My Irrelevant Roommate

Chapter 5

Austin's driving scares me.

There, I said it.

It scares me.

But not in the "I gonna die" way.

It scares me because of how relaxed he is. How alert he's being. How he's taking second looks and it makes me question if he's just this good of a driver, or if he's being this cautious because of me being in the car with him. Why does this even bother me? I don't know why this is driving me mad, (ha get the pun?), but maybe it's because every other guy I've every rode with drives like they're always in a hurry and tries to make it seem they're invincible. Even my dad drives like that. I'm not even going to start on my brothers driving. I guess the moral of this is maybe I should start taking driving lessons from this guy.

"Is Carter's good with you?" Austin says breaking the bickering inside my brain.

"Uh yeah," I say trying to recall when the last time I was at Carter's burgers was. I honestly don't remember... I do remember them being the best burger shack in town and that makes my mouth water.

As we place our orders, I watch the girl behind the counter try her hardest to flirt with Austin. I look to him and notice he can't even tell. It's completely oblivion to him. I somewhat feel sorry for her, but then again who does she think she is? I know him and I aren't dating, but if you see a guy and a girl show up to order food together, you should promptly assume they are on a date unless the guy makes it clear they aren't.

"Is it together or separate?" She asks not even bothering to look at me. I roll my eyes. HELLO?

"Separate," I say loudly, finally causing her attention to drift to me. She shakes her head and pushes something on the cash register.

"Nah, together," Austin says placing $20 on the counter and grabs our two cups. He goes to the back of the restaurant before I can protest. Flirty girl giggles and watches him leave. Laughing to myself, I head back to the booth he sat down at.

"That's not cool," I say, joining him. He has this small smirk on his face.

"Oh it's not?" he teases.

"No! I could pay for my own." I reply. I don't want him thinking I can't pay for my own food or that just because he's a dude he's liable to pay. However if I don't get a job soon, I'll be living on a package of roman noodles a week and their won't be any out to eat meals for Riley.

"But I asked you to come with me, therefore it is my treat." he tells me, taking a sip of his Dr. Pepper.

"Okay so when this is vice versa, you're gonna let me pay?" I say holding a very domineering look on my face. I put the straw in my own Dr. Pepper then take a sip. He doesn't answer me. I look up to him and he smiles.

"We'll see."

A different girl suddenly slaps down our trays and distracts us.

"A beach bacon burger with regular fries and a pizza supreme burger without mushrooms and sweet potato fries?" she says reading the ticket off. We both nod at her and she goes away. Austin takes my pizza supreme off the tray along with his beach bacon then slides the empty tray to the table next to us.

"You would think they would take the trays back with him," he says shaking his head.

"Yeah I know, it's kinda hard to eat with them taking up all the room," I say taking the rapper off my burger. I can't wait to taste the heavenly goodness.

"Exactly," he laughs. A silence forms as we both eat in peace. It is as good as I remember. Even though something tastes off.. Maybe they've started using a new seasoning but who cares? The hunger in my stomach is finally starting to be at ease.

Halfway through our meal, Austin speaks up.

"My mom used to bring me here when I was younger just to get me the giant scoops of ice cream," he says me with a smile on his face. "She said it worked better than a pacifier"

I start laughing, "My parents used to say the same thing!"

"We're going to have to get some before we go," he states while eating some of his fries. "I agree," I reply. "But that'll be MY treat," I add and then take another bite of my burger.

"If it'll make you happy," he says looking down at his food.

"I like this," I say setting the remaining part of my burger down.

"What?" he asks looking up.

"Being able to go out to eat with my roommate who I've yet to really get to know and it not be awkward."

He becomes silent for a moment.

"You don't want to get to know me Riley," he says. The muscles in his jaw tightens. Crap, I must have hit a nerve.

"I do, put I don't want to push it." His eyes try to look past me to something else in the back, but I bring him back into focus. "So you don't have to tell me anything unless you ever want to. Okay?"

"Yeah," he says looking back down at his food and stuffs some more fries in his mouth. I spoke too soon. The awkwardness has arrived.

Since I don't know what else to say, I pick up my burger and start eating small bites to keep myself busy and to keep me from saying something I shouldn't. Even if I've probably already spoke too much. Will I ever get it right with this kid?

Out of no where a strange burn hits the back of my throat. I grab my drink and gulp it down. The burn is still there. My lips start tingling and I set my burger down in the basket. What's happening?

Austin looks up and notices my behavior.

"Riley, what's wrong?"

I try to swallow again, but my throat feels almost as if it's closing. This causes me to go into a panic. I'm having a allergic reaction to something. All I can think about is how I can't breathe.

I grab my throat and try speaking.

"I.."

Austin jumps up and comes to my side. "Riley, tell me what's wrong"

"Can't" I get out then notice how everyone around us is coming to my sides. He grabs my hand and makes me look at him. "Breathe," I muffle out and then try to suck in some kind of air into my lungs. It's not working.

He picks up the bun on the last little bit of my hamburger.

"It has mushrooms, she's allergic!" he shouts. I feel his arms around me and I try to hold onto him as he pulls me out of the booth, but i'm weak. Unexpectedly the room becomes dark. I realize I can't see anymore. The last thing I hear become the world goes quiet is Austin yelling "Call 911"

~~~~

(A/N)

Opps.. Sorry Riley lol. I'm allergic to mushrooms so I know how yah feel :/

Anyways, anyone here from Texas? And in the Bryan/College Station area? Sort of where this book is based. I grew up there and it just felt like the right place for Austin and Riley to be going to college. Hence why I used Carter's burgers. It's home to the Aggie burger. If you ever visit, make sure you stop in and get a burger from there! I promise they don't mess up your order like they did in this chapter. But for the books sake, I had to make it somewhat exciting.

I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to update yesterday. TX Dot bought some of our land and they opened a gate and left it open causing some of our horses to get out onto the main highway. Talk about scary. You should have seen my fat ass trying to run down the road, dogging cars just to keep my babies safe lol. If you haven't learned, my life is a mess! But it's always something new :D

Don't be a silent reader! Please comment/vote people! Love you babes!

xoxo-//K.L.