Nothing More

Chapter Twelve.

"Get away from me," she warns me when I touch her elbow to steady her. I haven't said anything and I know to be careful with how I approach this. I hadn't expected the two of them to be sharing stories about me at their dinner table. I didn't think Nora liked me enough to even mention me to her friends, and if she did, I would have never imagined that Dakota was her roommate. How can the world be so small?

"I'm coming with you. How much did you have to drink?" I ask her.

She shoots fire at me; her eyes are damn near glowing red now. I get no answer.

Not that I expected one.

"I'll call an Uber. I'll have it drop you off at your place," I tell her and reach into my pocket for my phone.

She doesn't stop me. That's a good sign.

While we wait for the car, I decide to keep my mouth shut. She's not going to be very reasonable until we can get away from the crowd. This is all one huge misunderstanding and I need time alone with her, and quiet to be able to explain.

After three minutes of complete silence, Daniel in a blue Prius and a five star rating, pulls up to the curb and I put my hands on Dakota's shoulders to guide her to the car. She dips her shoulders away from my touch and stumbles off of the sidewalk to get to the other door. A car is passing at the same and I rush to her, pushing her out of the way and into the car. I hear her talking to me, something about not touching her, as I walk back around and climb into the other side. This is going to be a long night. Not to mention, I put my address into the app, not hers and I'm pretty positive she will be pissed about that too.

"How are you guys tonight?" Daniel asks.

Dakota ignores him and presses her cheek into her hand and leans against the window. "We're good," I lie to him.

No need to drag him into the mess, he seems like a nice guy and his car smells like caramel. He even has little bottles of water in the pockets on the back of his seat.

"That's good to hear, it's getting chilly out," he makes small talk.

"I have some waters back there if you're thirsty, and chargers too," he offers.

Now I see why he has a perfect five-star rating.

I look at Dakota and she doesn't seem interested in either thing.

"We're good, thank you though," I respond.

He looks into the rear view mirror and seems to take a hint. He turns his music up slightly and drives in silence the rest of the way. He'll be getting a five from me.

"Where do you have him taking us?" Dakota finally talks to me a few minutes into the drive. I stare out the window. We're about halfway to my apartment. I know this because we just passed Grind.

"To my apartment. I don't even know where yours is," I remind her.

I'm reminded that she has barely kept in contact with me since she moved here. Does she really have the right to be this mad over all of this? I can't tell if she's being as completely irrational as I feel she is, or if I just deserve the cold silence.

She huffs, but doesn't fight me on it. I assume that she doesn't want to deal with Nora and her other roommates who witnessed the entire awkward exchange just minutes ago. I get the feeling that their living situation is one of those weird frenemy types of relationship Tessa explained to me while we binge watched Pretty Little Liars.

Five-star Daniel pulls up to my apartment building and gives me one last sympathetic glance before I step out of the car. Dakota is quick to climb out of the car and she slams her door as I step onto the sidewalk.