Mr. Heywood pulled into my drive way and drove all the way to the top of it. When he stopped the car he looked over at me.
"Is your mom home yet?"
"Not yet. Her car isn't in the drive way," I told him, unbuckling my seat.
"You're welcome to come back to my house and I can bring you back later," Mr. Heywood told me. "I don't mind."
My first instinct was to say yes, but I bit my tongue to stay quiet. Spending the night at Mr. Heywood's was enough. I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay with Mr. Heywood before I fell for him more than I already was.
"It's day time now, so I'll be okay. She'll probably be home soon anyway," I explained, turning to face him. "Thanks for the ride."
"Anytime," Mr. Heywood responded.
I reached out to grab the door handle when I felt a hand at my arm. I turned around to see Mr. Heywood staring at me curiously.
"What?" I asked, raising a hand to my face subconsciously.
"Huh? Oh." He let go of my arm. "Nothing. Never mind. See you later."
"Okay..."
I turned back around to open the door when something coming out of the front door caught my attention.
"Oh no."
I turned to Mr. Heywood, who was smirking. He glanced over at me and let out a laugh.
"Have fun."
My plan was to quickly get out of the car and have Mr. Heywood leave as soon as possible. When he started rolling down the windows, I stared at him in horror.
"What are you doing?" I hissed, reaching over and trying to shove his hand away from the window control.
He shoved my hand away and stuck his head out the window. He honked the horn before shouting, "Hey, Lance!"
Lance looked up from his head down position on my front steps. He looked at the car for a minute in confusion, then his expression turned to shock, and then into suspicion. Finally he narrowed his eyes at me.
"You are such a jerk," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at Mr. Heywood.
"I know," he responded with a smirk. "Now get out of my car."
I heaved a heavy and irritated sigh before reaching for the door handle. I winged it open and slammed it as hard as I could. I smirked a little to myself when I glanced back and out of the corner of my eye saw Mr. Heywood with an annoyed expression.
Suddenly the car horn blasted and I jumped, nearly slipping on the gravel on the driveway. I turned back, my face flushed with embarrassment.
Mr. Heywood gestured with his hand for me to come over to his side. I obeyed, only the slight bit reluctant.
He rolled down his window and I stuck my head into it, looking up at Lance warily.
"What?"
"Be careful."
I rolled my eyes and looked over to give him a sarcastic look when I came face to face with Mr. Heywood's serious expression. I blanked for a second, surprised by the intensity of it. All remarks in my head were gone.
Why did he look so serious all of a sudden? For some reason, it made me feel uneasy. But soon Mr. Heywood's face turned into a smirk.
"Aw, you look all worried now."
"Who wouldn't?" I demanded angrily, pulling my head back out of the window. "See you later, Mr. Heywood."
"Holly, wait!"
I waved my hand at him in dismissal without looking back. I heard the rev of his engine and than heard it backing up my driveway. Soon, the sound of the car altogether disappeared and I sighed.
I usually didn't mind Mr. Heywood teasing me, in fact I thought I secretly enjoyed it, but when it had to do with my safety, it was a different story. And since it had to do with both Mr. Heywood's and my own safety, it was a much different story. But he didn't seem to be taking it too seriously.
"What were you doing with him?" Lance demanded when I was in earshot.
I sighed. "Why are you at my house, Lance?"
"I wanted to see if you made it home safely last night," Lance muttered, looking down at the ground.
I smiled slightly. "Aw, shucks, Lance!"
Lance rolled his eyes at me. "Anyways, back to the main topic; what were you doing with Heywood?"
"Did you bring your extra key?" I asked Lance, trying to avoid the subject.
"Yeah. Now stop trying to change the top-"
"Why didn't you let yourself in?"
"Because I wasn't going to invite myself in if no one was here," Lance explained, looking slightly irritated.
"Well I want to go inside now, so can we go in?" I asked, frowning at Lance.
Lance shook his head and took the key out of his pocket. He handed it to me and I used it to unlock the door. I opened the door in relief and sauntered in, relieved to be able to get inside now. Lance took the key back out of my hand and put it in his pocket.
"You're lucky you thought of giving me an extra key," Lane told me, smirking. "Otherwise you'd be locked out."
I laughed. "I'm glad too. I always seem to lose my keys..."
"Yeah. Why don't you- hey!"
"Hey?" I repeated.
"You're trying to change the subject again!"
I sighed in defeat. "Okay. I stayed at Chr- Mr. Heywood's place last night because I was locked out of my house and he didn't want me to have to sleep outside by myself. Nothing else." I narrowed my eyes at him slightly. "We don't have some secret affair going on, and if you think that, Casey's been getting into your head too often."
Lance blushed slightly. "I didn't think that..."
I chuckled and nudged Lance in the side with my elbow. "Come on, Lance! Me dating a teacher? That's gross!"
"Yeah," Lance responded slowly. "You're right. I couldn't ever see you breaking the law by dating a teacher. And it'd just be wrong."
I frowned slightly. It was okay when I said it, but for some reason I didn't like when other people said that it was wrong. I especially hated when they brought up that a relationship like that was illegal. However, I shook those thoughts away quickly.
"Did you eat already?" Lance asked, leading me to the kitchen. "I can make you something if you want."
"Nah, Mr. Heywood already made me breakfast."
A huge, delicious, seemingly professional breakfast.
Lance frowned slightly. I mimicked his expression. Why did he always frown whenever I mentioned Mr. Heywood? He didn't have any reaction when Casey or Danielle mentioned him, so why me? Was it because I was his best friend?
But what was he worried about in the first place? I ran a hand through my hair. Why were men so difficult to understand?
"Do you like anyone?" Lance asked suddenly.
I stared at Lance curiously. "We've been over this already, Lance. I don't like any one."
"Not even the slightest bit?"
I opened my mouth to say no, but closed it after thinking a moment.
I couldn't deny that I had a little crush on Mr. Heywood. A little, tiny, itty-bitty crush that any girl would have if they saw him. But I couldn't tell Lance that. However, I didn't want to lie to him either. I chewed on my bottom lip and looked at the floor.
"Holly?"
"Who do you like?" I asked, trying to avoid answering him.
Lance rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling you."
"Then I won't tell you who I like," I responded with a smirk.
Lance narrowed his eyes. "That's not fair."
"Yeah, it is," I responded. "You don't tell me, I don't tell you. That's fair."
"But you said you didn't like anyone!"
"Maybe I lied."
"Never mind, let's just drop it," Lance responded with a sigh.
I stared at him, extremely confused. Why did he even bring it up in the first place? I shook my head. Lance was so confusing sometimes.
"Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night?"
"Huh?"
"You know, dinner. What you eat at night," Lance explained sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll go. Have you asked Casey yet?"
Lance shook his head. "Just you and me."
I shrugged. "Okay."
Lance's face lit up. "Really?"
I nodded. "Why wouldn't I?"
Lance stared at me for a split second with a weird expression before shrugging. "I don't know why you wouldn't want to."
"Well maybe I'm sick of you."
Lance looked at me with a fake horrified expression. "No!"
I laughed and nudged him in the shoulder. "You know I can't get tired of you, Lance. You're one my best friends and will always be one of my best friends."
"What if I-" Lance cut himself off and cleared his throat.
"What if you what?"
"Never mind," Lance said quickly, forcing out a quick laugh. "I'm going to go home, so see you later Holly."
"You're leaving already?"
He nodded. "I only came over to make sure you got home. No other reason. So I'll talk to you later."
"You're too nice," I laughed, giving him a bear hug. "I'll see you tomorrow in school then."
Lance pushed me away from him. I looked at him in surprise. His expression almost mimicked mine.
"Um, sorry," he apologized, his brow furrowing.
"It's alright..."
Lance grinned at me for a second before waving and heading out of the kitchen.
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