Lacunae

Chapter 9

"Are you in a gang?!" Zack suddenly stood up and dramatically asked me. "Is this Kevin the leader of the gang?"

I couldn't help it but for the first time that night, I laughed. Really loud. "Will you finally stop annoying me if I say yes?"

"Me? Annoying you? From what I remember, these past few days we've talked, you're the one who's been getting on my nerves." He said defensively.

My face fell again. I shook my head, "Let's not go there. You can't even remember. Leave it."

He was going to say something back again but I looked away letting him know that the conversation was over.

After a long while of dead silence between me and Zack, I saw Kevin's van approaching and then stopped close to the gas station but not exactly. He slowed down and as a signal, kept blinking his headlights in three seconds intervals.

"Come on, our ride's here." I told him before I jumped from the roof to the metal stairs. It made a clang but not loud enough for the people inside to hear. Zack followed suit not stopping when he saw me run down as fast as I could.

I dropped to the dirt right from the hanging stairs and waited for Zack until he was beside me. Walking out of the dark, I saw Kevin's car coming close slowly. I stepped out onto the paved road and into view. As soon as he saw me, he stopped the van.

"Quickly!" I called out to Zack before briskly walking towards the van and then riding on the passenger seat. Turning my head, I looked back to check if Zack was in and he climbed up, he didn't look happy.

"What is this?" He asked looking around the back of the van that didn't have a seat but a table with a computer taking up almost half of the space.

"That's my bread and butter. Please be nice." Kevin said feigning hurt when he saw that Zack was not in the least bit happy with having to sit on the bear floor of the van.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Zack, "If you wish to go back to the comforts of the roof top, I'd be happy to leave without you."

"That's not what I meant." He quietly replied and didn't speak up again.

Kevin, feeling the tension, sped up as soon as we were settled in.

"Are you okay?" Kevin turned his head to my side and asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Do you have water?" I asked at the same time I buckled my seatbelt.

"Here." He said before handing me a water bottle.

I threw it to Zack at the back and commanded, "Drink."

"You drink first." He said as if insulted by my good-will.

"I'm fine. You're dehydrated. Take it." I told him.

"I'm an athlete, you don't have to treat me like a child." He said squinting his eyes.

"It's just a damn water! Why are you giving me a hard time?" I groaned and I couldn't help it, I snapped at him. "Give me that!"

"Wait, I do have another bottle, what's the fuss?" Kevin came to my rescue—or maybe Zack's rescue.

"Thank you." I grabbed the drink and showed to Zack, "Now drink and stop arguing with me!"

I literally threw the water bottle on the dashboard in irritation and didn't take a single sip.

The air thickened even more after that but Kevin broke it, "It's nice to meet you Zack, unfortunately in these circumstances."

"It's nice to meet you. You don't seem like a gang leader." Zack said. If he hadn't annoyed me, I'd thought it was funny but I wasn't in the mood anymore.