Remembering Raimondo (Complete)

Half a Bagel

My fingers hurt from gripping the door handle. It took two blocks for him to remember how to drive the cab. His driving skills were lacking! Well, in the beginning they were. He concentrated so hard that even his fingers were gripping the steering wheel until his nuckles whitened. But eventually he figured it out. my mind quickly wandered to the first day I met him. His driving wasn't bad that day, but then again it was long after morning. He must have been driving all day before I called for the service.

He was a bit hesitant. Realizing he didn't know the way, I quickly punched in the adress on the GPS. But as soon as I did that he deleted the entry.

"Don't touch my stuff."

Hoe out. I frowned at that and crossed my hands over my chest defending my dignity. Fine, get lost. I don't know why I even cared about your feelings. But ofcourse I had no courage to say all of that aloud.

I stared out the window. We were going the opposite direction. I glared at him.

"You're going the wrong way smartass."

"I'm sorry," he said as he entered a lot, turned off the ignition and unbuckled his seat belt.

He opened his door before I can say anything else. Flaring I quickly unbuckled my belt and stomped out of the car and dramatically slammed the yellow door shut.

"Where do you think you're going?"

He pointed at the glass doors and smiled. "Breakfast."

I looked up to see where we were as he entered the place to see 'Starbucks' written in bold green letters.

Great. Fat ass has to eat first. Might as well walked from my apartment, it was a shorter route then the one I had to take now! Oh hell, Lecturing myself never helped so why would it now?

I crossed the lot.

"Hey," Raimondo called with his foot holding the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" He mimicked my previous outburst trying to keep himself from smirking.

"Going to school," I hollered across the lot walking backwards.

He shook his head and jogged towards me. Mirroring my steps he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"What are you doing?"

"If I said I was going to take you to school, then I will take you to school." He smiled. "Come on, lead the way." 

I stopped and stared at him in disbelief. Guilt washed over me. Should I tell him that I lied and that he didn't promise to take me to school?

"On foot? You're not serious?"

He ignored me and continued to walk in the direction I had began walking towards. I jogged after him to keep in step.

He frowned and started to hum a tune. I couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing?" I asked perfectly distracted from asking for the answers of my previous questions.

"Shhh," he motioned with his finger and continued humming.

"girl I been thinkin bout ya, and I been dreamin bout ya..." he sang. "na naa nana na.. your clothes..." he frowned again.

"Come," he grabbed my hand and ran back towards Starbucks.

And for some reason I found his behavior funny. "Hey slow down. What are you doing?" I laughed.

He placed his hands on my arms and backed me onto the side of his car. "Wait," he put his index finger up wrinkling his forehead and then smiling.

I let out an uneasy smile. "Okay," I forced a chuckle.

He dug in his front pockets and pulled out the keys. He opned the car door and jumped in. One foot on the lot and another in the cab, he rummaged for a while. I looked to see what he was up to. A few seconds later music was playing.

He blasted the music louder and climbed out of the cab.

He sang along for a few versus staring at the large menu plastered on the brick wall of Starbucks. Almost as if he just remembered I was next to him he turned his head and gave me his full attention. Raimondo patted the top of his cab after removing the thing above it with the letters TAXI on it. He nodded towards it.

"Sit here," he ordered.

"What?" I asked shocked. "No! Hell no."

He must be out of his mind if he thinks I trust him enough to get on the cab while the key was in the ignition.

******

He came out holding two cups of coffee and a bag of ... well I really didn't know what was in the bag yet. The song changed 2 times so far. I wondered how late I was.

"Grab it," he extended his hand for me to take the food.

And yes, I was sitting on the cab. As light as a 3 year old, he jumped from the hood to the top of the car in an instant. Folding his legs, he ignored my gasp as the top of the car slightly bent inward.

"Don't worry," he stated pulling out a bagel. "We're not fat enough."

But I didnt know if he meant fat enough to break the car, or fat enough to watch how much cheese we eat. I gave him a slight nod. He cut the bagel in half and gave me one taking the other. I hesitate.

"You didn't want the whole bagel, did you?"

Embarassed by his conclusion, I opened my mouth to defend myself but just decided to take the bagel and say nothing.

He put his bagel down while I stuffed mine in my mouth. Way to make myself look like a hungry pig. Raimondo watched me eat until I finished my half. He smiled and placed the other half in front of me.

"No thank you," like hell I was eating that after he made me blush.

"I insist."

He insists? Oh boy, he's having an identity crisis.

"You're not British," I mumbled.

"You have-," he extended his hand towards my face and swept his thumb over the skin near my lips. "Cream." He showed me his thumb to prove it.

God... I'll forget that you've never answered any of my prayers if you just take me now.