The Shy Billionaire

News flash: I am a girl. I like girly things.

Chapter Three

"This means a lot," I told Joe for the umpteenth time. My arms hugged my chest as I shivered. God, I was cold. This sucked.

"I know, girly," he said sympathetically. Joe made it all the way out here before he realized that he forgot his tools. He drove all the way back to grab them. It meant I had been waiting in the rain for about forty minutes. Joe had apologized profusely, which I immediately dismissed. It wasn't his fault. I just had bad luck. "Well, that oughta do it." He wiped his hands on a rag and looked at me.

"Thanks again," I said as I hopped in my truck. He nodded.

"I'll send you the bill," he told me. I knew that he would give me a discount for being late, so at least there was that.

"I'll see you later," I responded. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Not too soon, I hope," he joked. I shook my head, started my truck, and took off down the road.

It took me longer than usual because not only did I hit every red light, but there was a wreck on Court Rd., two blocks from my house. I groaned and turned off the truck to save gas. That only caused another problem. As soon as the wreck cleared, I tried to start my truck again, only to have it sputter. It did come to life, however, but jerked with each shift. It must be the transmission. My head thwacked the back of my seat on more than one occasion as I pulled my truck into the driveway, grateful to finally turn it off.

"Mom?" I called as soon as I walked in the door. "You here?" There was no answer. I sighed. Mom had been going out a lot recently with some coworkers. It was great that she was having fun, but I missed our mother/daughter time. Instead, I decided to sort through the mail (which gave me a paper cut) and flip on Netflix so I could watch The Lucky One. Zac Efron was my celebrity crush, despite how harsh people talked about him for his appearance in High School Musical. I didn't care though. Those bright blue eyes were gorgeous and always managed to melt my heart.

Zac Efron, you are my one true love.

Later on, I called Ava to see if she wanted to hang out. This usually meant that we would order pizza and watched the latest True Blood. I know, it's typical girl stuff. New flash: I am a girl. I like girly things.

"God," Ava sighed, sounding wistful. "How can guys be so hot on T.V. And yet look like a horror show in real life?" I shrugged.

"Guys on T.V. wear makeup," I explained. She snorted.

"So do I but you don't see me with any attention," she said bitterly. I looked over at her in shock.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "The guy from the coffee shop asked you out just yesterday."

"I didn't mean I wanted attention from the guy that runs the flipping front counter at the coffee shop," she explained, annoyed with my jab. "Besides, he was like fifteen and smelled like he'd never learned the word 'shower' before."

"I think he was sixteen," I corrected, keeping a straight face. Her death glare broke that down as I snorted with laughter.

"It's not funny!" She insisted, grabbing a pillow from the couch and trying to suffocate me with it. "It was humiliating!" Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Pizza's here," I announced, jumping of of the couch and out of the clutches of my best friend. She threw the pillow at me and hit me in the face, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the floor. "Hey!"

"Now that was funny," Ava commented as she held her stomach and laughed. "Oh, Chance, you really do have the worst luck."

"Tell me about it," I mumbled, getting right back up and grabbing my wallet. I paid the pizza man a whopping $16.39 for one pizza, breadsticks, and a two liter of Pepsi.

"Whoa," Ava said when I told her the price. She shook her head in dismay. "They try to rob you. Jeez, you'd have to win the lottery if you keep getting pizza."

"Speaking of which," I said, taking a bite out of my cheesy pizza. The price may be ridiculous, but the stuff was good. "I bought a lottery ticket today."

"Why?" She scrunched up her nose. "The chances of winning are like nil."

"You told me to!" I protested. "Well, I mean, you told me to do something outside my comfort zone and I did. I got a lottery ticket."

"You'll never win," she predicted. "I love you, but that's nearly impossible to get. Most people don't even try."

"You said-"

"I know what I said," she cut me off. "What I meant was something like go out on a date or drive without a seatbelt. Live a little."

"Seatbelts are there for a reason, you know," I pointed out. Ava rolled her eyes.

"It's also something you've never done," she shot back. "Seriously, Chance, you could do so many cool things if you tried. I don't mean buy a lottery ticket. I mean something that when you look back on your life, you can say, 'Hey, I did that. And it was worth it.'" I thought for a minute and then shook my head.

"I still don't think that not wearing a seatbelt would be worth it," I admitted. Ava laughed and threw a pepperoni at my face. "You're disgusting."

"And you're impossible."