Perfectly Imperfect

10

"Why? Because your lame subject is animals?" he taunted.

I puffed out my chest, rolling my eyes. "You'll never guess what it is."

His eyes sparkled mischievously as his lips tugged up. "I already know." My grin faded at that. "Haley told me." His smile widened at the same time I narrowed my eyes, my lips forming a tight slash. Of course she would.

"Right. I forgot you're like, her best friend." I didn't mean to sound sour, but I did. Freaking hell. "Whatever. I'm going to the aquarium. If you want to come, good. If you don't, so be it." I shrugged before walking away towards my car. A part of me wanted to go alone, but another part of me wanted him to come with. I wasn't sure which part was wining, but when I took out the car's key from my jean's back pocket, I heard forceful steps behind me.

"I hope you've improved your direction skills, Farah." Chris warned, before stepping to the other side of the car. He was still holding the helmet on his hand. The alarms beep sounded and he pulled open his door. Climbing on, he left his helmet on the backseat.

"FYI, I ace driving," I faked a smile as I started the engine. I heard his snort as the car jolted when I put it on reverse. This sort of light bickering made me feel more at ease; it was much better than the awkward silence that kept settling between us.

I wasn't too worried about my sense of direction, or lack of, since Dad had installed a small GPS before I arrived. He knew me too well, and was just making sure that I wouldn't get lost. I typed aquarium, ignoring the way my stomach was rolling or the way my hand was shaking as I touched the screen.

Chris laughed at the GPS. "That's cheating!" he protested between laughs. Deal with it. His cackles were contagious, a small smile cracking on my face, despite it all.

Knowing that the guy was following my every move made my heart flutter like crazy, and increased my self-consciousness quite a few notches. I drove as carefully as I could. Trying to lighten up the mood, I made small talk. "Cassie told me you're working in a film set?"

"I am. But I'm one of the assistants, it's not a big deal. It is a sci-fi, big Hollywood project, though." Wow. That's big. Like, what he always wanted big.

We'd stop on a red light, when I turned to him. "That is big, Chris. I'm so proud of you, you're doing what you always wanted." I mean it.

His eyes were piercing as he gazed at me. My mouth went dry as they roamed all over my face. "Josh Hutcher is in it," he added smugly with a smirk.. He'd always known that he was one of my favorite actors. I'd literally drooled over him when we'd watched that dystopia movie back in senior year.

My bottom lip fell to the floor in surprise. "Are you for real?" His smirk widened right before I gazed at the street light and it was already green. "Have you actually talked to him?" Does he have that amazing rough voice? Or those incredible abs?

"He's much shorter in person," his tone was flat.

I rolled my eyes, smiling at myself. "Pfft. He can't be."

"He is! He's so short that he could easily play the Grote smurf in the next movie installment!"

Oh no, he didn't. "You. Cannot. Be. Serious."

His deep laugh echoed through the car, pulling a chord in my heart. I missed this sound.

"I can't believe you still pin after him," Chris murmured sounding quite amused. I glanced at him, he was shaking his head and had a lopsided smile drawn on his face. My heart skipped a beat. He looked just like the Chris I remembered from over a year ago.