Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Open the damn door, Isaac!" I yelled at him, rapping my knuckles against the window a few times. When Isaac looked up at me, he was giving me a confused expression, holding his hand up to his ear as if he couldn't hear me.

"Fine! I'm going back inside!" I turned away from the door, taking only a few steps before Isaac had reached over the console and pushed the passenger side door open for me.

"Stop wasting time and get in here, kid! I'm hungry." The grin on his face was infuriating, and I glared at him as angrily as I could as I turned around and walked around the door, lifting myself onto the seat.

"Please know that I hate you and I'm only coming with you because I'm actually starving," I snapped at him after pulling the door shut and reaching for the seatbelt. I glanced up at Isaac through my eyelashes as I clipped my seatbelt into place, taking in his eyes watching me in amusement.

"I think we've actually established that that's impossible," he grinned as he reversed out of my driveway, heading down towards the main road. I shifted in my seat, my legs still sticking to the leather seats despite the cool air circulating around us, as I looked over at Isaac.

"So where are we going?"

"The diner?" The questioning tone of his voice and the way he glanced over at me as we rolled to a stop at the intersection at Rayston Point told me he was wondering if that was okay with me, and my initial reaction was to wrinkle my nose.

"Is that the only place you guys ever eat? I mean, I've been here for almost a month and I think I've eaten there more than I've eaten at all of the restaurants in New York combined," I complained, watching as Isaac narrowed his eyes slightly in a disbelieving manner, tilting his head slightly to the side.

"Well," he drawled, "Where would you rather go? Pizza?" The suggestive way he looked at me, his fingers resting lazily on the bottom of the steering wheel as we stayed stopped at the end of my road, the teasing infliction of his voice made in perfectly clear that he knew I was hanging out with Alex a few days ago. I watched him for a moment, debating whether or not I wanted to play into his antics, before I answered.

"No, I don't really want pizza," I answered, and when Isaac asked me what I was in the mood for, I just shrugged. "Surprise me." I leaned back into the seat as Isaac nodded, finally turning onto Rayston Point Road. I glanced around, watching the buildings pass as we headed into town. The space between us was filled with the sound of the air conditioning humming underneath a quiet song playing on the radio, interrupted only by the sound of Isaac's phone chiming from where it was resting on the console between us. When Isaac reached for it, I turned to him.

"Hey," I said, reaching over and plucking the phone from his hand, "Eyes on the road." Isaac's hand shot out towards mine, his other gripping the steering wheel tightly to keep the car straight on the road as he tried to pull his phone back out of my hands.

"Give it back, Lor." He rolled his eyes, a light laugh in his voice as he poked at my side, trying to make me squirm before he reached for my hands again.

"You shouldn't text and drive," I scolded him, laughing as I twisted out of the way, trying to avoid his hand as he tried to tickle my side again in an attempts to get me to release my grip on his phone. "And you should keep your hands and eyes on the road." I shoved his hand away from my side. My eyes flashed to his phone as it chimed in my hand, and I glanced at it, barely registering an incoming text from Andie before I looked back at Isaac again as his hand covered the screen, tugging on it.

"What're you and Andie talking about?" I asked, and Isaac stiffened slightly, both of his hands tensing around the respective objects they were gripping, his knuckles whitened slightly as the amusement started to drain from his face, something akin to nervousness flashing in his eyes before they were overtaken by annoyance.

"Give me back my phone, Loren," he sighed, sounding angry as his eyes flashed rapidly between my face, my hands, and the road, his body leaning towards me more as the car jerked slightly. I tightened my grip on the phone, giving Isaac a curious glance at the urgency with which he was trying to get his phone back after mentioning his incoming text from Andie.

"Why? You got something to hide?" I teased, trying to lean away from him as he leaned closer, still trying to retrieve his phone from my hands. When I glanced at the screen again, managing to pull his hand out of the way when he had to lean back into his seat and right the car in its lane. I took the opportunity to let my eyes linger on the screen still brightened with Isaac's inbox of text messages, my eyes skimmed over the fact that the last person Isaac had texted was Andie, and my name was in the incoming text message she had just sent him. I glanced between Isaac and my name in the message, confusion and curiosity frowning my lips.

"Why are you and Andie talking about me?"

"I swear to god, Loren, I'm going to pull the car over if you don't give me my damn phone," Isaac hissed in annoyance, glaring at me briefly before his eyes went back to the road. My surprise as the fact that he and Andie were talking about me was enough to distract me from holding onto his phone. Isaac managed to pull it from my grip, stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans with a dark, angry look on his face. He leaned away from me, resting his left elbow against the side of his door, his forehead against his fingers as he stared out at the road, tension working its way up through his shoulders and his jaw. The irritation evident in his tone of voice and his posture sent me shifting slightly to the side, a mix of my own anger and confusion making me regret agreeing to coming to lunch with him.

"Why are you being so weird about your phone? And why are you talking to Andie about me?" I snapped, turning in the seat so I was facing him as he pulled into a small parking lot between two buildings, nearly empty except for a few others parked against the side of a white brick building. Isaac steered his car into an empty spot, throwing it into park before lifting his hat off of his head and running a hand back through his hair again before setting it backwards on his head, letting his hands linger on the brim.

"Look," he sighed, dropping his hands as he looked at me, "Izzy used to snoop through my phone when we were together, so I guess I just still feel weird about other people touching it." I felt my own irritation start to dissipate slightly as the tension in Isaac's shoulders relaxed.

"And if you really must know," he said slowly, looking as if he didn't want to admit it, "Andie is giving me shit about taking you to lunch."

"Why?" My eyebrows pinched together slightly, the realization of why Andie would be giving Isaac a hard time not registering right away, but the second Isaac tilted his head at me, raising his eyebrows at me in a manner that told me I should know exactly what the reason was, it registered with me.

"Come on, Lor," Isaac sighed.

"Right," I mumbled, looking away from him at the building we had parked beside, biting my lower lip as I let my eyes wander over some ivy that crept up the side of the building from some brush behind the restaurant, avoiding Isaac's gaze. Beside me, I heard Isaac exhale heavily.

"Look, that's not why I asked you to lunch today." When I looked at him, his expression had taken a more serious tone, matching the evenness of his voice. "I just missed hanging out with you, your abrasiveness has become quite charming," he added playfully when I rolled my eyes, lightening the atmosphere between us marginally before he grew serious again. "I know it's because of what happened at the marina and I know I apologized, or tried to, already, but I want to apologize again, without making any excuses for Izzy. I still don't know what the hell she was talking about, but whatever digging she tried to do on you, she shouldn't have done it, and she shouldn't have threatened to tell everyone. Whatever it is, it's yours to tell." I couldn't help the hesitant smile that pulled at the corner of my lips as I pulled at the hem of my t-shirt.

"Thank you, Isaac," I said gently.

"Besides," Isaac was suddenly grinning, the teasing light back in his eyes to break through the stiffness that had settled between us, "I need someone to pay for my food."

"Oh my god," I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him as Isaac beamed at me. "Let's just go before I change my mind."

"Yeah? What are you gonna do, walk home?" I paused midway through opening his car door, shooting Isaac a challenging look over my shoulder.

"Hey," I reminded him, "I've done it before."