The Misfortunes of Lolita

10 | when lolita kissed

"Shit."

"Oh, Frank..."

"Sorry."

The drive was an hour long, because Cora's friend lived a mile away from the college they went to. Frank knew that Cora could have stayed at home, drove for an hour and gone to college. It would have cost her less of her scholarship money, but he understood her need to stay away from them.

He also understood why their mother let her stay away. You could only spend so much time around poison until you start wanting to taste it.

Lolita did not say anything. She only fiddled with her fingers, which made Frank want to hold her hand, which was of course, fucking stupid.

You can't just hold her hand.

Could he?

"What band is that?" Frank glanced at the pattern of what looked like sound waves on her shirt, and then looked back at the road.

"Arctic Monkeys," Lolita said, kind of softly.

"Are they any good?"

"They're my life." Lolita sighed, the way she always described anything she loved as her life. The thing about Lolita, Frank was coming to find, was that she felt things on a higher volume than everyone else. "What do you listen to?"

"I don't, mostly." Frank said, moving his steering wheel to the right as he turned a curb. "Beatles, sometimes." Yeah. Way to sound pretentious as fuck, Frank.

"Thank god." Lolita laughed. "I thought you were going to say you like death metal or something."

"Well," Frank smirked.

"No." she shook her head, still laughing. "Please."

He laughed. "I listen to it when I'm pissed off."

"Oh, really?" Lolita said. "As far as I've seen, you just contemplate kissing me when you're pissed off."

"Uh," He blinked. Well. "Well."

She laughed. "I don't listen to metal at all."

"Why?" he said. "It's cool."

"It's so loud." She said. "Like someone is beating down on your heart. Stomping on it."

"Really?"

"Kind of like what you make me feel, actually." She said. "You're death metal to me."

"Oh." It was hard to be composed around Lolita. Her very existence unraveled Frank. She tore him apart.

She laughed at him, shaking her head. "It's a good thing, Frank-FRANK, CAR!"

Frank swerved to the left, just in the right moment, as a white Toyota brushed past. "Shit."

"You're a horrible driver." She breathed.

"Shit."

"You're a really horrible driver."

"Only when I'm with you." He managed to say.

Lolita laughed. "We should never be in a car together." Rose gold. God.

--

"Have fun, you two!" Cora kissed Frank on his cheek in her last attempt to embarrass him, after a whole load of Oh, your girlfriend is so pretty! And wow, you two are so cute together.

"Bye!" Lolita smiled at her, and then turned back to Frank, who was scratching his forehead.

"She's ... a character," He said.