The Monsters We've Created

3

Mason gave an unintelligent grunt, the silence of the car grinding his ears. He reached to turn on the radio and was greeted with a slap to the hand. Turning to glare at the twig, he was once again interrupted by her obnoxious voice.

"I don't like music when driving, It's a distraction." She uttered. He gave her an incredulous look before once again reaching to turn on the radio.

"My car, my rules." He turned on the radio before turning the sound down to almost inaudible, "Where are we off to?" He questioned, subconsciously keeping in mind that he did in fact have an invisible boundary. She gave him a thoughtful look before turning the radio off.

"115th and Clarkson," she stated, making eye contact with him, "Somewhere near there at least, I can walk the rest of the way." Hearing this Mason internally cringed, not only was that severely out of his available boundary, but it was also far, far away.

Mason turned the radio back on, adjusting the volume so he could think.

The guilt began to creep up on him and he couldn't bring himself to make direct eye contact with her, little alone telling her that he couldn't take her all the way home. He mentally began to calculate the distance between Clarkson and Elm. In conclusion, the odds weren't in his favor. He could easily get her to 114th and Oak, but that was at least two miles-no three miles away from Clarkson.

"Look," he breathed, "um-I'm not actually able to take you all the way there." Her eyes fogged up, an unregistered emotion peeking in through the corners. "I'm in a bit of a predicament," he said, waving to the best of his ability to his ankle monitor. Her eyes followed, and a look of curiosity presented itself onto her face.

"Oh?" She looked up at him mischief in her eyes, "oh, you're a bad boy." she drew, laughter creeping into her tone, it sounded like a cackle, but Mason kept that to himself.

"Yeah whatever you say, but the thing is," He paused for the dramatic effect, "115th and Clarkson? Yeah, that's not in my boundaries whatsoever. I can take you to 114th and Oak." As soon as the sentence registered with her, Mason could tell. She gave a little huff and mumbled something incoherent. Reaching over towards the radio she pressed the off button.

"Okay, so i'm assuming you're okay with that then-" Mason drew a blank. Holy shit, he didn't ask the girl her name. She practically harassed him and he failed to ask her that silly little question. Mason, very awkwardly, glanced to his right towards the girl who seemed unbothered with Mason's lack of words. Mason turned the radio back on and snapped,

"Can you stop doing that! God you're worse than a toddler." He glanced at her in annoyance, "What the hell is your name anyway?" She looked up at him panic in her eyes,

"Oh God, I got into a strangers car," her breathing became shallow, and as he registered it he'd assume she was having a panic attack, "Oh my God, I got into the car of a stranger! A stranger who tried to kill me with his car!" She shrieked, her hands coming up to her face and overdramatically pulling at her short purple hair. A sense of panic seemed to overtake her. Mason started panicking, what do you do in this situation?

"Calm down," He tried to very terribly coax her into solitude. See, Mason wasn't good at calming, it wasn't something he'd have the honor of learning in his 'nurturing' environment as a child. He reached up to pet her hair or awkwardly pat her arm, but that seemed to set her off every more. Unfortunately for Mason, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The tiny woman punched him, right in the nose. Pain erupted in his face, his eyes cringing from the pain.

"What the hell!" He screamed, slamming on the breaks before the car swerved into the next lane, "are you fucking crazy?!" He put on his hazards, unable to prevent himself from pulling over. He couldn't feel his nose, a headache was puncturing his skull. He concluded he might have a concussion or a broken nose. He couldn't decide as he'd never broken his goddamn nose. He looked up at the girl and gave her the nastiest glare he could muster with his throbbing nose.

"One, I did not try and kill you, holy shit," he paused his nose throbbing. She looked mortified,

"I'm-I'm so, so-"

"Stop, just stop." He couldn't think. Reaching over he turned the radio off.

God he wanted a cigarette.

---

The bag of ice felt nice on Mason's nose, instead of going to the emergency room like a normal person, he'd decided it best to go to the nearest gas station to assess the damage.  He did not want his mother called, and he especially didn't want his father called. 

"Lola."  He looked up, his nose still throbbing as his headache receded.  The guilt was evident in her eyes, "my name's Lola".  Mason couldn't help but laugh, it had taken him being punched in the face and nearly wrecking his car to get a name out of Lola.  That was a first.  Mason grinned, sticking his hand out,

"We need to restart," he paused, "immediately."  Lola grinned in front of him, taking his outstretched hand.

"Lola Leon, nice to meet you."

"Mason. Mason Fintrey."  He smiled, "you have a nasty punch."

Lola blushed, "thanks."  Mason looked at her short figure.  Her chopping purple hair, sunken cheeks and pointy nose.  She wasn't his type, but her eyes were a shade of grey he never knew existed.  Bright and curious, and her vibrant hair brought them out more.  Awkward silence seemed to fall over them.

"I'm surprised you didn't jump out of the goddamn car." Mason laughed.

"I damn near almost did." With that she turned around and began to walk back towards the car.  "I don't have all day junior," she called behind her shoulder. "Places to be, people to punch". She stuck her hip out giving her words more sass "The usual". With that both Mason and Lola stood up and strolled out of the gas station. Stupid grins stamped on each of their faces.

They hopped in the Jeep that was loyally parked out front. Mason started the car, driving his new friend home.

**
Please bare with me this is my first story I've ever written. I'm trying to get better but obviously you can't do that without practice :). If you want to give any feedback that's be awesome! -K