That Biker Thing

Noel Sanders

"Nice to meet you, Hayden. I'm Noel. Noel Sanders," the tall blonde guy standing in front me said, stretching out his hand. I shook his hand and smiled as he shot me a grin, his eyes immediately going down to look at my leg.

He asked, feeling confused, "Did you hurt yourself?"

I shook my head. "It's just a biking scar I got, like, a week ago."

Chill winds tingled against my bare legs as we stood out on the porch. Since the accident I avoided wearing pants, so I stuck to dresses and skirts instead. It wasn't all that bad, except when I went outside and it was windy. But I did miss the times I wore pants and felt the warmth.

"Oh, right!" exclaimed Noel. "You and Hunter had your race last week. Sorry I couldn't make it. I was on a business trip."

"That's totally cool... considering I just found out that you existed. If I knew you before, then I'd have a right to be mad," I reasoned with a smirk on my face.

Noel laughed back. "So, when did you officially become a part of the crew? You'll have to forgive me, I've been really disconnected from here for almost a month now."

"No, it's okay," I replied. "But I'm not a part of the crew."

Noel raised his eyebrows as his pale blue eyes widened in surprise. "You're not?!"

I smiled at his reaction, which was clearly over the top, and shook my head.

"Well, why not?"

Upon hearing that question, my talks with Roger and Hunter flashed through my mind. In those 30 seconds that I stayed quiet, my mind drifted from Roger telling me how he thought that this place was my true calling, to Hunter admitting gingerly that he wanted me to stay.

"It's..." I began, trying to find the right words to say to Noel, without coming off rude or as an over-sharer. I finally ended up saying, "It's a long story. Roger did offer me to become a Road Kill, but I'm still thinking about it."

"Oh, I see," Noel nodded. He then pointed to waist and said, "Doesn't explain that though."

I looked down. He was pointing at Hunter's black leather biker jacket, which was tied around my waist over my pale blue skirt, creating quite a contrast.

"Oh, that," I said. "It's Hunter's."

I looked back at what had happened 20 minutes ago...

"Hayden, please, you gotta keep this with you!" Hunter begged, shoving his leather jacket into my arms.

"What? Why?" I squealed, pushing it back into Hunter's hands.

He looked at me tiredly and said, "Mitch finally said I could remove the bandages for one quick shower before he changed them again, and I can't leave this unsupervised. My money's still in it!"

I retorted, "Why couldn't you have just left it at your house?"

"Because, Hayden," he explained, exaggerating every word with his voice. "To leave the money at home, I would have had to go home in the first place."

"You never went home after that night?"

He shook his head. "No. I wasn't well enough to."

"But you were well enough to ride your bike for a race?" I countered.

"That was..." he began. Hunter's eyes scanned the room his desperation as he thought of a good reason to justify himself. Giving up, he exclaimed, "God damn it, Hayden, would you just keep the jacket with you?!"