Dave was in front of the grocery store.
He bought a carton of milk, dozens of eggs, blonde hair dye and two kinds of nail polish. It was such a weird mix of grocery stuff, and it was embarrassing to carry them back into his car. His mother plans on making pancakes, but of course she runs out of milk and eggs just in time his sister asks for him to buy hair dye and nail polish.
"The things I do for my family," He sighs, placing the paperbag on the passenger seat. He starts the engine just in time the passenger side's door opens, and the sight before him almost causes him a heart attack.
It was Arabella.
She dives inside the car fast, pushing his groceries to the side, and strapping the seatbelt on.
"No time to explain," She says, "Drive fast. Now."
At first he just stares, not believing if what was happening is real or just one of his weird dreams including Arabella but once he sees her raising her eyebrows as if saying 'are you gonna drive or what?' makes him step on the gas and drive.
He recollects his composure and focuses on the road, not knowing what to do. Beside him he could see her sighing in relief, running her hands through her chestnut curls. It was a beautiful sight. He wondered how it would feel touching them-
"So, David right?" Arabella asks, fiddling with his radio. Flipping through different stations.
"It's actually Dave," He corrects, not wanting to stare at her because he's worried he'll doze off on how pretty she was.
She snorts, "But isn't that short for David? Dave? What's the difference?"
"My parents don't know the long name for Dave, I guess." Why was he being corny and stupid and nerdy around her? he asks himself. He clears his throat as she almost laughs.
"Where exactly are we going?" Dave questions. He doesn't want to seem nosy and bombard her with personal questions as to why she suddenly showed up in front of his car and out of nowhere forces him to drive. So he sticks to the easiest and most light question on his list of 'What to ask Arabella without pissing her off'.
"Can we go to your house? I promise I would leave soon. I just need to get away from someone for just a while." It was the first time he heard Arabella being nice. And he liked it.
"Sure." No words were exchanged after that.
He purposely takes the long way back to his home, just because he wants to treasure this unbelievable moment of the girl he's been crushing on beside him on the passenger seat. Wait 'til he tells Martin, he wonders what he would say.
From the corner of his eye, he catches Arabella taking around her surroundings, looking around his car until her gaze lands on the groceries in the paper bag she had just pushed down. She pulls them up her lap, fiddling with the stuff, looking at him weirdly once she finds the hair dye and nail polish.
"It's not for me, it's for my sister." He assures, almost blushing in the process.
She smirks, "For a while there I thought you were secretly-"
"Oh God no, no way in hell." He shakes his head almost vigorously. And she almost laughs, but ends up biting her lip and smiling. She looks out the window instead.
He almost made her laugh.
