Down The Highway

Chapter Sixteen

The breeze was fine with the bit of the heat of the sunlight bouncing through my skin since my window was open. It was nearly five in the afternoon and the sun turned orange. An unknown number appeared on the screen of my phone that Thursday afternoon and so I cleared my throat and immediately answered the call. "Jade Frocklori speaking" I spoke with confidence but wondered who the caller was until a manly voice answered. "Hey, this is Dylan"

I almost rejected the call when I knew that it was him but he spoke again, "don't reject the call. Tomorrow is Friday, we haven't even started a single thing for our story. I'll text you the address, come over to my house" I honestly forgot about the project and when he mentioned it, I almost spat the milk I was drinking. "Why don't you come over to my house?" I asked but immediately took it back, I did not want him to go to my house. "No, never mind! Just text me the address" he did not say a single word after that but instead, the call ended.

The clock above me stroke to four-thirty and so I quickly stood up and fixed my hair. I placed my laptop in my bag including the hand-written manuscript I made for my story. I forgot about it, but I still made a story the day before that one. I made my way to the door and went outside of the house then locked it. I called for a taxi and entered after I received the text message that Dylan said together with a stupid flirty message saying will wait for you beautiful I showed it to the taxi driver and he probably noticed the message which made him laugh.

Once he saw the address, I got my phone out of his sight and said, "don't look at it" then he started driving. I leaned at the back of the chair as the driver asked like he was an interviewer. "Your boyfriend?" I wouldn't even spend a night with him. I rolled my eyes and said, "no, never" the guy seemed unfamiliar but I ignored him and just glanced at the houses and buildings we passed by.

Apparently, we stopped in front of a big house, a mansion. "This is it?" I asked, then the driver turned his back at me saying, "yeah. It's what the GPS says" I nodded and paid him without getting the change. The house was completely big like a mansion I have seen in movies. I knocked on the gate but the barking dogs startled me. "Slow down, it's okay" I recognized Dylan's voice.

Just by hearing it, I already hated it. I felt insulted. But the gate opened and I saw him standing on a green t-shirt. "Oh, hi beautiful, get in" if it was not for a project, I could have punched his face. The three black, brown, and white dogs stared at me as I followed him. "Shh, it's okay," he said, talking to the dogs. He opened the door and the first thing I saw in his house was the big staircase.

I knew that I have seen that house before but didn't know where. "I think I've seen this house before" I mentioned while scattering my eyes around and finding lots of fancy stuff like the chandelier on the ceiling and the golden table. "Maybe in some movies. People hire this house for some movies or series or any other TV shows" I nodded but did not show that I was amazed by his statement.

I was right, I've seen it before. "My room is up there, come!" He quickly ran to the stairs and went upstairs while I followed him. I wasn't used to those tricky stairs which went round. "Here's my room and your future room," he said flirtingly. I immediately stepped on his feet with a lot of force until he said, "ouch! You didn't need to be that harsh, I was just kidding!" I rolled my eyes and sat on the office chair I found beside a study table as if I owned that room.

Above his bed were basketball balls and some tiny cars. He closed the door and turned on the air condition while he sat next to me. Our eyes met but I quickly looked away, trying to avoid his sight. I scattered my eyes around his table and found a picture frame. It was a picture of him wearing a graduation suit with his dad. And if I did not mistaken it, the guy with him was our professor who passed away. "Our old professor is your dad?" I asked, not able to believe it.

His jaw slightly dropped as he grabbed the picture frame from my hands and threw it away to his bed. "Don't touch anything unless I say so" he said seriously. In years that I have been trying to get rid of him, it was my first time to see him being serious.

I noticed how fast he changed the topic when he acted as he care about his grades. "Umm, so here's my story. I know how awkward this would be to discuss it with you in person so I wrote it. Here" he gave me the folder and I opened it as I started to read the essay he made. "How can I read this?" I asked, pointing at his handwriting that was poorer than a kid's handwriting. "Just ask me if there are words you understand," he said, then I gave him the manuscript I've handwritten too.

He frowned at it when he held it. "Wow, how can you judge my handwriting when yours is poorer" I admit I wasn't the best in handwriting but I tried my best to write it clearly so he would understand. "Well, just ask me too if there are words that you don't understand" he nodded, didn't have a choice but to understand what I'd written in there. While I have been bothered by the strong cold freezing breeze given to us by the air conditioner in his room.