The Edge of Tomorrow

7

Winston laughed, his phone lighting up the darkness of my front yard. He was busy texting Tee, who I noticed had last sent him a million heart emojis with kissy faces. Winston only responded with one heart. The white one. "Man, this girl is something else..." He meant Mishima. Or did he?

Mishima tightened her jaw, her face hardening like laundry stiff from the sun. "Are you fucking serious, Richie? I was here first!"

"Nobody told you to go sit in the front seat. Knowing that we would pick Becca up. Now get out of the car and come sit around here before you look like a fucking idiot," Levi added, and she rolled her tongue at the corner of her mouth.

"My girl's cold out there. So, can you..." Richie jutted his head to the door, looking impatient.

"There's barely any space around there," Mishima complained, twisting her body to look behind, and Richie's face remained unemotional as he rolled his neck. He appeared annoyed.

"Sit in Winston's lap or something..." He squinted out his window.

"Nah, man. We about to pick my girl up. She can't sit on my lap."

"It's alright," I chimed in. "I'll sit at the back. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal, Becks. He's your man..." Winston said so only I could hear. His eyes shone in the dark as he looked up at me. "If you leave him around carelessly, that bitch...will grab him."

I cringed. He didn't have to call her that.

Winston noticed. "She calls you worst..." He whispered.

"Fucking fine!" Mishima screamed, opening the door and flying out. She slammed Richie's door hard, and his nostrils flared.

"Slam my fucking door again and I knock your teeth out!" He yelled as Winston finally moved over so she could go in. She bounced me while she passed by, and I hated what he had just said. Knock her teeth out? Knowing what he'd done the other day, he would. Suddenly, I didn't feel like going with them anymore.

"Come on, baby..." He said to me gently, leaning over and opening the door for me.

"I-I don't think..."

"Becks. It's getting late. Wanna get you home before your parents start blowing us up...come on."

I diffused a low sigh and climbed into the warm truck, closing the door softly, a faint click, cause he'd said he'd knock Mishima's teeth out because of it.

He leaned in to place a soft kiss on my glossy lips. His breath smelled of cigarettes, and his neck was stained with cologne. His gold chain brushed against the top of my bust, feeling cold and heavy and expensive. And then the rings and the earrings—he must have paid a fortune; they glistened. When he edged back, he licked the cherry gloss off his mouth and hummed. "Mm. You look beautiful," he said, and my cheeks reddened all on their own.

"Thanks..."

I heard a snort from Mishima, who was sitting directly behind me, but I could understand her anger. She was sitting there first. The front seat wasn't some big prize that could change lives forever. I had no issue sitting in the back. Now, I had to brace myself for Richie's awful driving. It felt like in their world, Richie and his friends,' world, the rules were different—bizarre. Just because I was his girlfriend didn't mean I had to ride in the front.

We started our journey, and Levi had reached over to crank the music up. It was loud, unbelievably loud, and deafening. Richie drove like a madman, one hand on the steering wheel, one on my leg. Smoking, looking as though he was suddenly mad with the world. With his dad? With me?