Cold Game

6. Mi Tesoro

It was an amazingly beautiful Monday morning.

The eager and gay blue jays twittered about in little flocks, showcasing their beautiful color patterns, as the trees dropped more golden-yellow leaves on the tarred roads. Chloe sat behind the wheel of her car listening to soul music and thinking.

She thought about all the events that had been happening recently, keeping mental notes and promises where necessary. She would definitely take some time to speak to her mother about her recent change in attitude and behavior, mostly in the area of her life that involved men.

So, maybe Angie was right about the whole needing a man talk blah, blah, blah. She still felt like there was need for her mom to confide in her if certain things in their lives were about to change.

A little heads up wasn't bad.

A black SUV showed up in her side mirror and she slowed down until they sped past her before picking up some speed. Her thoughts went over to that suspicious vehicle she'd  been seeing lately. In fact, the next time she comes across  that particular vehicle again, she would pull over and have a nice long chat with the occupants. That is, after calling 911 and informing them about her location of course. All she wanted was to confirm that these men were merely bumping into her by coincidence and were not stalking her even if she had no idea why anyone would want to stalk her. If their reply was not convincing enough, she'd  talk to her mother about it and they could file a police complaint.

■

Fate had a twisted sense of humor.

Either that, or she was the most unlucky girl in the Universe to be caught in a mess as sticky as this at this time of the day.

Chloe stood, glued to a spot, not sure how to get out of this problem. By problem, she meant Ivor.

About ten minutes ago, all was going smoothly for her until she had a flat tire. The road was, as expected at this time of the day, lonely except for the occasional whizzing of cars whose drivers were too mean to help a young girl who just had a flat tire, get to school on time.

"Oh well, I might as well get in and save both our time," she said, after much deliberation. There was no other way she could get to school and they were almost late as it stood.

She hopped into the shot gun, strapped on her seat belt and let out a deep breath as Ivor revved his car's engine and sped off.

Their drive to school, was eerily quiet as she was expecting to talk to him, even though she would have normally ignored him. Today, he seemed quite unlike himself. Quiet and thoughtful; almost like he had something terrible bothering him that he did not want to share. It hurt her to see him like this, but at the same time, pleased her that she had managed a quiet ride with him of all people.

As they drove into an empty area of the parking lot, Chloe let out a long sigh of relief. They had managed to arrive with a couple of minutes to spare. 

She quietly got out of the car after muttering a thank you to him but had not made it past the empty quad area when she turned around, deciding to find out what was eating him up.

Anxiously playing with her silver charm bracelet, Chloe waited for Ivor a few feet away from where he'd parked, under the shade of one of the magnolia trees that lined the school's front yard. She fought back the voice in her head that kept yelling turn around and walk away in her ears. She knew she had to talk to him, to find out what was bothering him and see if she could be of any assistance.

After all, he had helped her arrive early to school right?

After getting his things out of his car, Ivor was very surprised when he found Chloe waiting under the shade a tree, nervously playing with her charm bracelet. He raised an eyebrow, and tossed her a tentative look. She gulped, drawing in more oxygen into her lungs, and steadily advanced toward him.