Chapter 2
I love walking home most days. I usually enjoyed the crisp air and the bustle of people walking to their various destinations in our small town's shopping district. It's calming to know that every step I take gets me farther away from school and all the 'wonderful' things happening there. I just wanted to get home and play some video games. But unfortunately, walking home today was not even calming, it was absolute hell.
Running down a busy sidewalks in gym shorts, that barely fit mind you, while people stare and curse at you as you bump into them. Everyone knowing exactly who you are cause your nose is growing brighter than a Christmas tree. But lets not forget is absolutely freezing out side; my hands were numb early but now my everything was numb except for my blushing face.
Did I mention I live a mile away from the school?
Of course the situation could always be worse, I could have a concussion from that fall back in the shower room, I could have died of hypothermia 10 minutes ago, and that Dasher guy could have beat me up. Somehow I manage to live everyday.
Just the though of Dasher made me feel like an idiot. I had made a complete fool of myself today, not that me making a fool of myself would change how most feel about me, but things like that are very hard to forget. Just getting over how embarrassed I am about that whole scenario is going to be like running a marathon. Especially since I was already doing one.
Turning down Crown St., I could hear the honking of cars and the sound of people fading away. I didn't have to worry about being seen so immodestly now, Crown St. was a very quiet neighborhood and from what I knew, not a whole lot of people even lived there. I was home free at this point.
During my pathetic run I realized I had to stop for a breath. I had been running non stop for a good 20 minutes and I was positive my pounding heart would explode. I was never one for athletics, though I always wanted to get into some sort of work out ethic. Today was not one of those days, however. I tried making my way over to some steps, but I was too exhausted and decided the neighbor's dead grass would be just as comfortable.
It was somewhat peaceful lying down on the grass staring at the overcast above. Please don't rain... I thought, hoping for the best. But knowing my luck, it would probably start hailing down footballs.
I was laying there for a while, I wasn't sure how long but eventually I sat up when my breathing got back into a normal patter and my heart stopped beating out of my chest. I looked around at the empty streets, despite the clouds I could tell the sun was setting in the distance. Lights in some of the houses around me were beginning to turn on, I knew it'd be best if I got on my way.
Before I could even stand up, a Camry pulled up in front of me and parked. I couldn't see into it very well through its tinted windows, but I could make out a silhouette inside of it. I just sat there staring into the windows, and the car stayed in place, the driver showing no signs of coming out.
At first I had the strong urge to just run away, either this guy was going to kidnap me or he would step out of his car and just go into his house. Even if it was the latter, I'm sure he wouldn't be happy to see me resting on his already dead lawn. I was just about to stand up when the widow rolled down and low and behold, Dasher's face was staring right out the passenger window.
"Hey, need a ride?" He asked, I could barely hear it over the loud music in his car, but I contemplated this for a moment. I wasn't too far away from home, but I was freezing and was willing to put up the awkward silence. Without replying I jumped up and opened the door to the back seats.
"You can sit up front if you want," He said looking at me like I was crazy. "I really don't mind." A smug smile grew on his face. This guy knew I wouldn't want to be rude and refuse his kind offer, I could see it.
"Uh..." My nose started to glow as I fought an internal battle. "Y-Yeah, sure." I shut the door and opened up the passenger side door and climbed in. He won that time.
"Where do you live, Rudy?" He turned down the radio and my nose glowed brightly again, I wasn't expecting this guy to give me a nickname already, but at least it wasn't 'Rudork'.
"Oh... Doe Rd." I said quickly, trying to get in as little conversation between us as possible.
"Ya gonna' to give me directions, or are you going to have to hang out with me til I find it?" He said chuckling; his trademark grin showing.
"Oh yeah sorry, hehe... Just take this next left and keep going, and then take another left turn on Dustan." He turned sharply at the corner.
I looked down at my gym clothes, trying to avoid contact with him. I can tell when someone is looking at me, I think anyone can, but you just pretend you don't notice rather than acknowledge it. You either look out a window, pretend there's a stain on your pants, or maybe pull out your phone and just start texting someone. I didn't have my phone with me unfortunately.
"Do you want these gym clothes back?" I asked, "I could buy you new ones if you don't feel comfortable wearing these anymore..." I said trying to be courteous.
"Hey, don't sweat it man. I have a lot of pairs back at home. Plus... You look good in em." He said looking at me, our eyes locked for a split second, but he looked back to the road before I could dramatically look away.
My first reaction was to open the car door and run far away, but unfortunately the door was locked. I knew cause I tried to open it. My second reaction was to start hyperventilating and have a panic attack cause someone just said I looked good for the first time in my life. I settled on not saying anything at all while trying to play it off as cool as possible, but that wasn't possible because my nose was quite literally blinding me, and I'm sure Dasher couldn't even see the road anymore. But this guy wasn't seriously flirting with me, right?
A few moments of silence passed, neither of us said a word to each other and I could feel a haze of awkwardness loom around us.
"I'm sorry if that offended you." He said, his words cut through the silence and my heart for some reason.
"Oh, no you- you're fine..." I said, almost apologizing for some reason, I felt like that was my fault somehow.
"I didn't mean to come off so strongly... I mean, especially if you're straight." Now I was really ready to jump out of the car, jumping out of a moving car going 40 was better than staying in it at this point. "Or if you're just not interested..."
"No! No no... No... I just you know... this is just really weird for me." For some reason I kept replying and justifying him, part of me just thought this was probably as awkward for him as it was for me. But this was just getting to be too much too fast.
"So you maybe are interested?" He questioned, I had the sudden impulse to punch him in the face for ignoring and not even replying to the fact that I find this situation to be weird. But it passed quickly and realized that I am dealing with a jocky type.
"Well, I..." I stopped talking, I wasn't really sure how I could explain to this guy how I felt. Hell, I wasn't even sure how I felt. I hadn't had anyone treat me with such kindness and respect, and no one has hit on me before. Especially, especially not a male for that matter. I looked out the window for some help, I thought the answers were maybe floating around out there, but the only thing I saw was that we had just passed Doe Rd.
"We just passed the turn..." I spoke softly.
"Oh, sorry I wasn't paying attention," I could tell he was still waiting for an answer, I could see it clearly on his face and in his eyes. "I'll turn around."
"It's fine, I'll walk from here." I said, trying desperately to get away from this extremely awkward position.
"Are you sure? It's not that far." He said in that smooth voice of his, I could tell he didn't want me to leave yet.
"Exactly, please pull over." I demanded, I usually didn't get bossy with people, but I wasn't messing around this time. If I spent another second in there, I was going to hurl.
Reluctantly, he did a U-Turn and pulled up on the block my house was on. He unlocked the door and as I was just stepping out he said something to me. I didn't bother to listen and slammed the door behind me and ran to my house right down the street.
I got to my front doorsteps and prayed that Vixen was home. I left my keys in my back pack and I just happened to leave it at home today. I knocked on the door quickly and waited anxiously for it to open. While I waited, I looked over to where Dasher had parked, he and his car were long gone, but the memories of that awkward drive were still very present in my mind. Too bad I didn't suffer from short term memory loss.
Panic began to set in quickly when no one answered the door. Vixen, please just be asleep I thought, she was always sleeping when she wasn't working or partying with her friends. Classic Vixen. I knocked on the door harder and pressed on the door bell a few times, daring my luck that she wouldn't be ornery after her nap.
"Vixen, wake up I don't have my keys on me!" I tried yelling through the window. The situation was beginning to look dire, but just before setting into despair and hopelessness, I heard a click and the door swung open.
"You make it real hard for my girlfriend and me to catch some shut eye." She said to me groggily. I could tell she had just woken up, the brown fur on her head was matted up, and the dark circles under her eyes proved that she desperately needed the rest too. It was a good thing she wasn't too mad though.
"Sorry, I left my backpack today." I apologized.
"You seriously have to stop forgetting that thing!" She said almost yelling, but caught herself and she whispered, "Just try to be quiet, Melony is upstairs sleeping."
"No problem." I pushed passed Vixen and made my way up the stairs. "She's not in my room, right?" I turned back and asked Vixen.
"Whoops." She said back as she walked into the kitchen.
"Really?" My attempts at whispering were tossed aside. I didn't get a reply, and I could hear Vixen going through the fridge and knew arguing would be futile.
I continued up the steps, and before I could even get close to my room, I could hear snoring come from behind my door. I hesitated on turning my the door handle, If I woke Melony up, I might as well be waking up a bear. She would tear me to pieces. I moved my hand closer to the handle, my heart pounded harder and harder with each inch moved closer to it. I firmly grasped the handle and started to turn it slowly.
Before I could even open the door a crack, the snoring stopped abruptly. I was panicking at this point, I could persevere forward and hope I don't get mauled to death, or I could just go downstairs and eat some food with Vixen. Before I could make a choice, the door flung open.
"You're loud." Melony stood right there before me, I clutched my hand to my chest and thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack.
"And you are inhuman," I said jokingly, still clutching my hand to my shirt. "Please start sleeping in Vixen's room, it's much more comfortable anyways."
"But then I'd miss out on seeing you!" Melony came in for a hug and lifted me up off the ground. She gave hugs like a bear too, but with a mix of boa constrictor. "You always lock yourself in your room, I never see you, kiddo!"
"P-Please let go of me..." Color was beginning to drain from my vision, I knew this was it, I was going to die in the arms of a girl named Melony. My life was literally a chick flick at this point.
"Alright, alright." She released me instantly and I fell to the ground. "So, how was your day!" She said in her casual, cheery voice.
"Oh you know, the usual." I said as I laid on the ground still. "Getting tackled by fans, being picked up by weirdos, forgetting my backpack..."
"Look at you, Mr. Popular!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me off the ground with intense speed and force. "So tell me, Mr. Popular, are you going with Vixen and I to the party?" She brushed off my sleeve and ruffled my hair.
"Me? Go to a party? Was I even invited?" I waled into my room asnd began making my bed, but stopped when I found a puddle of slobber on my blanket. I looked back to Melony, she shrugged. "I don't know, I'll probably just stay here and do some wo-"
"Oh no, you're goin'!" She yelled and tackled me onto the bed. My face landed directly on the pool of slobber. "I'm not getting off until you say you're going!" She was laughing maniacally.
"Oh come on, this is gross! Get off me, Melony!" I tried wriggling and squirming my way out of her grip, but I was in her death grasp and there was no getting out now.
"Nope!" She said, still laughing hysterically.
"Okay! I'll go!" I wasn't going to mess around with Melony, she was stubborn as a mule and would've kept me pinned down til I said yes. I know she would cause shes done it before.
"Yay! Now, go shower, Mr. Popular! Don't want you showing up with drool all over your face!" She smiled and picked me back up. "I'll clean this up." She said as she grabbed my blanket and made her way downstairs.
