Piece By Piece

Chapter 5

                                                                                      Chapter five

                                                         Deadly Motorcycles and Fire-breathing Mamma's.

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"Do you honestly expect me to ride that?" I gaped. I was staring down a shiny, black motorcycle that was probably way too expensive. Lex was absolutely crazy for even thinking that I would hop on it.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Lex asked, with a grin. He's challenging me.

 "The word motorcycle is just a fancy term for death-trap."

Lex just laughed and tossed me a helmet. When I caught it, he jumped on the bike and revved the engine. "Get on."

I barked a laugh. "You're funny if you think I'm going to get on that thing."

He shot me a giant grin. "Scared?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No, I'm just not ready to die yet."

He sighed then cut the engine. He got off and walked towards me, wearing a determined and amused look. He looked me straight in the eye as he placed his hands on my shoulders. Normally, I would've shaken them off, but I was mesmerized by those eyes. He leaned down to my height, never once removing his eyes from mine. "Val," he whispered.

"Y-yes?" I stammered.

"I promise that I will keep you safe. Do you trust me?"

With those eyes searing mine and his hands warming my skin, it was getting hard to concentrate. "Can't we just walk instead?"

He chuckled, his breath blowing on my face. "You'll be fine, I swear."

"But I hate the smell of gasoline," I randomly whisper, making my cheeks burn bright red.

Lex let go of my shoulders and started laughing. He took the helmet from my hands, and then swiftly put it on my head and buckled it before I could see it coming. He was still laughing when he said, "And I hate the smell of the school's lunches, but I still eat them."

He had a point, I'll admit, though I'd never tell him that. Sighing, I carefully swung my leg over the bike's seat and sat down. I glanced at Lex who looked shocked. I patted the seat in front of me, impatiently. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

***

"You were trying to kill us. Don't deny it," I accused after getting off the bike. I'd convinced Lex to take us to the clinic so that I could ride Sugar since I hadn't ridden her in what felt like forever.

"Says who?" Lex asks.

"Says those two stop-signs that you ran, and that old lady that you almost hit!"

"Well, she should've watched where she was going before she decided to stroll out in front of me."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm just glad it's over."

We walked in silence as we made our way over to the stables. I saddled up Sugar, then led her out of the pastures to one of the trails that navigate's throughout the woods.

"Are you coming?" I notice that Lex's just leaning against the stables, watching me.

He cleared his throat. "I don't ride."

I snorted. "That's bullshit. If you can ride a motorcycle then you sure as hell can ride a horse."

He glared at me. "What I meant was, I don't know how to ride."

"Well, then, I'll teach you."

"No, thanks. I'll ride Daisy, though."

I gave him a look. "She's a Saint Bernard."

"Yeah, a huge one. She probably out-weighs your horse."

"Why are you so difficult?" I huff.

"Right back at ya," says Lex as he turns around and walks away.

"Where're you going?"

"To go visit Daisy. Who knows, maybe she'll let me ride her."

I shake my head as I watch him enter the clinic. Why is he so annoying? God, I already had a headache from him.

I gently squeezed my heels against Sugar, letting her know to start trotting. As we glided through the woods, I could feel my frustration slowly decrease as my headache slowly stopped throbbing. Soon, we were cantering and the trees going past us blurred. I felt free and powerful, like I was on top of the world. Well, at least my world, were cocky bastards like Lex didn't exist.

***

"Where have you been, young lady?" My mom demanded as soon as Lex dropped me off at my house. I'd lost track of time, and was extremely past my curfew for a school night.

"Out," I answer, walking past her and into the kitchen. I grab a granola bar from the pantry and then popped a squat onto the couch

"And just where is 'out'?" Even though I wasn't facing her, I could tell that her jaw was clenched and that smoke was practically coming out of her ears.

"Not in," I reply, as cold and steely as possible. I took a bite of my snack, chewing each bite as calmly as I could.

Mom marched into the living room and squated right in front of me. She grabbed my chin and jerked upwards, forcing me to look at her. "Where have you been?" Her voice was as icy as her frozen eyes.

I stared into those eyes as brave as I could, not backing down. "I told you."

"What were you doing?" Each word was spat out from her teeth.

"Oh, you know. Just the usual." I jerked my chin away from her grasp. "I went out with a bunch of friends and robbed a bank. We drank and made out with each other, and then we all got matching tattoo's. Wanna see it?" Okay, so maybe I was being a little too sarcastic and mouthy, but I hate it when she does this. I hate when she treats me like a damn child.

Mom closed her eyes then massaged her temple, breathing deeply. I was about to comment that her breathing heavily resembled a fire-breathing dragon, but, very calmly, she said, "Please, please don't be late again. You scared me."

That was the first time in a long time that she actually said something that made her sound like she cared about me. Still, I couldn't bring myself to apoligize like I should've, so instead I just dryly replied, "I'll make no promises."

I got up and dragged myself upstairs, then climbed into bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.