A Kiss Under The Mistletoe

Chapter 2: Check Engine Light

"In the end you can't always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go."
— Ally Condie, Crossed

They said when life gives you lemon, make some lemonade. They said that patience is a virtue. They said that time is gold. They said these and those but the people who even believe in those are hypocrites!

Mom said to always be punctual, yet she's not punctual herself.
She's a big hypocrite! I was starting to lose my nerves. I've been sitting here for half an hour and I don't have a book to read anymore since I only brought out one book from my locker — because I thought I was going straight home —and I finished it twenty minutes ago.

I texted and called mom, dad, my best — well only — friend, Esme, and Charlotte, my older sister to tell them I was deserted at school but all of them was unreachable until my phone reached its end.

Now it started snowing. Great. I better start walking home before the snow gets stronger.

I started walking and felt glad that I wore warm clothes. When I was about to go left I heard a car honk at me.

Bloody hell. A car honked at me.
This better be mom.

Unfortunately, when I looked back it wasn't. The car was not familiar.
Oh God! Whoever's inside might kill me or do worse.
Because of that terrifying thought I ran.
I was panting already.
Damn my body for being physically worthless!

I didn't look back, I was too afraid to see if the car is near behind me. To be honest, I wasn't even running that fast.

"Mary!" I heard a familiar playful voice. 

This time I looked back. It was Weasley boy, I mean, Ron.

"Ron?" I asked him, loud enough for that he can hear.

"Yup! That's me. What are you doing walking out in the cold? It's like twenty-eight degrees out here! You'll catch pneumonia, get in!" His head was hanging outside the car when he said those.

Before getting in the car hesitatingly, I looked at my dead phone first and up the sky. I felt a snowflake fall into my face.

I shouldn't get in a stranger's car. He's a stranger even if I know his first name.

"Ah, Mary?" He called out, getting impatient.

I went inside, not caring if Ron was truly a serial killer anymore. Here was a schoolmate of mine, offering me a ride and here was I, thinking bad thoughts about him. 

I removed my gloves and rubbed my hands together. "I didn't know it was that cold outside." I mumbled to myself.

His car inside was all so warm and fuzzy, and then I realized that it is twenty-eight degrees outside, I just got accustomed with the temperature. I was so busy heating my hands, I didn't notice Ron cupping my cheeks. His hands were so warm, it's nice. 

"Damn Mary, you're so cold. I'll help you heat up." He sounded worried. "What were you doing out there before I chased you?" He asked.

"W-w-walki-i-ing." I stuttered because I was shivering.

He added, "Why were you walking?"

"Go-ot stra-a-ande-e-ed," Stop shivering. Talk normal, please voice.

"Do I always have to be specific? Why were you stranded?" He asked impatiently.

"Mom never arrived to fetch me." I shiver-free say. Praise the Lord!

"Your mom fetches you? Don't you have a car? I know I've seen you around with a car." He looked away and tried to remember.

"You've noticed me?" I said, surprise. I continued, "Yes, I do. However mother-dear borrowed it."

"Don't act so surprised, Mary. Of course I've noticed you." 

Stalker. By the Angel! What if he is a stalker?! And now he wants me to be his and he'll be so obsessive around me that he might even kill me! 

I watched CSI too much.

"Where do you live? I'll just drop you off."

He didn't know where I live? Good. Because stalkers stalk there victims.

"Little Town." I said quietly. "I'll just point out which house."

"Sure." 

He put his hands back on the steering wheel, turned on the engine and my face felt cold again.

"For the record, when I said I've noticed you around, that doesn't mean in a creepy way." He said quietly.

"Oh, good to know." I said, meekly.

When I looked at his hands, I saw near the speedometer an unusual light on. A check engine light to be precise. "Your check engine light is on." I informed him.

"It's fine." It was evident in his voice that he was carefree.

"No it's not. It probably means you need to check your engine since the light is on." I protested.

"I'm telling you, it's totally fine. It was on already like four months ago." I gasped in terror.

"Then the more reason you should... You know, check the engine out." I argued.

"As you can see, my baby's still working fine. So don't worry. The light is just... umm, probably broken." He tried to reassure me but it wasn't working.

"Or the engine is..." I mumbled to myself.

After that statement, we didn't talk in the rest of the ride home. I didn't even try to throw another conversation with him.

I pointed out lastly which my house was and the car stopped in front of it. 

"Thanks for the ride. And please check out your engine." I said quickly and ran swiftly until I reached the porch.

I looked back and saw the car gone already, ergo, I went to find the spare key of the house and used it to unlock the doorknob.

Nobody was home. I pushed the button on the answering machine to see if there were any voicemails. There were eight voicemails, seven from me and one from my sister.

"...leave a message after the beep," beep "Hey Gwen. I'm sorry that mom didn't fetch you at school today." I snorted.

"No one's at home right now because I was unexpectedly chosen as the one who'll represent our family in the town so mom and dad escorted me. You know how our town loves to make celebrations. Anyway, I hope you didn't forget to get my envelope at your school today." Envelope? Wait.

I went to look at my bag while listening to Charlotte's voice. "I'm going to FedEx those papers right away tonight because I'm already due. See you on dinner time, Gwenny!" And then the voicemail ends.

"Oh no." I said worriedly when I couldn't find the envelope.