Not That Girl

Chapter 7

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The ride home from our ice cream excursion is pretty bland. We drove mostly in silence with the exception of my brief remarks directing him towards my house. My attention was mostly directed towards my ice cream, which I devoured in the first five minutes of the drive. Brayden managed to hold his cone and eat while driving but he still had quite a bit left. Probably because he was (thankfully) more focused on driving.

When he pulls into my driveway, I'm prepared to get out of the car as quick as possible. My empty cup and spoon are grasped in one hand while the other is hovering over the seatbelt release button. Hopefully then we can keep the awkward goodbye conversation to a minimum.

The second he shifts the truck into park, I free myself from the seatbelt and push open the door. I hop out, sling my bag over my shoulder.

"Thanks for the ice cream," I say. "And for saving me from the bus."

"No problem," he replies, making very direct eye-contact. His ice cream is dripping down onto his hand but he doesn't do anything about it.

I gesture towards the white goo running down his knuckles, threatening to trickle down onto his jeans. "You might want to take care of that."

"Huh?" He tears his eyes away from mine and sees the imminent mess on his hands (quite literally). "Ah shucks!"

Shucks? What 17 year old says shucks?

I expect him to pull out a napkin or something, but instead he just brings his hand up to his face and licks off the drips like a cat bathing itself.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at school," I say.

He looks up from his 'cleaning' to reply. Suddenly, the confident guy from the ice cream shop has reverted back to the awkward boy from the cafeteria.

"Uh, yeah," he says, fumbling over his words. "Hey, can I get your-" he pauses "-ah never mind."

I raise my eyebrow at him but he just smiles back before quickly returning to his hand. It's not his usual smile. This one was more controlled, less natural.

We say goodbye and I walk towards the house. When I reach the front door, I turn around and wave. I see him wave back before turning to dig around in my bag for my keys. I expected him to leave after that, but he didn't. He sat there and watched as I jiggled the key inside the lock (it's a bit tricky and me and locks don't have the best relationship). Only when I'm safely inside the house does he wave again before backing out onto the road.

Why was he waiting? Did he think I was going to get mugged or something? Outside my own house? At 4 o'clock?

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by tiny paws scratching at my leg. Nova's tail is wagging at almost a kajillion miles per hour. She's acting like she hasn't seen me in years rather than the 8 hours I was at school.

"Hey, sweetie!" I coo in the voice that is only reserved for animals and babies. I throw my bag to the floor and toss my keys on top before giving her head a scratch. She calms down after a few moments and becomes less interested in me and far more intrigued by the empty cup in my hand.

"Alright fine, I'll get you a treat too."

She's right at my heels as I walk to the kitchen. As soon as we're there she races to the cupboard with her food. I toss her some sort of bone shaped biscuit before resigning to the couch.

I pull out my phone to check the time. It's barely four so dad won't be back for another couple of hours. I should probably start on dinner soon.

Below the time, I'm greeted with a plethora of notifications, all from Warren (AKA 'stupid face' in my contacts).

3:35

I'm booooorreeeeed

remind me to never become a dentist

I don't wanna stick my fingers in kids mouths

3:43

Yoooooo

you went out with brayden erickson?!?!?

dude he's like the human equivalent of a golden retriever

wait no, I see the appeal. 

god does that make me a furry?

I roll my eyes as if he can see me. Warren's a great guy and an overall great friend, but the boy has an undeniable hankering for gossip. I figure he gets it from his mom. Diana Liu is one of the sweetest women you'll ever meet, but she knows everything about everyone before they even know it themselves.

3:53

Hi

How was your day?

Did you get home okay?

^normal greetings for normal people

Please

We both know you're not "normal people"

Doesn't mean I can't pretend

How's Alli?

Hey!

Don't try to change the subject

Fine

Come over later

Bring ice cream

oOoOoO

ice cream level news?

yup

I don't feel like typing out the whole ordeal and the answers to his likely endless line of questioning. Plus, it is Ice Cream Level News and it's pretty hard to send ice cream over text.

Now, 'Ice Cream Level News' is the type of news where you just need to tell someone. Maybe you don't know exactly what you want to say, but everything pours out over a shared pint of mint chocolate chip.

My home screen was so flooded with messages from Warren, I didn't notice the single message from Peyton hidden amongst them.

3:41

Call me

She picks up after the first ring and then proceeds to blast my ears off.

"You didn't tell me you had a date! I had to hear it from Gen!"

"Hey, yeah-"

"Gen!" she scoffs. "When did I give you permission to go off and have a life without me?"

"I'm so sorry, Mother Gothel! I just really wanted to leave the tower." I know she's joking, so I decide to play along. She has been feeling bad lately about making me bus home alone due to her rehearsals after school. "Shouldn't you be rehearsing or something?"

"Yes, sir." I can almost imagine her saluting. "But I expect full deets as soon as Mrs. Norbit releases us from the hell that is tech week."

"Ice Cream News," I sigh. "Warren's buying."

I hang up on her squealing.

What have I gotten myself into?