Unpredictable

Chapter 2

"...so kiss me, like you wanna be loved, you wanna be loved..."

I hummed gently to myself as I stood in front of the mirror, doing my make-up. Harry had called me last night and asked me on a date (Me! A date! With Harry!) and I had invited my friend Jenni to help me get ready. She sat on my bed, flicking through a magazine, while I frantically applied make-up and tried to choose my clothes.

"What're you going to wear?" She asked, suddenly standing up.

"Oh. I don't know. Maybe a dress?"

She screwed up her nose. "For a first date? Really?"

I put the mascara wand down, ran a brush through my shoulder length mouse-brown hair. "Ugh, I don't know, Jenni. Pick me something?"

She rifled through my closet for a minute, then handed me a black crop top and red shorts.

"No! No way!"

She pouted. "Why?"

I made a face in the mirror. "I'm too fat."

"You're not too fat! You're just not confident enough."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Whatever. Pick me something else?"

I studied my reflection in the mirror. Jenni was right, I guess: I'm not fat, just kind of curvy, not stick thin like her. And I'm quite small, so instead of looking oddly proportioned I look kind of alright. The best thing about me is my eyes, I think. They're icy blue, at odds with my dark hair, but they look quite nice.

"How about this?" Jenni handed me a Rolling Stones teeshirt that was slightly to big for me, a pair of red skinny jeans that actually made it look like I had a thigh gap, and black Doc Martens. Perfect.

"Thanks, Jen!" I smiled, changing into my outfit while she looked away. I looked... good. Not like a supermodel, or a celebrity, but better than I normally did.

Jenni handed me an oversized jumper from my closet. "Wear this. In case it's cold."

I slipped it over my head and picked up a handbag, stuffing my phone and makeup inside. "Thank you so much, Jen."

"Go!" She ushered me out of the door. "You'll be late, and Harry's waiting."

I stepped out of the door, the wind rushing around me. Pulling my jumper close around my shoulders, I scanned the street for Harry. The only vehicle in sight was an expensive looking, green vintage car, and just as I was thinking that Harry could never afford it - after all, he was a student - he leant out of the window.

"Ella!" He grinned, and I smiled back, walking over to him.

"Hi!" I slid into the front seat, relaxing into the soft, tan leather. "Your car is beautiful."

"Thanks." He pulled into the stream of traffic, his tattoos showing through his plain white top. "How are you?"

"Good. You?" I was suddenly aware of the space between us, or rather, lack of it. There was hardly anything separrating his black jeans from my red ones, and his arm was touching mine, heat radiating through us.

"Oh, you know. I've been alright."

We drove in silence for a few minutes, before I spoke up.

"Uhm... Where are we going?"

He turned to face me. "You'll see." He smirked.

I suddenly felt nervous: it had been drilled into me from a young age, never get into a car with a stranger, no matter how handsome.

He looked at me sideways, his green eyes concerned. "I'm not going to murder you or kidnap you or whatever, Ella."

I blushed. My worries seemed silly, put like that. "I know, yeah."

We chatted for about 20 minutes, nothing important, just about school, what music we liked, that kind of thing. Eventually we pulled up outside a field, surrounded by a hedge.

Maybe he was going to kill me.

My nervousness wasn't helped when he told me to close my eyes, and no peeking. I giggled, slightly hysterically.

"Promise you won't rape me."

I could almost see his grin in his voice. "No promises, just living. Come on!" He pulled me out the car, and I stumbled, slightly scared, but 100% alive and free, laughing and tripping, my arm around Harry in the darkness.