Infinity

Chapter 14: Eleanor

I was jerked away from my worrisome daydream by the sound of Mason's car door opening as he got back into the front seat, shoving his tattered bag into the back seat.

"Feeling any better? I got you your bag," he said, holding out my bag by the straps as he simultaneously dug in his pocket for his keys.

I nodded slightly, setting my bag on the floor of his car, letting it rest on my jet black ballet flats.

"Yes, thank you..." I murmured, looking down at my lap where my slightly shaking hands were clasped together. Mason slammed his car door shut, the sound of it causing me to flinch. I don't do well with loud noises.

"S-Sorry, that's the only way it'll stay closed." He said, and even just by looking out of the corner of my eye at him, I could tell he noticed my reaction and felt guilty for scaring me. Why should he feel guilty? I've dealt with much worse, and he didn't know that it could, or would, affect me. He shouldn't feel bad, it wouldn't be worth it. I wasn't worth it.

"Okay, so do you want to go straight home? Would you rather just drive around for while?" He asked, buckling up. "I have about half an hour to kill before I pick up my sister, so we could just hang out for a bit... I dunno.." He chuckled awkwardly and smiled at me, a smile that practically caused me to forget he had even asked me a question. Luckily, I regained my senses before I could make a fool of myself, but because of this distraction I made a decision I almost immedietly regretted.

"Driving around sounds pretty nice..." I heard myself mumble, before I could stop myself. Embaressed, I quickly looked out of the window to hide my redening face. "If that's okay with you, of course."

"Why wouldn't it be? Let's do it! Here-" He said, reaching over me to get into the glove box and causing me to flinch. I could see a bit of guilt flash in his eyes before he disgused it behind a sheepish smile, pulling away. "Um, if you go in the glove box, there should be a big folder thingy. It's got a bunch of CD's in it, pick one out!"

Doing as I was told, I opened up what seemed to be the creakiest glove bog ever and pulled out a cloth folder, the type you see the smart kids in class carrying around to keep all of their supplies with them at all times. As I unzipped it i was faced with a what literally looked like a book of CD's. A good half of them seemed to have been bought, but the rest were simply CD's you burn yourself with names like "Roadtrip Playlist" or "Music for a good time" or ridiculous titles such as "Shit only Josh likes that I play to humor him" which had 3 parts and actually made me laugh a little, which seemed to make Mason smile, for what reason I don't know why. Eventually I settled on "Chill the Fuck Out", which seemed funny yet appropriate, since the anxiety I was feeling still hadn't completely went away. I slid it out of it's pocket, tapping Mason on the shoulder gently, who was now staring out of the car window obviously thinking very hard about something.

"Here, um... This looks pretty good."

He looked over at me quickly, then down at the CD before chuckling and taking it from me cautiously and popping it into the disc drive of his radio.

"Excellent choice, m'lady. Shall we leave?" He asked, smiling slightly. I simply nodded, not really knowing how to respond to that at the moment. Nodding back, he started up the car with a loud rattling noise ("The muffler fell off," he explained), and off we went.

***

The drive was a mixture of a comfortable silence between me and him, and probably one of the most relaxing soundtracks I had ever heard. A combination of soft, melodious voices and acoustic guitairs, paired with instrumental pieces that were made up of delicious cello and violin chords that cause shivers of pleasure to run down your spine; the perfect soundtrack to calm your nerves and help distract you from the fact that for some odd reason you have decided to get in a car with someone who is practically a total stranger and let them drive you around town. No danger there. Then again, nothing more dangerous than what I deal with at home.

Mason didn't try to force any type of conversation, which I was very thankful for. It seemed as though I wasn't the only one who felt at peace in the speechless atmosphere, or maybe he just somehow undertstood my need for this. At any rate, a bit of time and many streets had passed before another word was uttered from either of us, which came from him and was mildly startling to me.

"Hey, I've gotta go and pick up my sister, did you want me to drop you off at home first? Or would you like to tag along?"

I thought very hard about this, but eventually decided that it would be in my best interest to go home. The pills he had given me were already beginning to wear off, and I didn't want to be stuck in a car with someone I hardly knew while I was in pain, though he didn't seem like the type of person to be bothered by it. Besides, my father was most likely going to explode when I finally got home. I didn't need to make it worse for myself.

"If it's no trouble, could you drop me off first?" I asked softly, keeping my gaze on the houses that whizzed by as we drove in the direction of my neighborhood.

"Sure, it's no trouble at all!" He said, turning down a side road. "It's on the way to where she goes to daycare so it's pretty convenient actually."

I nodded, smiling gratefully at him, and the silence returned just as suddenly as it had been interrupted.

By the time we had reached my house, my head was once again throbbing and I hardly had the energy to keep my eyes open, much less walk up the driveway in order to avoid whatever punishment I would recieve for getting a ride home from a random boy. Mason seemed to notice this, and before I could think of protesting he was driving up the huge, garden lined driveway to my front door.

"I'm not letting you walk all that way, you're obviously feeling like crud, so please don't try and argue."

I just nodded, and moments later we were at my front door and he was opening my door for me. I smiled gratefully at him, stepping out and keeping an eye on the door for my dad.

"Thanks for everything Mason.."

He shrugged, smiling awkwardly.

"Eh, it's nothing. Do you need a hand getting inside?"

I shook my head quickly, wincing slightly but covering it up pretty quickly.

"No, I've got it, thanks. See you in school."

With that, I walked inside. As I watched him pull away, I couldn't help but notice that, though I hate strangers and trust about two people in my life, I wouldn't mind going on another drive with him.

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A/N: Hey guys, I'm back. Miss me? XD okay so first things first, I want to apologize. Not only for the long wait on this chapter, but also for the cruddy quality and word count. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating on writing, along with being under a lot of stress from school and such. I am also considering not finishing this story, but I'm not sure yet. I'm definitely giving this a few more chapters though, so I guess you're stuck with me for a little longer, eh? I promise the next chapter will be better, and I want to than everyone who has stuck it out and continues to read this story despite the terrible first few chapters and sporadic updates. I love each and every one of you, alright? And by the way, I should be coming out with photos of new characters, along with possible changing the model for Ella. Remember, these photos are more of my thoughts as to what these characters should look like. If you have imagined something different, don't let these photos affect that. Any suggestions for what you think should happen during this story would be highly appreciated!! And if you have any questions, feel free to message me or just comment. Thank you again for reading, I love you!!

Peace, Love, and Not so Thuggish Thugs,

Olivia <3