Bittersweet // Complete

10.

Chapter 10

"I'm sure this isn't what you had in mind," Noah was safe in pulling over, never exceeding the speed limit even once. The clock read 9.18pm. We were earlier than expected.

"Not really, no," I admitted.

"What was it then? A fancy restaurant?"

I nodded sheepishly.

"That was the plan," he was honest, "but then you showed up like this and I had no option but to fall back on my natural charms."

"Like this?"

"Like you hated being around me. I'm pretty sure if I followed through the original plan, you would come back hating me more." I couldn't disagree.

"So your natural charms included manhandling me in the parking lot?"

Noah rested his head on the seat, a laugh elating from his chest, "And to think you called me bitter!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I straightened myself, facing him.

"Brianna Winters," Noah saying my name felt strange, "You'll figure it out; you're a smart girl."

He leaned over the center console, eyes on me, and unlocked the car door.

Fuck.

For a moment, I was absolutely sure he was going to kiss me. He was close enough. All he had to do was shift his head ever so slightly, and his lips would be on mine.

"I'm not going to kiss you unless you ask me to, Brianna," he leaned back in his seat, eyes staring at the road. Judging by the smirk on his face, Noah knew exactly what I was thinking, and I couldn't be more mortified. 

The clock read 9.21 pm when I exited his car, and hurried into the gates. Noah drove off at 9.23 pm, because he spent the next two minutes staring at me through the iron gates. I knew this because I watched him. For those two brief minutes, I allowed myself to delve into the fantasy that I had been dropped off home after a nice date, with a likeable boy.

Then I hurried up the stairs to wash all traces of the date off my face, including the ever present layer of concealer above my eyebrows. The small scarring looked invisible almost, but when you spent every moment in front of a mirror tracing it over and over again for a whole three months, it continued looking angry and red and bleeding.

I shut the bathroom lights to avoid looking at my face any further, changed out of my clothes in the dark and slipped into bed. Saturday morning was bringing a new day, and I was looking forward to it.

*

I was running late. It had nothing to do with my lack of sleep or the mini makeup emergency I had while getting dressed. It also had nothing to do with the fact that I had slept through no less than five alarms, Nope, this was all due to the fact that a total jackass had locked his bike with mine instead of attaching it to the stands like any normal human being. I had stared at the situation for a few minutes, earnestly considered deflating their tires, before giving up in defeat and rushing to the bus stop. Of course, when was public transport ever reliable?

I glanced out of the window again. Around 10 more minutes before I get there. I looked at the time on my phone. I was nearly forty minutes late. Eleanor would not be happy. I jogged all the way from the bus stop to the park, juggling my packages in both hands like a damn pro.

The park in question was a huge community space with the Sterling name all over it, something about a generous contribution to society blah blah yada yada. All I could see was tax evasion, but oh well.