I'll have a scoop of the chocolate," I said, barely glancing at him before reaching into my jacket pocket for money.

"What, no hello? No please?" Travis said. My eyes slowly traveled back up to him, my face set in an expression that said 'are you serious.' Why he was being polite to me now, that he expected me to be polite to him, that he had that stupid little smirk on his face after what happened on Friday was all beyond me. I held his gaze like I had in the parking lot on Friday, and this time he was the first to look away.

My eyes flicked over to the two girls at the table. They had gotten the ice cream off the one's face and now they were giggling, heads tilted together, eyes flicking from Travis as he scooped my ice cream to Jason and Chris. I rolled my eyes. Typical.

"You know her?" Chris asked Travis.

"Little bit," Travis replied. I scoffed quietly.

"Damn girl almost slammed into us when we pulled in," Jason said, glaring at me.

"Okay, first of all, that was me," Carson said, jumping in now. "And second of all, I didn't hit you so I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it."

"Because it's my car!" Jason shouted at Carson.

"It's a stupid fracking car!" Carson replied. "And I didn't hit it!"

"Back off," I said.

"You can—" Jason began loudly, but Travis cut him off.

"Cool it, man," Travis said.

"Cool it?" Jason was yelling at Travis now. "Cool it? How about you tell your little girlfriends there to—"

"How much is it?" I said loudly, interrupting their argument. Travis looked over at me angrily and he slowly walked over. Jason was silenced. Carson was not.

"Girlfriends?" she asked loudly.

"Four ninety-eight," he said. I gave him a five and he put it in the cash register, closing the drawer.

"Girlfriends?" Carson asked again, looking at me this time. I ignored her.

"Where's my change?" I asked Travis, annoyed now. I knew it was only two cents, but I was pissed and I was doing this to spite him.

"It's two cents, Beck," he replied.

"It's my money," I returned, glaring at him. He huffed, opened the drawer again, and gave me my two pennies. I turned back to face Jason. "Girlfriends? Really?"

Unlike me, Carson ordered some extravagant, triple-scoop thing with a bunch of toppings. She kept talking to Travis the whole time, explaining exactly what she wanted.

"You sure you want to eat all that?" I heard Chris say.

"What was that?" I asked looking at him, my face hardened.

"You heard me," he replied.

"Are you serious?" I was getting angry now. The same feeling from when I was with Travis in the garage was creeping in. It got more extreme when Chris smirked. A Travis style smirk. God they were all the same.

"What's it to you?" Chris asked. I could tell he was just trying to get a reaction out of me. It wasn't going to work. I clenched my teeth and turned away. Carson on the other hand, having heard the entire exchange, tensed beside me, ready to strike. I grabbed her hand, shaking my head slightly. She relaxed a little bit but still eyed Jason and Chris.

I had thrown down a ten to pay for Carson's ice cream, not concerned about change this time, and dragged her over to where the kids from school had abandoned their table in the corner before she could actually attack Chris. We sat down facing each other, my back to Travis and the rest of the shop. We sat in silence for a few moments, just eating