I ran down the street holding Mekhi's hand.
He had a bright smile on his face forgetting about me coming across the photo on his phone.
We walked into the park and he quickly let go of my hand.
"Come on," he grinned, running down the pathway.
I sighed. "Khi, I'm tired."
"Just follow me."
I groaned and ran after him.
He stopped by a vending machine and folded his arms. Then he looked at me with a smile.
"A vending machine?" I glared at him. "That's what you brought me out here for?"
"It's not just any vending machine. It's a broken one."
"Even worse," I shrugged. "It doesn't work."
Mekhi shook his head. "You don't get it. The guy who refills it is this old man who fills it even though it doesn't work."
"Okay," I shrugged. "And?"
He chuckled. "Watch." He walked over to the vending machine and punched in a number. A snack quickly dropped.
"Wait," I furrowed my brows. "You didn't pay?"
"Nope," he stooped down and grabbed the snack.
"Isn't this stealing?"
"Not if the guy who refills It doesn't care. We..," his face looked sad for a second then he smiled," we told him that it was broken and he just blew us off. So, we came here for a free snack for our trip almost every night we went out."
"We?"
He ignored me and punched another number into the machine. A chocolate bar dropped. "I suggest you stock up on snacks."
"Why? Seems to me like the machine isn't going anywhere."
"But we are," Mekhi smiled at me stuffing snacks into his bag.
I squinted at him then I walked over to the machine.
He grinned. "We have to make a few stops before we get on the bus. We need sandwiches and drinks."
"For what?"
"You'll see."
* * *
We got on a bus and sat in the back. I opened a bag of chips and started eating.
"Not gonna save it for later?" Mekhi put his arm around my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" I glared at him.
He chuckled. "Not what you think. Like I said, I don't like you."
I shook my head then smiled. "I'm hungry. Didn't eat much today- Mekhi," I furrowed my brows," where are we going?"
"You'll see. Be patient."
"I carry pepper stray. So, if you try anything-"
"I'm not going to try anything," he chuckled. "Look, Harley, I don't like you that way...at all. In fact, I'm going to help you."
"Help me what?"
"Become a better person. Better girlfriend to Flynn."
"Flynn and I aren't dating-"
"I know. But we can fix that."
I sighed. "How do you expect to do that?"
"By fixing you."
I squinted at him. "...Fixing..me? What exactly do I need to fix?"
"Well, you're selfish for starters."
I rolled my eyes and turned away from him.
"You kicked me out of our room to sleep with some guy."
I looked down. "Whatever."
"It's not 'whatever'. It's 'I'm sorry'. It's 'we share a room, I shouldn't have done that to you'. 'Whatever' is just you trying to be prideful. You trying to show me that you don't care. I know you do. And Flynn knew that you did. But you don't show it. Because you think 'whatever's make you cool-"
"Okay," I shouted.
The few people on the bus looked at us.
"Brutal honesty," Mehki shrugged.
I shook my head and got up, sitting on the seat across from him.
He smiled not really caring that I was upset.
It made me less upset to see him not care. It made me feel ashamed of myself for feeling upset. My anger wore off quickly and I looked at him.
He raised his brow and stuck his tongue out to me.
I smirked then laughed and shook my head. He made me happy.