It took a few days to get any word from Finn. Even then, it was a text that served as an apology. I ultimately chose not to reply.
I was bored for a while. My house was cleaned up mostly on the inside, but the rain outside was far too heavy for me to accomplish anything. I decided to drive to the grocery store and pick up some beer as I awaited the delivery of my bass back to my house.
The roads were slick and coated in inches of water, probably enough to make someone inexperienced with this type of weather lose control. Hydroplaning was a bit of an issue but around here everyone knew what roads were the worst during storms. I avoided the main road, which was loaded with dips and curves, and took the backway to the grocery store. Yanking my hood over my hair, I quickly ran inside from the parking lot.
The store was actually a bit busy with people clearly gearing up for the storm. Water bottles for the gentleman in gray, candy and popcorn for the young couple, a whole rotisserie chicken for the rather large woman in the raincoat. I skipped past them and found the refrigerated alcohol section quickly.
After paying for the beer and sprinting back to the car, I was met with a stuck driver's door. I spent a good thirty seconds trying to wrench it open, fearing that the handle would break off. Finally entering with my hoodie only half wet, I shoved the bag into the backseat with the sound of bottles clinking as they hit the floor. I cursed lightly before pulling out of the parking lot.
The backway was suddenly flooding with cars trying to exit so I decided to take my normal route home. The traffic was glob-awful, but I didn't mind waiting. I swallowed the urge to open a beer in the car: laws and all that. Just as the stoplight let one car from our row leave, I turned my attention to a single figure walking down the flooded sidewalk in the rear-view. It was a woman, clearly, carrying a grocery bag in each hand. She was completely drenched and was sinking her feet into murky puddles with every step. I squinted to see who could possibly be stupid enough to be walking in a storm like this…
It was Bonnibel.
Now, I would've normally laughed at her misfortune but I saw how positively upset she looked. As she was nearing the car, I leaned over and rolled down the window as quickly as I could, allowing rain to spray into the car.
"Bonnibel?" I yelled through the heavy rain. The woman's head lifted and turned to me as she walked by. She stopped dead in her (wet) tracks and stared at me in wonder, myself doing the same to her.
"Need a ride?" I finally managed through the heavy rain. She glowered at me from the sidewalk. She held up her arms, coat sleeves completely drooping from her arms from the water soaked through. She must've been freezing.
"Not from you." She yelled back, readying to turn away and continue on her disastrous voyage.
"What, did Finn break up with you?" I toyed, pulling the car up slightly.
Her gaze became fiery as she snapped her head back towards me. She walked up to the car window, poking her head in, and frowned. Her makeup was running down her eyes and casting a sinister look to her features.
"No. Something about his brother. He had to leave in a hurry. I walked to the store before it started to rain." She stated, annoyed.
"What, two hours ago?" I teased. Her gaze darkened.
"I tried to wait." She pulled her head out of the window and huffed.
I remained silent a moment.
"Wait." I pleaded, the desperate tone grabbing her attention.
"Let me give you a ride back. It's the least I could do." I stated, feeling a bit sorry for her. If I was stuck in that situation, I wouldn't be happy either.
By now, rain was starting to pour openly into the car so I quickly motioned for her to enter. She gave a loud sigh of resignation and climbed in, completely soaking the seat.
"Nice car." She spoke sarcastically.
"Nice to see that Finn made a girl wet for once."
She nearly choked on her own spit.
The look on her face was just impossibly funny so I did nothing to stop the laughter from bubbling from my throat.
"I'm leaving." She said, a blush settling on her chilled cheeks.
I grabbed her (terrifyingly cold) arm and held her in.
"Glob, take a joke, Princess." She tensed visibly from the contact and released her hold on the door handle. I pointed to the still-open window and she rolled it up.
Her reply was nearly a whisper: "Finn and I aren't like that."
Her sudden softness confused me for a moment.
"I know." I replied, honestly.
"Oh, I bet he tells you everything, doesn't he?" Her voice picked up a few notches.
"Probably more than he's told you." She sat back in the seat and huffed.
"I'm turning up the heat." She began to reach for the heater knob when I swatted her hand away.
"It's my car." I turned to her, frowning. I would've been a bit more sympathetic if she wasn't being such a bitch about it.
She shot me a look. "Seriously? I'm soaking wet."
"And I'm taking you home. Is that not enough, or do you need to get out?" I muttered, gripping the steering wheel.
I could feel her eyes on me and suddenly there was a very cold hand pressed to the side of my neck. I nearly jumped out of my skin with a yelp.
"Yeah, that was cold, huh? Imagine that all over your body, you ignorant-"
"How about you take that fucking soaking coat off, genius? It would probably help. And don't touch me again or we'll have problems." She did as I suggested, removing her coat to reveal a soaked through shirt that showed… well, a lot.
"Oh, I figured that you'd like the touching. Considering your taste for women and all." She snarled, throwing her coat in the backseat with a wet thump.
"You think too highly of yourself." I said, mimicking her words from the other night.
"Oh, and you don't think highly of me, being as how you stared at me when we first met?" I laughed, but internally struggled with the fact that she'd noticed it.
"Sorry, Hun, but I'd prefer my piece of ass to have a personality to go with it." I barked back.
Unluckily, traffic was still backed up horribly. She turned to me with a wicked gaze.
"Says someone who doesn't know a thing about me…" She said in a monotone voice, casting a pretty bad impression of myself.
"What, do you want me to want you or something?" I suggested with a scowl, turning my whole body to her.
Her face remained blank for a moment. She huffed, indignant.
I smirked at her. She shrunk under my gaze.
"Oh, so first you were mad that I 'wanted' your boyfriend, and now you're angry that I don't want you?"
"That's not it at all, thank you." I laughed at that, casting my eyes to the road before me.
"Then what was it?" I asked, pursing my lips.
She was silent for a bit, only the sounds of rain hitting the car roof creating a noise barrier between us.
"That's none of your business." She finally decided on.
"Sure." I said before turning on the CD player and choosing a track. Bonnibel merely remained silent, complaining once or twice about my "horrible" music choices. I only shot her dirty looks in return.
When we finally moved up a bit in traffic, closer to Finn's flat, I noticed that Bonnibel was leaning against the window. She hadn't said a word in a while.
"You dead?" I asked, without reply.
Becoming a bit worried, I leaned forward to look at her. She was simply asleep with her head against the window. I paused, considering waking her up. Carefully, I grasped her hand, still freezing cold, and instantly felt bad for not turning to heater up. I did so then, and unbuckled my seatbelt to strip my hoodie from my body. Carefully prodding her shoulder, I woke her up.
"What?" She spat, tiredly.
I shoved the hoodie into her lap and frowned. She was so nice, unconscious.
She refused to touch it for a moment, holding her hands above it.
"I'm not contagious." I stated flatly, nearly taking offense to her actions.
She unbuckled her seatbelt swiftly. Eying me carefully, she began to unbutton her shirt. Instantly, I felt embarrassed and turned to look out the window. Within a few seconds, I could hear the sound of fabric ruffling and her putting the hoodie on over her head. Slipping her arms into the sleeves, I watched her glare become less intense for a moment. She dropped the wet shirt onto the floor of the car next to the bags and continued to buckle her seatbelt again.
She mumbled something that mildly resembled a 'thank you' and turned to face back out the window. I observed her for a moment, her hair spilling over the sides of the baggy black hoodie. It almost looked fitting on her.
No.
The rest of the ride back to Finn's place was silent, save for the horns honking throughout traffic. When I pulled up, Bonnibel seemed content to remain in the seat.
"You can finally escape, Princess."
She turned her eyes to me, scanning my face. I tried to remain emotionless. Her eyes painfully darted from my gaze to the collar of my shirt. Between the darkness of her eyes (potentially due to the smeared makeup and overall darkness outside) and the way she was sitting, I was worried about what she was planning to do. Without a word, she unbuckled her seatbelt and wrenched the door open to set off into the rain holding her things. With my hoodie. Great.
A few hours later, Finn sent me a text.
I didn't want to bring it up, but why does Bonnie have your jacket?
I scoffed and told him to either figure it out or ask her, which earned me no reply for a long while. Leaning back on the couch with a beer to my left and bass in hand, I began to pluck a few chords. Somehow, even though that encounter with Bonnibel was particularly worse than the first fight, I felt like we'd made some progress. Not that I wanted to make progress. No. Of course not.