Preacher Man // ross lynch + driver era

3

"Why would you do that?" Ross asks, huffing out his chest as we walk out.

I drop his hand from mine, "I don't know. I really didn't want to see you get knocked out. Sorry I don't get an adrenaline high from watching people fight or being in fights." He looks at me for a couple of seconds, blinking quickly before looking back at the doorway. "Are you okay?"

He puts his hand up to his forehead and lets out a soft groan. "I'm still drunk."

"Want me to get you some water?" I ask, crossing my arms to contain any heat I have left. It's around 30 degrees outside and I can see both of our breath as his breathing finally slows.

He shakes his head, "No it's fine. I'll sober up talking to you."

I look at him, clenching my jaw slightly. "Why are you such an asshole?"

Ross leads us to the bench and sits down. "Fuck, I didn't mean it like that. I genuinely meant that if we keep talking, I will sober up. Nothing about you." He then mumbles an apology.

Liv comes outside with Kayla close behind her. "Ready to go, Hayley?"

I look between them and Ross who looks at me with wide eyes. I don't know what made me say it, but I did. "Just leave the door unlocked. I'll Uber home soon. I'm not drunk. I'm just going to hang out for a bit." I smile. Once the girls walk away, I turn to him again. "Is your car here?"

"Are you trying to hook up with me in my car, Hayley?" He asks, his mouth wide open in a joking matter.

I quickly shake my head, "No! It's too cold and I can't even focus on talking to you without watching my breath." He laughs and stands up, dangling his key from me. "I don't want to go anywhere, I just want some warmth and I don't want you to go back in there. You're still drunk."

"Yeah, yeah," he laughs and starts walking toward his blacked out Audi. I raise my eyebrows at it silently and follow him as he climbs into his front seat. He turns on the heat then walks back out to his trunk.

I'm seated in the passenger seat, leaning over and cursing silently at how cold his leather seats are to the point I can't feel my fingertips at all. Moments later he returns with a red sweatshirt and tosses it at me before sitting back down and closing the door.

I let out a gasp and thank him, pulling the sweatshirt up over my head and hugging the material close to me in any effort to warm back up. I glance at him to see him smiling and observing me.

I smile and point to his Santa outfit. "Is it warm at least?"

Ross nods. "Yeah, I'm surprisingly not cold." The warm air is shooting out of the air vents, his air being blown back gently. He blinks a little slow while making eye contact with me, "tell me about yourself."

"I don't understand how this morning you trashed my book cart and now here we are, sixteen hours later," I say, ignoring his question completely.

He sighs and begins pulling at the white fur located at the bottom of his sleeve. "I don't mean to be an asshole. I just say fucked up things and do fucked up things. I'm working on it," he mumbles.

"As long as you're working on it, that's all that matters," I give him a light smile and lean back against the warm seat. I put my finger onto my bottom lip and hum. "Well, my name is Hayley Atkins. I'm 20. I am studying Psychology. I don't have any siblings and I don't really talk to my parents – that's a long story. My favorite color is red. I live with the two girls who came out and asked me if I was ready to leave, their names are Olivia and Kayla. I work at the bookstore for four years now." I finish my spiel and looked up to see him watching me intensely. "You?"

He shifts his body completely so his body is turned to me. He stays quiet for a couple of seconds until he sighs. "I'm Ross Lynch. I am 21. I, uh, go to school for Marine Biology. I have four siblings – I have an older sister, two older brothers and one younger brother. My favorite color is black. I live alone since my family tends to drive me nuts and I don't think I could mentally live with any immature boys from school. I like to get drunk."

We do this back and forth for an hour, both of us getting into which movies are our favorite and where our favorite restaurants are. He insists he wants to take me skiing and I laugh in his face. He tells me he has more secrets than he can keep and how he has more demons than the rest. He tells me how he has so many friends and could care less about them – they just help time pass.

And I enjoy his company.

"Why do you put up such a front that you're some soulless human being that hates the entire world?" I ask softly.

He shrugs. "Who says I don't?"

"I like you opening up. It's like I stripped the whole outer layer of you off."

Ross smirks, "Oh yeah?" His tongue darts out to swipe along his lower lip. I roll my eyes. I stare at the little white flakes that are now dancing along the clear glass that is separating us from the outside world. "What are you thinking about?" he asks.

"Are you going to go back to being mean to me if you see me again?" I quietly ask, my fingers touching the opening of the pocket of his sweatshirt that I'm wearing. I have to prepare myself in case we bump into each other one day and he knocks over my books again. I have to keep my guard up, without it I would crumble like I have so many times before. That's why I only have a few friends.

His fingers trace the four silver circles on his steering wheel. "I'm trying to fix myself. I really am. I don't know how to interact with people. It's horrible, but I don't put a lot of effort into people so I say what comes to mind. I push people away and I'm only friends with people who have thick enough skin to tolerate me. So, I will try my hardest not to. You're a cool person and I guess I wouldn't mind being friends with you."

I laugh and mock him. "I guess." He looks over and smiles at me.

He asks, "Wanna go eat at that diner you were raving about?"

I stare his Santa onesie. "You want me to go out in public with you... in that?!" I laugh, jokingly and point to the thick printed belt around his stomach.

Ross lets out a laugh and says, "I'd stop by my apartment first. This car feels like a thousand degrees and I probably have sweat my way through this already." I smile and reach over to turn down the warm air. "It's fine, you're in a little onesie thing too and your cheeks are still rosy. I can handle a little bit of heat, Princess." My jumpsuit being the onesie he's referring to.

Ten minutes later once I asked him fifteen times if he feels sober enough to drive, we arrive at his apartment. He runs upstairs and comes down five minutes later, his hair pulled back into a backward red snapback hat. His upper half is covered in a black long-sleeve shirt with letters written across the front, followed by black skinny jeans and a pair of converse. And he looks so good.

He flings open the door and quickly closes the door, puffing out the air while looking at me. "Shit it's cold," he mumbles and takes in my appearance. "Do you want to go home and change? Or are you okay like that?"

Once I decide that there is no point driving another ten minutes out of the way, we head to the diner. We split two appetizers as our meals and we argue a bit over the bill until we come to agreement that he pays and I tip.

We sit there for an extra hour after we finished our meals, none of us being quiet and deciding to head out. The waitress approached us and said, "I'm sorry, lovelies. Diner is closing up."

Ross stands and helps me to my feet once they fall asleep from the extremely annoying heels. "You dragged me out of the party five hours ago. How did we manage to talk for five hours?" He smirks once we get into the car.

"It's crazy how likable you could be if you weren't an asshole," I stick my tongue out at him once he shoves my thigh gently.