A Drone Named Jeffrey
Chapter Twelve
Hug
Riley has never hung out with the humans her age. I don't know why, but when her classmates are huddling around their cars laughing at each other, Riley is climbing inside me and wanting to go out to the Lookout. The only other human interaction I've seen her doing—not counting with her dad—is with the less creepy guys her dad works with.
So, I was really confused when I saw Riley walking across the parking lot with a human male her age. I'm guessing he was a male at least; he was dressed more like Riley did, and she had told me that she dressed more like the males of her species. But she had also told me the females had longer hair like her too. Like the guy she was giggling with.
That's another thing—she was giggling. Riley didn't giggle; she laughed, chuckled, or guffawed. Heck, she freaking snorts when she gets really going. Giggling is something she did not do.
A whistle was the first thing I heard from this supposed male, and I instantly disliked him. Especially when he laid his hand on my hood. "So, this is the fabled 'Jeffrey.'"
"Yep."
I had to resist the urge to "accidentally" roll over the guy's foot as he continued to pet me. Seriously—pet me. And Riley just stood there grinning! "He ride smooth?"
"Real smooth."
"Care to give me a lift?"
No.
"Sure!"
You traitor.
Riley skipped—skipped! What is wrong with my human today?—around to my other side and acted like she was unlocking my door. She climbed in and leaned close to the steering while pressing the button that would "unlock" the other door. "Be nice, Jeffrey."
My response was locking the door again when this male attempted to climb in. "Jeffrey!"
We went back and forth playing with the lock until her new "friend" stopped laughing. Riley growled and jumped back out of the car when he walked around to talk to her. "Hey, if you didn't wanna share you just had to say so."
"It's not that—"
"Naw, it's cool."
He reached out and grabbed Riley by the elbow. He immediately jumped back when my engine loudly roared. "Whoa! You didn't tell me it was one of those cars that start up by itself. That's so cool!"
Riley released a stilted laugh and banged a fist on the top of my roof. "Yeah, cool. Except it's a bit glitchy; I might have to disable that feature."
Yeah, right. You might be a good medic, but you can't take away my free will!
"Maybe we could work on it together after school sometime?"
And you're not touching me again, male squishy.
"That would be awesome!"
No, it wouldn't. Is my human sick or something? I've heard they act weird when they're sick. That's gotta be it.
"I'll see you later."
My engine growled again, but it didn't distract the human male this time. He grabbed Riley and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her. Her face turned a bright red. Brighter than any other time I had seen her change colors.
Riley glared when my alarm went off, but I didn't care. It got long haired squishy to let her go, and that's all that mattered.