Free

Chapter Four

It just had to be the Hemings didn't it?

I made my way down the rest of the stairs and was greeted by Mrs. Hemings.

"Wow, Saylor! Your hair looks great! What made you change it up?"

Well that would be your asshole of a son, Mrs. Hemings.

"I just felt like mixing it up" I lied and smiled at her, "Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Hemings. Nice to see you again too, Bradley." Oh wait it's actually not nice to see you because I'm still petrified that the next time he 'pranks' me he'll take it even farther.

I let my eyes roam over to Brad for the first time and his eyes were fixed on me with his mouth ajar.

"Okay, let's get going" My mother said, "Saylor, why don't you and Bradley drive over there in your car and your father will drive myself and the Hemings." She said it as a question, but I knew I had no choice. When mother wants something, she gets it. No ifs, ands, or buts.

But I still attempted to weasel my way out of it, "Mom, I'm not sure if I know the way there."

"Oh, please, Saylor, we were there last week. Plus, we'll go first so you can follow."

Well I tried.

Begrudgingly I towed behind everyone and made my way to my Mercedes. Wordlessly I opened the driver's door and waited until Bradley got in. As soon as I heard his door click shut I pulled out of the driveway since I was blocking my father's car and waited for him to drive down the road.

I turned on the radio just to block out the extremely awkward silence and turned it up pretty loudly.

As soon as I removed my hand from the dial and back to the wheel,Bradley clicked the radio off.

My breath caught in my throat and for the thousandth time today I was nervous as to what Brad's next move would be.

"Saylor," he started. Oh, no. Don't talk to me. Please.

Suddenly I was hit with a burst of confience and I cut him off. "Brad, just stop. Save the tormenting for school. Our parents are obviously trying to get into some sort of business deal so let's just pretend that everything's fine so that they can finish off this deal and we won't have to spend any extra time together anymore."

"No, Say, I really--"

"Please, Brad. Just please stop. And don't call me 'Say' we're not friends or anything."

He sighed and let his head drop back onto the head rest. "I'm sorry, Saylor, really. And your hair looks really pretty like that."

What.

Did Bradley Hemings just apologize to me?

No, this is probably just some ploy to get me to fall for his next trick.

I just scoffed and kept driving. "Yeah, no thanks to you, asshole."

Finally we got to the restaurant. Me and Brad spent the rest of the fifteen minute ride in complete silence. I could tell that he kept wanting to say something, but he didn't.

I pulled into a spot right next to our parents and everyone started walking in together, but my mother made sure we were last and pulled me aside. "Saylor, you better be on your best behavior tonight. I want you and Bradley to become good friends because we'll be spending a lot of time with this family."

I just nodded and kept walking.

A lot of time?

What was this business deal?