I didn't realize I was staring until a pair of green eyes met mine, followed by the harshest glare I think I've ever received.
Archer was looking at me with an eyebrow raised. It felt like he was asking, "What the hell are you looking at?", but of course he didn't actually ask that. He just continued to stare at me with that irritated, confused look on his face, and for a second I was wondering why he was still staring at me when I remembered that I was the weirdo who had started staring at him first.
Embarrassed, I quickly averted my eyes and turned my attention back to my phone and headphones. I could feel my cheeks burning. My embarrassment quickly turned into curiosity though.
Why was he riding the subway?
The last time I checked I'm pretty sure Archer owned a car. A sleek, black, Mustang to be exact. What kind of parents bought their teenager that kind of car, I didn't know, but I wish I had them.
I put my headphones in and randomly selected a song to play, trying to still my wandering thoughts, and preparing for the twenty-minute ride. There would be one more stop before the subway train reached its destination and I was hoping that I could keep my mouth shut and stop myself from asking Archer why he was here for the rest of the ride.
I relaxed as best I could in the hard chair and leaned my head back with my music blasting in my ears.
Unfortunately, my curiosity was still buzzing and my eyes seemed to move of their own accord. Opening one eye, like that would make it less noticeable, I once again glanced over at Archer and... he was still staring at me. Although this time that confused expression was no longer on his face. Instead, it was replaced by an amused one.
Frowning slightly I took my headphones from my ear and I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.
"What are you staring at?"
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them and I couldn't exactly take them back, so instead I left them out there and waited for his answer.
When Archer finally spoke it kind of caught me off guard. As strange as it might sound, I don't remember ever hearing him speak.
We've been going to the same high school for just about four years, and in all that time Archer and I had never crossed paths. He stayed with his group of friends where they basically worshiped the ground he walked on, while I mostly stayed to hanging out with Megan even if I did think that she secretly wanted to be a part of his friend group. I'm pretty sure she put in an actual application.
"Weren't you just staring at me?"
Ugh! His voice. It made sense that someone with looks as good as his (I wasn't blind) would have a voice to match.
Was it wrong that I was secretly hoping that his voice would come out sounding like one of the chipmunks?
Ignoring my wandering thoughts yet again, I focused back on Archer.
"I wasn't staring." I protested, but it sounded like a lame excuse even to me. A blind man could tell that I had been staring at him, but I wasn't about to admit that to him now was I? I had my pride you know.
"What do you call it then?" he asked raising his eyebrow again.
"Not blinking." I countered quickly.
Archer shook his head and fixed those green eyes on me again.
"Then why were you 'not blinking' at me?"
I gave a frustrated sigh and suppressed rolling my eyes.
"Why do you care? You should be used to girls stari-" I stopped short realizing I had just almost admitted that I had been staring at him.
Hell would freeze over before I ever admitted to that.
"You should be used to girls 'not blinking' at you all the time." I quickly corrected myself.
Archer was good looking and he knew it. His chocolate colored hair and evergreen colored eyes were just part of the package. He had a strong jawline and a straight nose. His teeth were straight and pearly white, which I'm pretty sure was the result of braces and hella good dental hygiene, and his body, I'm not even going to talk about it.
I lied. Yes, I am.
In P.E. one time, the boys had to play football and just like in the movies one team was shirts and the other was skins, and guess whose team Archer was on?
Megan and I had been half heartedly running around the track with the rest of the girls, putting in just enough effort to keep our cranky gym teacher satisfied, when I heard her gasp like she had been deprived of air. She had latched on to my arm with strength I didn't even know she had and yanked me to a stop and pointed out to the football field. I followed her gaze to see what she had been pointing at and sure enough, there was Archer in all his glory in nothing but blue basketball shorts and white gym shoes. The rest of him was bare and let me tell you, it was a sight to see.
While I prided myself on not drooling over him, he did have a nice body. It was like the gods of Olympus had blessed him. His chest was tanned and sculpted with broad shoulders and toned arms and abs. It was a crime for someone to look that good.
A mischievous grin played on Archer's lips as he crossed his arms across his chest effectively bringing my attention back on him and away from my thoughts about how good his stupid body looked.
"Of course I'm used to girls staring at me. I'm asking why you're staring at me. You don't even throw me a glance at school."
That caught me off guard too.
He knew who I was? I mean I wasn't one of the ugly stepsisters from Cinderella or anything like that but I wasn't anything special to look at that really attracted boys attention. People, both guys and girls alike, usually noticed Megan. With her long blonde curls and ocean blue eyes, she was just what came to mind when you thought of a pretty girl, but me? I felt like I was just... average.
Why would he or anybody for that matter, notice me?
I had to remind myself that I didn't care whether he noticed me or not.
"I was just curious." I said bringing myself from my thoughts.
"About?" he prompted.
"Why you're here. Riding the subway I mean. Don't you have a car?"
The mischievous grin left his face in an instant and was replaced with a hard look.
"That's none of your business." He snapped as he turned to look in the other direction.
Woah.
The switch in his mood was like something straight out of Split.
I could picture it now.
"Oh, that wasn't me, that was Patricia."
I was only asking why he was riding the subway. It's not like I had asked something personal like did he wear boxers or briefs, which I didn't care to know by the way.
Annoyance quickly replaced my slightly shocked state and I curled my hands into fists.
"Who pissed in your cheerios this morning? I was just asking a simple question." I folded my arms and looked the other way pretending to be interested in one of the metal poles standing in the middle of the aisle and not the glowering, green eyed, nutcase with a personality disorder.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Archer turn his head to look at me again. He slowly unfolded his arms and sighed heavily.
"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just I haven't been in the best mood lately."
I wanted to slam my head into that metal pole.
Of course he wasn't in a good mood. He had caught his best friend with his girlfriend in the school bathroom together. While that didn't answer my question of why he was riding the subway, I decided to take pity on him.
I turned my head back to face him.
"It's alright. I get why you're in a bad mood."
He frowned at me and gave me an expectant look like he expected me to explain how I knew about his situation.
"My friend told me about what... happened." I paused a second before continuing. Apologizing wasn't one of my strong areas. "I'm sorry about what happened by the way. I mean if I'm being honest you could have done a whole lot better than Avery anyway. You do know that she's a complete..." I paused thinking of the nicest way to tell him that his girlfriend liked to sleep around. "She's gotten around a lot." I finally continued. "And I mean a lot. She's been with more guys than I've flunked math tests, and let me tell you, I suck at math. The whole "prove this is a triangle" bull crap is just nonsense. We all know a triangle when we see one. Why do I have to prove it's a triangle by calculating its sides and angles and all that? It's a nothing but a big waste of time if you ask me. Anyway, back to Avery. I mean I'm not trying to judge her but you'd think she'd get tired. Do you not need a break from all that fu-" I abruptly cut myself off realizing I was rambling, what I was saying, and who I was saying it to.
You see what I mean? Apologizing is just not something I'm good at and apparently neither is making people feel better.
To my surprise though, Archer didn't seem to take it too badly. He actually laughed.
I wasn't expecting him to laugh, maybe he found my stupid rambling hilarious, but I found myself laughing along with him. A few people nearby gave us annoyed looks but we continued to laugh anyway. When our laughter died down Archer rested back in his seat, a small smile still playing at his lips.
He gave a deep sigh before he spoke.
"Yeah I know how she is. She just...acted different with me. She wasn't anything like how people made her out to be. At least not with me anyway. I thought that maybe she'd actually changed but that obviously blew up in my fucking face. Of all the fucking people, the last person I expected to find her with was my best friend." His voice took on a serious almost sad tone.
Wow. Archer really liked Avery and looked how she repaid him. By screwing around with his best friend.
Without really thinking about what I was doing I stood up, setting my bag down on my seat and made my way over to the empty seat next to Archer's. After sitting down I placed my hand on his shoulder.
He turned to me with a confused expression on his face.
"Look I don't know a lot about relationships, I'm actually probably the worst person to ask about them, but I do know that if Avery cared about you as half as much as I think you cared about her, then she wouldn't have done what she did. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe you weren't meant to be with her." I said the last part cautiously. I didn't want him snapping at me again. I really didn't have the patience for that.
Archer continued to stare at me with that same confused expression on his face.
I couldn't say I didn't feel the same way.
Never in my wildest dreams or maybe it would've been my nightmares, would I have thought I would have been sitting here on a subway train, having a heart-to-heart with Archer Daniels.
I guess there really was a first time for everything.
"What are you doing Gemma? Why are you trying to be nice?"
Now that really shocked me.
One reason was because of all the things I had just said he went and asked me why I was trying to be nice. I wasn't pretending! It wasn't like I was a mean person. I was nice all the time. Or at least I thought I was.
The second reason was because I didn't think he knew my name. Like I said before, we went through high school without uttering a single word to each other. I knew his name because I couldn't go to one class without hearing it from one of the girls.
"What do you mean why I am trying to be so nice?" I asked a little offended.
Archer turned so he was completely facing me.
"I mean we haven't said so much as one word to each other throughout high school. Why are you talking to me now, let alone trying to be nice to me? If I'm not wrong, I was under the impression that you couldn't stand me. If it's just cause you feel sorry for me, don't."
My mouth actually dropped open. What kind of reputation was going around about me? Did everyone think that I was a cold hearted she-demon?
"It's not that I can't stand you. It's just that I wasn't about to drool at your feet just so I could get a chance to talk to you."
Archer was silent for a moment as he seemed to think this over.
When he spoke again his voice was so low that I had to lean in to hear him.
"I don't know why I'm even telling you this, but as crazy as it sounds Avery was the first girl I was really serious about. I mean there was a girl before that but that had about a snowball's chance in hell of happening."
A small smile played at my lips.
I made my eyes go wide as I put the hand that was on his shoulder to my chest and I faked a gasp.
"What?! There was a girl that The Archer Daniels didn't have a chance with? I need to meet her and shake her hand."
Archer glared at me but I could see he was biting back a smile.
"You're hilarious." He said sarcastically.
I smiled sweetly and nudged him with my elbow.
We fell into a comfortable silence and I couldn't help but shake my head.
Archer noticed and turned his head.
"What?"
"Would you think that after all these years that we'd finally be talking and on a subway of all places?"
Archer gave a soft chuckle and shook his head.
"No, but I can't really say that I'm disappointed. "
He was staring at me with those green eyes again and I felt my stomach do a small unexpected flip and heat rush to my cheeks.
Oh hell no.
That wasn't good.
Maybe I should go to the doctor's again.
Archer Daniels had made me blush.
It was my mission to finish high school without falling under the spell that only Archer seemed capable of casting.
I was not about to fail now.
I quickly turned my head, shoving my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, hoping that he wouldn't notice my blush, but I caught the small smirk on his lips before I completely turned away.
Dammit.
I was saved from this awkward moment when the subway train suddenly came to a stop.
Like this moment couldn't get any more embarrassing and awkward for me, the sudden stop caused my body to sway to the left and my body bumped into Archer's and seeing as my hands were currently shoved into my pockets, I couldn't brace myself for it. So, instead Archer ended up with his hands placed on my arms to keep me from toppling over face first into his lap.
Now, that really would've been embarrassing.
My face heated up even more and I knew my face probably looked like a beet right now.
I would've said a tomato, but I hate tomatoes.
I quickly pulled my hands from my pockets and steadied myself.
I glanced at Archer from the corner of my eye and when I saw he was still smirking I punched him in the chest.
I instantly regretted it. It felt like I had just punched a brick wall.
"What the hell?! What do you eat for breakfast? Steel? That's not healthy you know." I stated, rubbing my hand.
Archer shrugged and continued to grin.
"That's all natural baby." He said and then added an over the top wink.
I rolled my eyes and bit my tongue to keep from laughing.
Maybe, and this was a big maybe, Archer wasn't all that bad.
Didn't mean I was about to turn into one of his fan girls though.
He could kick rocks and blow bubbles on that one.
Our light mood ended abruptly however when the subway doors suddenly slid open and instead of passengers boarding, five masked and hooded figures made their way inside.
They were all wearing dark jeans and hoodies that concealed their faces. Each one carried a black duffle bag. Flirt out of the five figures silently made their way into the other cars leaving just one behind. The lone figure stood in the middle of the subway car and dropped the duffle bag with a loud thud, gaining the attention of all the other passengers.
Silently, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black hand gun.
Screams erupted all around me as everyone laid their eyes on the weapon.
You see?
This is why I hated riding the subway.