Take The Chance (A Limitless Novel) [Book 1]

Seventeen

"They still writing?" Lottie asked as she pulled the car out of Jake's driveway. I buckled myself in, before leaning back against her comfy leather seats. I didn't know if it was a rock star thing to have a beautiful car, because - alike Jake – Lottie had one of the nicest car I'd ever seen.

It was a sporty red convertible, I was fairly sure it was a Mercedes, with white leather interiors and every gadget a car could possibly have. When I first saw the car I didn't even know it was a convertible, because of its hard top, but to my surprise Lottie lifted the top off so we could enjoy the sunny day stretching out before us. I realised that here, in England, you had to treasure every sunny day because they really didn't happen often enough.

"Yeah," I sighed, looking out across the ocean before we turned down a street and entered into the heart of Brighton. I'd given the boys a polite goodbye, before racing out the door and away from Jake. If I even looked at him I was worried I would boil over with rage. He definitely had enormous amounts of skill to be able to get under my skin.

"How did Dean react when he found out I was coming over?" Lottie asked. I looked over to her; she was looking out the windscreen with a funny look on her face. She looked over to me, her light brown eyes dancing in the sunlight and her brown hair tucked into a messy bun. She was insanely pretty, and I tried not to hate her for looking as good in jeans and a t-shirt as she did in a cocktail dress. She was definitely one of those girls who looked good in absolutely everything, even a hessian sack.

"How –" I began.

"I messaged him," she smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes and something in my gut told me it was forced. I frowned, looking down at my black jeans and picking lint off them. Something was up with her; she wasn't as cheerful and happy as she had been a week ago. I was the first to admit that I really didn't know her well, but she was definitely a less cheerful version of the Lottie I'd met.

"He was, I don't really know, kind of surprised and angry. It was hard to say," I shrugged, looking back over to her and hopping she wasn't hurt by the outcome. She nodded her head, almost like she expected that reaction.

"Is there something up?" I asked before I could stop the words from spilling out of my mouth. Lottie looked over to me, and I knew I was looking at her with a horrified expression. Sometimes I really didn't have a filter between my brain and mouth, it saw me into trouble often enough that I knew it was a problem.

Lottie sighed, leaning her head back against the headrest of her seat whilst she continued to drive effortlessly through the streets of Brighton.

"Why don't we enjoy ourselves before we share war stories," she smiled tightly, before leaning over and turning the radio up. She looked over to me; I was suddenly worried for her. I wanted to yell at Dean for making her feel this way, even though I didn't know if he was the reason. The unexpected feeling of protectiveness startled me, mostly because I'd only ever met Lottie once before.

It also startled me because I had no idea what Dean and Lottie's relationship entitled, though I seemed to side with my gut. I didn't know any of these people well enough to be feeling so involved.

"I'm thinking of dying my hair," Lottie said, pulling me out of my thoughts and back into her car. We were now driving through a suburban area, edging closer and closer to London. She was looking at her reflection, in the rear-view mirror, whilst we sat at a red light. I watched her as she tugged at her short, straight, and incredibly glossy brown hair. She frowned at herself, I didn't know if she was frowning because she didn't like her hair or if she didn't like the thought of changing it.

"I like you hair," I said as the red light turned green and the car lurched forward. Lottie glanced over to me and I gave her a small shrug, bothered by the fact that I couldn't understand why she would want to change her hair. Her hair was perfect and suited her, it added to the sharpness of her features and gave her a fierce look. I imagined her with long hair and couldn't find it in myself to like it, she would loose all of the intensity in her features and instead look like a child. I didn't want her to change her hair, but it was up to her in the end.