A Part of My Memory

Zara

"Just look at them so we can talk about how good-looking they are."

I only sighed, "how did you become my best friend?"

"So you'll look?"

"Will you shut up if I do?"

"Promise," Serena smiled sweetly.

"Fine," I agreed and with a deep sigh, I turned and glimpsed back at the guys in the convertible following behind us.

I guessed they were good-looking. The driver had peachy skin and short blond hair while the passenger...

Oh wow.

Okay, from what I could see, the passenger was extremely attractive. Attractive enough that I didn't just glimpse at them and look away like I had planned to do. I honestly couldn't help but stare. The passenger had beautiful brown skin and everything about his face was just so right. His thick brows and sharp jawline made him seem intimidating, but his dark shaggy curly hair and the way his lips curved into a smile at whatever the driver said communicated otherwise.

"So?" Serena asked from beside me. "What do you think?"

"Yeah," I said, still mesmerised by the passenger. "They're attractive."

"Attractive?! Zara those guys are hot!" Serena declared a little too loud.

They must have heard us because the next thing I knew, the passenger's eyes flickered from the landscape and landed on us instead. On me. My breath caught and I whipped around, cringing as I faced the front. I felt my body grow stiff and the discomfort kept growing. I knew I was probably being paranoid but I could feel their eyes on our backs, but I wasn't going to look back to check because, thanks to Serena's declaration, they would probably knew we were checking them out.

"Did I say that too loud?" Serena asked, and I slowly turned my head to face her, shooting her a glare. "Do you think they heard me?"

"Of course, they heard you!" Ally shouted from inside the car. "I even heard you announce that they were hot."

"Whoops," was all Serena said.

"Take a picture would you, I want to see," Ally requested.

"No," I exclaimed. "Don't do that."

"Please," Ally begged.

"I'll be slick about it," Serena said before taking out her phone.

If they caught her they were going to think we were psycho stalkers, so I did the one thing I could think of. I fully opened the mini window connecting to the front before sticking my legs through to slide to the front, but Serena caught my arms before I made it halfway.

"You can't just leave?" Serena stated.

"If you're taking a picture, I'm leaving," I said, trying to fiddle through but she didn't let me go. I groaned, "Faizah, can you stop the car?"

"No, don't!" Ally exclaimed. "They'll overtake and I want to see."

"They're not even that hot!" I shouted, then immediately froze, praying the wind drowned out my voice so the guys behind us didn't hear my declaration.

Serena used that as an opportunity to pull me back out then shut the small window and sat in front of it, blocking passage.

She laughed, "I wasn't actually going to take a picture, you know."

I only glared at her and, knowing it was too dangerous to try to move her out of the way so I could squeeze to the front, I decided to lie down against the panel. I could no longer see the guys in the convertible and they couldn't see me, so I was content again. I would remain like this without looking back. They would eventually turn into a separate road.

Serena came and lay down beside me.

"So," she began. "Which one's cuter?"

****

It didn't take long for us to reach the gas station and when I sat up I was pleased to see that the red convertible was nowhere in sight, it must have overtaken us a while back. I hopped out and Serena followed suit.

"Junk food and drinks?" I checked with Faizah and Ally before grabbing Serena's purse from the seat.

"Do you even have to ask?" Ally said.

"Add some water too," Faizah advised, exiting the car to fill the tank.

"Got it," I said with a salute before catching up to Serena.

"Seriously, you grabbed my purse?"

"Did I?" I gasped dramatically. "Oh man, that was an accident."

Serena huffed a laugh but snatched her purse from me as we entered the store. We both grabbed individual baskets before splitting up. As usual, I went to the snacks section while Serena went to the drinks section. I filled the basket with varieties of snacks, from chocolates to sweets to anything that looked sweet and unhealthy. Whenever a road trip lasted longer than an hour, the procedure was to stuff ourselves with junk food to keep our energy up. It was like a tradition of ours at this point.

Once the basket was relatively full, I made my way to the till, waiting for Serena.

"Ah, so because you're not paying you bought the whole section?" Serena questioned, placing her basket on the till.

"Oh please, it's not that much."

"Shall I go grab your card then?" She asked.

"Go ahead," I shrugged then exhaled. "It'll probably decline anyway."

Serena snorted, "you and your broke ass."

"Oh please, I bet you're afraid yours might decline."

Serena shot me a look that confirmed my suspicions but still placed the items on the counter and the cashier started scanning them through. It probably wasn't going to decline, but Serena and I were currently in the habit of not checking our bank balance. We always either had more money than we thought or less than we thought. And after paying for this trip, I had no idea how much money I had left. The cost was a bit pricy, but it was an all-inclusive trip so it was worth it.

Once all the soft drinks were scanned and the cashier took the basket of snacks, I remembered Faizah's request for water.

"One second," I told Serena before going to the fridges.

I didn't know how many bottles of water Faizah wanted, but considering the hot weather and the fact that we still had a good two hours left on the road, I decided to take as many bottles as my arms could carry. Poor Serena's credit card was going to weep today.

I kicked the fridge shut once my hands were piled with bottles but I barely made it one step before a bottle toppled down. Then another. Than another. In hindsight, it probably would have been wiser to use a basket rather than my arms. I decided I'd come back for the three bottles on the floor after leaving the ones I had at the till.

"Forgot about these," I said, dumping the bottles of water onto the till, but before I could go back and pick up the others someone placed exactly three bottles of water onto the counter before me.

"You dropped these," the stranger said, and when I turned around to say thank you, I stopped short.

It was the hot convertible passenger.