To Our Pinky Promises

Chapter 21

That's just how nosy people in this school are.

Insert a mental picture of an upside down smiley face here.

When I got in, I looked up and met his eye before he closed my door for me and walked to the other side of the car to get behind the wheel.

I buckled my seatbelt just as he opened the driver's door and got into the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as he turned the car's engine on and used his phone to turn on the GPS.

He typed in something that I didn't quite catch and set his phone on the stand by the dashboard.

"You'll see," was his only response as he pulled on his seatbelt and slid it into the buckle with a click.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do like surprises. But I have a love/hate relationship with it. I like the elated feeling when you find out about the surprise and everything gets revealed, you know. But I hate the part before things get revealed. The suspense and the wait. Call me impatient because I am.

I feel like the suspense of the unknown just feeds my ever growing anxiety.

But I chose to bite my tongue and let Alex drive. I didn't want to start blabbering nervously, get on his nerves and have him ram the car into a tree with me in it just to get me to shut up.

I don't think he was the violent type of person but you just never know with people.

After a few minutes of driving, we stopped at a McDonald's branch and Alex parked the car. I looked at him with a single raised eyebrow, giving him my best 'really?' look.

"What?" Alex asked defensively.

I shook my head, clicking the buckle of my seatbelt and slipped out of the safety belt, letting it snap back gently to the side of my seat.

Alex, however, wasn't willing to let it go. "What's that look supposed to mean?"It was my turn to raise my hands in surrender this time. "Nothing, nothing. Nothing at all."

I unlocked and opened my door and stepped out of the car. I closed the door just as Alex got out of the car from his side. I didn't wait for him to lock his car, and just started walking towards the entrance to the fast food restaurant, hearing Alex's rushed footsteps catching up with me.

"Hey, admit it, this is still better than eating in the school's little girl's room, right?" He teased, earning a glare from me.

Will he ever forget about that?

He chuckled at the hostile look I gave him as we walked through the automatic sliding doors and towards the counter to order our food.

The sandwich I had ordered from the school's cafeteria still sat inside my bag but looking at the McDonald's menu, I convinced myself that I can just eat it for dinner later.

I mean who could possibly resist McDonald's fries. Alex let me order first before putting in his order and paying for the both of us, despite my countless objections.

"Don't-" I began to say before Alex reached out to tap his card against the EFTPOS. The machine beeped and the word 'approved' appeared on its screen and it started printing the receipt before I could say anything else.

"Okay, yep, I'll just repay you later." I muttered.Alex waved his hand dismissively. "It wasn't much, chill."

I shook my head. I hated feeling like I was indebted to someone.

But before I could say anything more, he walked away with out number and reserved a table for 4 for us.

I sat down across the table from him and placed my bag on the seat beside me, taking our number from him and playing with the acrylic triangle, tracing the printed number on it as we waited for the food to come out. I didn't know what to say to him or what we could talk about without risking making things awkward between us. I kept in mind that I still have to sit through the car ride back to school.