It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 4

Dannon smiled.  “Just an address will be fine.”

I relayed the address to him, and he nodded.  That was a good sign.  At least he knew where my house was. 

It was silent for a little while.  I looked out the window, pretending to take interest in the scenery outside when I actually didn’t.  I wondered if Kyla realized that I was gone yet.  Sure, she’d replied when I said I was leaving, but that didn’t mean she was really listening.  Knowing her she thought that I was still sitting there in the stall with her listening to her complain about how she didn’t know what shirt to buy.

I jumped slightly when my phone buzzed in my pocket.  I pulled it out, sighing when I saw who it was.  Kyla.  Irony was a funny thing.  I pressed the Ignore button before shoving it back into my pocket, returning to the “amazing” scenery out the window.

“You don’t want to get that?” Dannon asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked curiously.

I looked at him.  “No reason.”

He chuckled, shaking his head as he turned down a street.  “That was Kyla, wasn’t it?”

I decided not to reply to him, for he was forcing his way into business that wasn’t his.  I turned back to the window, studiously ignoring both Dannon and the pestering buzzing of my phone.  I instead stared at a fly that had flown onto the window and was clinging to it.  I poked it with my finger, grinning as it flew away.

From the corner of my eye I saw Dannon move to turn on the radio and then suddenly moved his hand away, changing his mind.  I cocked an eyebrow. What station would he have turned it on to?  Was he the type of person who listened to Q97.9—a pop station—or did he prefer something like 94.3, which played rock music?  Or did he prefer something else entirely?

Dannon made another turn.  We were almost at my house.  I shifted in my seat, antsy to get home.

“So,” Dannon drew out, throwing me a smile, “how was the mall?”

My eyebrows rose.  “Are you trying to make small talk?”

“You couldn’t have just answered the question?” Dannon asked with a laugh.

I crossed my arms over my chest, staring him down.  “Well, why are you answering my question with a question?” I challenged.

“Why are you?” Dannon retorted, the smile remaining on his face.

I slumped, sighing in defeat.  “It was boring,” I muttered finally.

Dannon grinned, looking thoroughly proud of himself.  He fist pumped, laughing as I rolled my eyes.  I pushed back in my seat, stretching out my legs.  The way he was acting right now reminded me of Garrett.  Whenever my brother would win in some form or another he’d fist-pump and whoop about how he was the king of the world.  And then, when I’d had enough of his bragging, I’d whack him on the shoulder and tell him to shut up.

I’d whack Dannon if I had the guts.

There was some part of me that was scared the smile was going to suddenly vanish from his face and his true self would appear.  I could just see it now: he would glare at me, his jaw working in irritation.  He’d yell at me for being so difficult, for not accepting his façade.  And then he’d reached forward, withdraw his fangs—

Great.  So I imagined his true self as a vampire.

Yeah, because that was realistic.

I sat up as my house came in view.  “It’s that one on the left,” I said softly, pointing to my house.