Open Up My Eager Eyes

Chapter 3

“If you want to get to your house alive, might as well take my offer.” He added. He’s got a great point there. Although it was slightly against my will, I finally gave in.

“Alright, alright. Thanks.” I said under my breath.

“Wait, take this.” He said and handed me a bottle of water. I unwillingly took it from him and gave him a small smile. He seems to be a little bit generous. He doesn’t even know who I am and I only knew his because he announced it on mic before he performed.

We headed out from his bar, I assume, and went to the back of the building to go to his car.

“Woah.” It was all that I said when I saw his all too fancy blue Cadillac.

“Yeah, I know. I had to borrow this from my brother because he apparently needed my car to impress his date.” He said with a chuckle. So I could safely assume that this Vic dude is rich as heck. Looking at him though, he looked so simple. You wouldn’t see a tint of richness in him. I mean, not in a bad way though.

He opened the door to the passenger’s side for me and tactfully gestured for me to get in. “Um, thanks.” I awkwardly said to his all too kind gesture. Once he closed the door, I fastened myself instantly and scooted closer to the door, leaving an obvious amount of space between us.

“Alright, where to?” He said, buckling his seatbelt.

“It’s just an apartment on the-“ I stopped myself from giving directions. What if this man is actually a robber and this car is just a part of his act so that he would actually look decent and rich, so that his victims would not suspect a thing? My heart was beating so fast and my already occurring headache worsen as I thought of a reasonable excuse.

“I am not a robber and I would actually take you safely home to your place, no worries.” He said with a smile, as if he was reading my mind.

“Uh, yeah, of course. Summerton Apartment, six blocks away, thanks.” I said and looked down to my lap. Well that  was absolutely embarrassing.
The road was totally silent. There were people walking here and there and a couple of cars speedily passing each street lights but it was silent. It is in fact six in the morning of a Sunday, people are probably still sleeping soundly in their own houses. Half way to my apartment, nothing was spoken between the two of us. The only thing that is pulling the dreadful silence away from us is the soothing music coming from the radio. The radio station was playing those music that my parents would be playing while we eat our breakfast on a weekend. I suddenly felt nostalgic and homesick. I miss our house and my parents and siblings. It is my first time to live away from them, that’s why I haven’t adjusted pretty well with the situation.

“So..” Vic tore my attention away from my little train of thoughts. “You must be new here in San Diego?”

“Yeah, just moved in a couple of days ago. You?” I anxiously replied, trying to make small conversation. I swallowed the remaining water in the bottle that he gave me and tightly closed back the cap.

“Grew up here.” He casually replied. I just nodded and stared back to the window, trying to make myself busy.
Okay, two more blocks and I am out of here, I said to myself. This Vic guy has been really nice and generous towards me but I still get this weird vibe from him. He has done nothing weird towards me but I would still be practical and try not to make him feel comfortable with me. He is still a stranger. And from what my parents thought me, never talk to strangers. What I did is so wrong. Not only am I talking to a stranger, I hopped inside a stranger’s car! My parents would be disappointed if they knew about this.

“Where do you work?” He asked, clearing off the cloud of silence surrounding us.

“BSD.” I said and looked at him. He let out a little chuckle and his smile grew wider although his eyes were perfectly glued to the road, making it less awkward for me because he isn’t staring at me anymore. Why did he laughed though? I felt kind of offended at that response. It’s like he instantly made me feel so small just because he owns his own business and a couple of fancy cars, doesn’t mean that he could just laugh at other people’s job. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and went back to looking at the window.

“Aaand, we’re here.” He announced and abruptly stepped on the pedal, good thing I was wearing the seatbelt securely because there’s a huge chance of me banging my head and bleeding to death because of that reckless break.
I grunted and sighed, relieved that I am finally a couple of steps away from my secured apartment. I am still fuming at this guy though.  I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and Vic followed suit.

“Let me open that-“ I didn’t even let him finish because I already opened the door to my side and slammed it back shot. He got off from his, or his brother’s, car and ran to me, catching up since I was already walking my way to the front door of the building.

“I’m Vic though and I forgot to catch your name, I believe?” He said, for the first time, offering his hand for me to shake. I shook it though and immedietly pulled my hand away from him.
“I know.” I said in a sassy tone. I know I shouldn’t act this way because he was actually being nice to me in the first place. But thank the heavens because this would probably be my last encounter with him.

“Thanks for the everything, Vic.” I simply said and raised the bottle of water that he gave me earlier. I  marched inside the building. Although my head was still hurting, I ran towards the nearest elevator and impatiently hit the button to the floor of our apartment. I looked back and to my surprise, he didn’t follow me. Good. I thought he was going to continue on being so creepy and stalkerish.