Not That Bad #Wattys2018

Chapter Six

Cell phone calls are too distant for my taste. I can't use my eye widening technique, shouting isn't half as effective and I could be hung up on. 

Just like what Chase did me Saturday morning when I called him to ask him why the fuck he wasn't over here yet and didn't he remember that we had to go to the Bike Rally.

"Oh, Rori,it's you." Chase had said like he didn't have caller ID on his fucking cell phone.

I imagined him gnawing on his thumb nail, thinking up an excuse. I had put my phone on speaker and put it down on the corner table so I could fold my arms across my chest. Chase couldn't see me but I wanted the universe to know that I was pissed. VERY PISSED.

"Save all your excuses for when you get here." I said. There was a long pause. I could hear Chase's sister, Katherine, shouting at Rodrick, their brother, to get out of the bathroom because she needed to pee.

"The thing is," Chase had said, "I won't be coming."

"And why is that?" I said, wishing he was next to me so I could punch him, "And it better not have anything to do with Skylar."

The next pause was longer than usual because Chase had hung up on me. Hung up, on ME. Me, Rori Villan. He would regret that, I swear. I made a fist and punched the vase with the orchids and watched it fall onto the floor. 

It didn't break because Mom had already replaced all the vases in the house with plastic ones that looked like glass, just in case I had one of those moments. I missed the satisfaction of hearing the glass shatter on the floor.

That was an hour ago and I'm still at my house, pulling at the black leather of my body suit. The Biker Rally is once every year and it's a big event. I'm talking about thousands of motorbikes gathered in one place, for this epic race down the highway. I'd been preparing with Pat for almost six months now, so I could finally participate in the actual race. I'd always been a spectator. But today I'd be on my very own bike doing stunts, all on my own.

I didn't think I would win, but  I wanted to be there with everyone else with the wind whipping my back and to feel the adrenaline rush through my veins. It was supposed to be me, Chase and the unmentionable J, but now both guys had let me down. On any other day I would have been fine on my own, but I'm starting to feel a bit emotional, I think because of my actual period and I don't think I could take the comments from the other older bikers today.

I sit there, wondering what the hell I was going to do, when the door bell rings. I grab my helmet, and put it on, not bothering to tuck my hair up. It's my favorite helmet, the  black one with the Rori V. engraved in gold on the side. Then I grab my phone and head to the door. Maybe it's Chase. Maybe he was only messing with me earlier.

But it isn't Chase after all. It's Eli, books in hand looking at me, eyebrow raised, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Why are you dressed like that?" he asks, trying to walk inside. 

But I put my hands across the door and stop him. He kind of bumps into my arm and I take a whiff of his cologne. I think it's the same one Dad uses when he goes on special dates with Mom.

"Uh.Yeah. I don't do this," I point at the biology text book in his hand, "on weekends." Eli takes a step back, because, I suppose looking down at me was a bit difficult from his position.