Forces of Nature

So Close

Courtney squealed when I ripped open the back door of Drew's Toyota and climbed in. Oops, maybe I should have made my presence known beforehand. Definitely, I thought as she turned to glare at me from the drivers seat, a big black streak of mascara running from the corner of her right eye to her hairline.

"Jesus Christ, Noah. I could have poked my eye out."

I cracked up laughing. She looked absolutely ridiculous. The morning's bitter feelings faded to the back of my mind. Courtney's presence - however hostile she might be at the moment - was always a comfort when I was feeling down. She snapped the mascara wand back into the tube and dropped it into the centre console.

"Relax. That's why God gave you two eyes," I said, laying out on the backseat. My back clicked several times as I stretched leisurely, some of the tension leaking out of my body. I sighed, a noise just shy of contentment.

"Yes, well. The eye patch look is so last century," she grumbled, twisting to face the rear view mirror. I noticed some of the inky black stuff had caught one of her curls, but I wasn't about to mention it to her lest she turn around and whack me like it was all my fault. Which it was, but that's not the point. "What took you so long anyway?"

I shrugged, though she couldn't see it with her entire face taking up the mirror. "Ran into some people on the way out." One who probably wanted to see me dead, while the other was probably inadvertently going to kill me if my heart didn't settle down while he was nearby. Note to self: Google likelihood of teenager suffering heart attack from infatuation of the opposite sex.

Her devious smile shone out at me in the reflection of the mirror. "Did one of those people happen to be Tyson?"

My jaw dropped slightly. What, was she psychic now? I decided to play dumb. "What makes you say that?" I asked, working to free one of my hands from the folds of the jacket I was wearing. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It had vibrated on the way out to the parking lot, alerting me that I had a text message. Flipping it open, I saw it was from Mel, asking whether I wanted roast beef or roast chicken for dinner. I replied with chicken even as my stomach rumbled in anticipation.

Courtney rolled her eyes at me when I glanced back at the mirror, rubbing vigorously at the black streak. "Great. Stupid waterproof mascara," she muttered when all she succeeded in doing was spreading the mess. "No. Stupid best friend that thinks it's funny to sneak up on people while they're doing something that could potentially blind them."

I laughed some more. "You were only ever in danger of going half blind."

"Whatever," she grumbled, licking a finger to try again. I refrained from informing her that a wet finger would no doubt be worse than a dry one, seeing as the mascara was indeed water proof. I'd been in enough confrontations already today.

"I say it because you're wearing his jacket."

It took me a few seconds to realise she'd swung back to our original conversation and I glanced down at the thick black hoodie which was at least three sizes too big for me. Oh. Good point.

"Um, yeah," I hedged, wondering how the hell I was going to explain this without her jumping to wildly inaccurate conclusions. In the end I decided the truth was best, followed by vehement denials concerning any "hidden meanings" she could conjure out of it all. "He let me borrow it last night," I said, glancing uncertainly at her reflection in the mirror. Courtney's eyebrows raised, her finger frozen over the black smudge.

"Last night?"

"Well, more like early this morning," I amended, then realised how that sounded. A girl out with a boy in the early hours of the morning - alone no less, only to show up the next day with an item of his clothing? Yeah, real dodgy. Or at least a big hint that the two had been involved in some kind of hanky panky.