What Is Love?

Chapter Twenty-Three

Danny Dare

Leather squeaked with a certain unfamiliarity as I shifted my weight in the seat and sighed again for the millionth time.

"Ms. Dare, do stop acting so disappointed, if you please. It doesn't suit you," Slen commented from the passenger side.

I glared at him from the corner of my eye, and deliberately playing devil's advocate, sighed again.

Slens eyes narrowed dangerously, and something between a growl and a sigh of his own escaped past his lips. "Danny..." he warned.

Silence.

It wasn't that the car wasn't nice, and it wasn't that on some level I wasn't grateful for his gift to me, but the majority of the problem was the embarrassment of the situation I was now in. As independent as I'd always had to be, it didn't feel right accepting the shiny hunk of metal I was now driving back home. It was too nice for me - too expensive. Slen had asked the sale's associate to deliberately conceal all manner of pricing from me during the car choosing process, but considering the name on the back of the car and all the bells and whistles included, it had to have been a pretty penny. I didn't own nice things like this... it wasn't normal.

Heads turned from roadside people as we drove past, and I tried unsuccessfully to push down the blush that crept to my face from the unwanted attention. It wasn't unusual to see a nice car around here, but this sporty number did like to make its presence known. As if to confirm my thoughts, the engine roared like a beast as I speed up to get away from the admiring eyes.

'Mustang my ass. This thing's a fucking lion,' I scoffed inwardly.

I glanced into the rear view mirror and checked to make sure the black Corvette was still following me. The driver was nearly invisible through the window's tinting, and was only just barely distinguishable as a woman from my seat. I'd told Slen he was ridiculous when he'd informed me back at the dealership that he was calling one of his employees - a woman named Mary if I remembered correctly - to drive his car back so that he could ride with me. Just as Slen always seemed to do when I disagreed with him, however, he ignored me and did what he wanted anyway. I had no clue how the woman had gotten there herself, but she'd showed up at the perfect time and caught the keys Slen casually tossed to her without any exchange of words.

The silence in the car stretched on and I began to feel even more awkward. After our conversation earlier - ground breaking as it was - I realized I didn't know how to react around the angel-faced man anymore. I'd gotten the gist that he did actually like me in return, but... what now? I couldn't tell if he wanted to take this anywhere or not.

'You could always just ask,' I thought to myself, and weighed the pros and cons of that. Did I really wanna bring this topic up again? It felt like unfinished business, but still... I didn't wanna be the reason he ran again if it came to that.

Inwardly I harnessed all my courage and took a deep breath. "So Slen..."

"Yes?" he inclined his head towards me, gauging my expression. No doubt he noticed the change in my tone from sulking to apprehensive.

"Well... I suppose I have to find some way to thank you for... this," I started.

Slen cut me off. "There is no need for that."

"Yes there is," I insisted, forcing myself to keep going. "So I was wondering if you would perhaps like to... to go out tonight? Dinner's on me. And I'll drive," I said in a rush, concentrating very hard on the road and absolutely refusing to look at the man next to me - or at least trying to not look at him.. after a beat of silence, my cowardice forced me to steal a quick glance from the corner of my eye.