jessie's girl [thief] // BD - ON HOLD

3.4

"hi." bella said, opening baby's car door. her hair was partly tied up and she had a backpack in her hand. bella was wearing black leggings, a knitted sweater and a green, thin parka above all.

"evening." he responded, starting his car. the autumn in atlanta was starting to get a little colder, so baby was wearing a sweatshirt underneath his jacket. "what do you want to eat?"

"mcdonald's, if you don't mind." bella responded and buckled her seatbelt. 

"do you know how much garbage their food contains?" baby asked, setting a route in his mind to the closest mcdonald's. 

"huh?" she asked.

"i watched a video on youtube where some people tested mcdonald's food." baby admitted. "they put a cheeseburger in acid and stuff like that." 

bella giggled at baby's words. "that's what you do in your free time?"

baby nodded, and then realised how ridiculous he must sound. "i-i mean, it's interesting. and it's kind of science." he justified himself. bella giggled again. baby looked at her with raised eyebrows. "what's wrong with watching those kind of videos?"

"nothing," bella said, "i watch some weird stuff, too. like top ten best sandwhiches ever made, conspiracy theories, paranormal stuff." now baby chuckled loudly. 

"that's interesting, too. i like paranormal videos." he admitted and then chuckled again, louder this time.

"wow." bella said quietly. "i haven't ever heard you laugh like that." baby looked at her, a small smile still on his lips. 

"i don't do that much." he said.

"why not?" bella asked. both of them realised the conversation was getting kind of... personal. baby sighed deeply. bella turned her head away from him.

"i just don't." baby replied quietly. 

"okay, i'm sorry i asked." bella said and smiled at baby.

"it's fine." he responded. "we're here." 

baby parked in the mcdonald's parking lot and both he and bella got out of his car. "why didn't you call jessie and come eat with him?" baby asked bella, opening the door for her.

"i don't know." bella said. as they walked up to the cash register, baby saw bella smiling like a fool. has jessie got her smiling like that? she couldn't even stop smiling when she was ordering her food.

what could have..? oh. baby realised what could have happened over the weekend between bella and jessie. he almost shivered in disgust. 

"what do you want?" the cash register girl asked baby. 

"oh, um..." baby trailed off and quickly looked at the menu. "eight chicken nuggets with barbeque sauce, please." he ordered.

"anything to drink?"

"no, thanks." baby said. he took out his wallet, but he noticed bella's card was already in the paying thingy. "i could have payed." he said to bella.

"no, it's my treat." bella said. "i'm dragging you out here when you could be chilling and trilling at home." she justified. baby chuckled. 

"alright, but i'm paying next time." he said as they walked over to a table. 

"sure, mister." bella said and smiled widely. 

"what is it?" baby asked her, also smiling. bella's smile was contagious. "you're smiling."

"oh, um..." she got really energetic, as if she was going to tell baby something, but then she stopped herself, "something personal." she said and giggled. 

baby smiled back at her, although he wanted to scoff or vomit. he knew exactly why she was smiling. disGUSting!

they got their food and ate in silence until bella spoke up. "what did you do at the party?" she asked baby.

"oh, uh... got drunk, danced lots, you know, what i usually do at parties." baby replied in sarcasm. bella chuckled.

"right." she said. "but really."

"it was fine." he said. "i didn't stay until sunday."

"yeah, i noticed that. we had fun tho, you could've stayed." bella frowned. "why did you leave?"

"i... had to be home, with my dad." baby replied. 

"is he alright?" 

"he's just old."

"ah." bella said. "i understand. me and my mom had to take care of my grandmother when she was getting... near the end of her life." she admitted.

"were you close with your grandmother?" baby asked.

"quite." bella nodded. "my second best friend after mike." 

"i'm sorry." baby said, feeling like bella didn't want to talk about her grandmother. bella shook her head and smiled faintly at baby. "i, uh... talked to jessie."

bella raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at baby.

"last monday." he explained. "that 'man to man' talk." 

"oh." bella nodded. "about... what we saw on saturday?" now baby nodded. bella's facial expression changed. she looked... unsatisfied. "and what did he say? you asked him?"

"he just... dismissed it." baby said, trying his best to lie to her. he didn't want her to know now, she seemed quite happy with jessie. 

"really?" she asked. "i don't believe you." bella stated. and the sound of her crashing a fryed potato between her teeth seemed louder than anything for baby's ears.