"that's your brilliant idea before climbing onto your machine of destruction?"
sitting in a old monte carlo, a man whose heart is hollow
desperado ( rihanna )
— ✞ —
when bella and i get to the parking lot it's nearly empty, and we hesitate once we're outside the door. i've known bella since kindergarten, give or take a few middle-school years, but we don't exactly hang out. still, it's not weird having her next to me. almost comfortable after that disaster upstairs.
she looks around like she just woke up. "I didn't drive," she mutters. "i was supposed to get a ride. to starbucks." Something about the way she says it sounds significant, as if there's more to the story she's not sharing.
i have business to transact, but now probably isn't the time. "you want a ride?"
bella follows my gaze to my motorcycle. "seriously? i wouldn't get on that deathtrap if you paid me. do you know the fatality rates? they're no joke." she looks ready to pull out a spread sheet and show me.
"suit yourself." i should leave her and go home, but i'm not ready to face that yet. i lean against the building and pull a flask of jim beam out of my jacket pocket, unscrewing the top and holding it toward bella. "drink?"
she folds her arms tightly across her chest. "are you kidding? that's your brilliant idea before climbing onto your machine of destruction? and on school property?"
"you're a lot of fun, you know that?" i don't actually drink much; i'd grabbed the flask from my mother this morning and forgotten about it. but there's something satisfying about annoying bella.
i'm about to put it back in my pocket when bella furrows her brow and holds out her hand. "what the hell." she slumps against the redbrick wall beside me, inching down until she's sitting on the ground. for some reason I flash back to elementary school, when bella and i went to the same catholic school. before life went completely to hell. all the girls wore plaid uniform skirts, and she's got a similar skirt on now that hikes up her thighs as she crosses her ankles.
the view's not bad.
she drinks for a surprisingly long time. "what. just. happened?"
i sit next to her and take the flask, putting it on the ground between us. "i have no fucking idea."
"she looked like she was going to die." bella's hand shakes so hard when she picks up the flask again that it clatters against the ground. "don't you think?"
"yeah," i say as bella takes another swig and makes a face.
"poor justin," she says. "he sounded like he left ole miss yesterday. he always gets that way when he's nervous."
