Chapter 04

I was either getting kidnapped or taken home without my driver knowing where my address was. And I had only just realized once I opened my eyes that he was driving, clueless about where my house was.

My eyes open slowly as I focus my stare at my window and glance over at Ashton who seems exhausted. The guy could be hard to read when he tried to hide something, but once he lets his guard down he practically is asking to be read. Easily.

"You know, I never gave you my address."

He stops at the red light and keeps his gaze on the rode.

"We've just been driving for like twenty minutes." I comment and he laughs.

"I'm an idiot."

"That makes two of us." I respond as I look back at the window.

"Well you fell asleep, I don't know how you act when someone wakes you up. I didn't wanna risk anything." He defends.

"Sometimes it's better to take risks than to do nothing."

That sentence replays in my head over and over, all the time. And it came from the person who had said it to me. My sister.

I glance over at Ashton who sighs in return.

"That's easier said then done."

I continue to stare at him in wonder.

"How do you mean?"

"It's easier for some people, not most."

I think about the words he just said and couldn't disagree. He was right, most people were afraid. Afraid to take those risks, but also afraid to do absolutely nothing.

Either way, risking was one of the many things people didn't want to do. Couldn't do.

I continued looking out my window as the cars went by and the trees started disappearing. With every stop light, more cars came and most cars vanished from my view.

I think about what Ashton had just said and take a quick glance at him. He looked so sad, for a moment I felt bad, but then I remembered him calling me a hoe.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care what people say to me or behind my back. It means absolutely nothing to me, but being called anything along the lines of a slut triggered a nerve in my body that I couldn't pull away from. Ashton had got me reminiscent about him.

The guy I could bare to look at anymore. The guy who I tried to forget for the past two years of my life, but found myself remembering him because of Ashton. Ashton wasn't so different from him, I suppose. But I'm not fully prepared to talk about that.

"Why did you let me in?" I question and I see Ashton's sad expression fade away to a confused one.

"Let you in?" He started laughing.

I looked at him as he stopped at a red light and faced me.

"Banks, I don't let strangers inside my head."

I arched an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant and realized he misunderstood my sentence. I groaned.

"Not your head, dip shit, the car. Why did you decide to let me in your car and drive me home?" I ask, rephrasing my original sentence.

He stopped laughing and cleared his throat as he stepped on the pedal.

"That-" He paused and it looked like he was thinking of his answer. But he only answered me with a, "I don't know."

I scoffed. "You don't know? How could you possibly not know?"

He grunted in response, but I didn't let that phase me. He needed to realize that he couldn't get to me. No one could and no one can.

"I just don't know!" He yells, gripping the steering wheel. I looked out my window.

"Who has anger issues now?" I muttered to myself, but I didn't realize that he had heard me.

"Just because I got angry doesn't mean I have anger issues. Everyone gets angry here and there. It's a human quality we all obtain."

I fake laughed. "Funny, that was what I was thinking when you said I had anger issues."

He rolled his eyes at me as I continued looking out the window. I wondered what he was doing right now and if he was going through a shit hole. I would pay big money to watch that boy lose a fight for once. And I'm not talking about a pathetic wrestling fight at school.

I'm talking about a boxing match. Real fighting for big money. Which was a fight my friends and I always went to whenever we found out a new boxing match that was happening. The thing was, he has won every fight he ever was challenged in. He was a strong, muscular guy.

Not the rock big, but a regular seventeen year old that had muscles and abs as strong and hard as platinum. But that's all I'm saying for now. Even thinking of his name gives me the chills.

But that isn't the only reason why I stopped thinking of him just now, my thoughts were interrupted by a low voice.

"What are you thinking, Banks."

"Like you care." I muttered.

"Heard that."

"That was inadvertently." I reply sarcastically.

"Which dictionary did you swallow?" He teases and I roll my eyes.

"That was accidentally." I rephrase the sentence emphasizing the word accidentally. And once again using my sarcastic voice.

Except I use the sarcastic voice that lets you know that person was intentionally being sarcastic.

"Okay Encyclopedia." He comments, rolling his eyes.

I eventually tell Ashton my address and he turns to the left, making a U-turn. I sit back in my seat as the moon starts rising and I feel my eyes start to get sleepy, but they open wide when Ashton starts muttering to himself about something.

I sit up and look to my left to see Ashton looking droopy as can be. There's something about his sad expressions that make me wonder, but I push the thought aside.

It doesn't matter anyways.

I was about to open my mouth to ask him, again, why he all of a sudden decided to drive me home, but paused. He looked worn out and a yawn escaped from my mouth and before I knew it, my eyes had slowly started closing.

~•~

I opened my eyes when I felt the car immediately stop. I looked up in confusion and realize I was at my house. I turned to face Ashton who was already staring back at me.

My eyes closed slightly as I gave him an uncomfortable look.

"Um-," I began, but didn't finish my sentence. What do you say to a person who is creepily staring at you?

Ashton took a lot longer then I expected to realize why I was uncomfortable. He got out of his car and I did the same before he opened my door. I closed my door and walked to my house.

It was a white plain basic two story house. It was clean on the outside with some windows and the garage on the left side while a gate leading to the door was on the right.

There was a grass area in front of the entrance that had no Halloween decorations. No pumpkins, no zombies, no witches, no ghouls, no vampires. Nothing. That's how simple and boring my family is. Well parents.

Ashton dug his hands in his pockets and looked my house up and down. I tried looking at his face from a distance for an expression, but it was blank. Nothing.

Throughout my whole lifetime, I could read people's expressions from a distance and up close. But I also could tell if they were lying to me or telling them truth, if they were really "fine" or not. My friends always said it was a gift I never realized I had up until the age I hit thirteen.

With Ashton, it seemed almost impossible.

He almost always had a blank expression and showed no emotion. That sounds familiar. He had always seemed to keep a straight face unless, of course, he was laughing. Other then that, he was difficult to read.

"Nice." Is all that leaves his mouth. I didn't know whether to be offended or complimented. Was nice a good thing? I mean I don't care, but the way he said nice was again hard to read. It was either good or bad.

Or even both.

Maybe it was too plain and he didn't know what to think, then again I've never cared for what other people thought. It's how they said it and what look they had on their face that mostly mattered to me.

"It's boring isn't it." I state. I didn't even make it sound like a question because it was obvious that my house was the most dull thing anyone would ever see in their life.

The exterior of my house made bingo games for elders look interesting. Watching your grandmother do cross-word puzzles peaked your interest more than looking at the exterior of this house. And no, I'm not exaggerating.

"I don't really know how to respond." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Monotonous?" I looked over at him.

He chuckled. "Something like that."

I walked towards the gate and open it as Ashton stands there, observing my house. I unlock the front door and put my ear to it, trying to hear the TV upstairs or downstairs.

Upstairs meaning my parents were fast asleep and downstairs meaning they were watching the news, wide awake.

"You listening for banging?"

I look back at him. "No, I'm listening for-," And then I realized what he had meant.

"You're fucking disgusting." I hiss and open the door slightly, trying hard not to make a noise. He chuckles in response and opens his car door.

I look back at him, remembering how he never answered my question.

"Hart!" I yell.

"Yeah?" He pauses and doesn't get in.

Alright, least I know he's curious or he would have ignored me and driven away.

"Remember when I asked about why you drove me here," I ask, giving him some time to think about it, "Why did you decide to drive me home?"

He laughs and I arch an eyebrow at him.

"The police were near and I knew you would get arrested since you weren't running away."

I place a hand on my hip. "I could out run anyone, even you if I wanted to." I say, confidently.

When it comes to my body, I'm never confident about it, but when it comes to a challenge I never back down. I'm too competitive for a human organism.

"Sure, Banks."

He gets in his car and rolls the passenger's window down yelling just as I'm about to walk in my house, "You want to bet, Sidekick?"

I turn around and raise my eyebrows. "Sidekick? Because I have Batman's sidekicks name?" I question and he nods.

I groan on annoyance from his nickname. Better than Princess and cupcake, that's for sure.

"You're on, Hart."

"Since apparently I'm going to a boxing match next week, we can race on foot while we wait for it to start, sound good?

I nod in acceptance. He starts up his car and drives off saying nothing more. I walk inside and walk upstairs, relieved when I hear my parents snoring.

I throw on a black T-shirt and white short bottoms to pair it with and fall on my bed with a massive headache and let my sleep take over. Black fills my vision as my eyes slowly start to close.