I was in the middle of the battle between reality and dream when Daniel helped me sat in his car’s passenger seat. Closing my eyes, I sighed in pleasure when I felt the heat of the seat beneath me; he closed the door softly, after a second he sat beside me on the driver’s seat with a dull sound of his door closing.
Finally, my teeth stopped chattering, and I relaxed back in the seat. After a few minutes of relaxing, I opened my eyes and saw him gazing at me. Blushing by his intense stare, I sat up straight looking out through the windshield.
“I uh...” Clearing my throat, I searched my mind for words, “Umm...a... Thank you for your help.” I finally stuttered.
He said nothing, and I kept my gaze fixed outside.
Please, say something.
“You’re welcome, I guess.” His forehead creased.
I glimpsed at him and saw him still watching me. “Seriously, thank you I thought I was going to die today.” I gave a high-pitched laugh, trying to make the mood lighten, but failed when I saw him glaring at me.
What did I do now?
“Why were you even walking in this weather alone?“ He scolded.
My face reddened. I duck my head in embarrassment and told him what happened.
I want Mini to dig me a hole and bury me in it.
*~*~*~*~*
When I was done, I cast a glance at him. His eyes twinkled, lips pressed in a thin line, trying not to laugh.
Why me?!
“Wow-“ He coughed. “I uh... Don’t know what to say.”
“You can laugh-“ I didn’t even finish my sentence and was cut off by his guffaw, “-if you want to...” I trailed off.
“S-Sorry.” He chuckled. “It’s just funny.” He continued laughing.
If you ever humiliated yourself in front of your crush, you’d know exactly how I was feeling.
I covered my face with my hands, not being able to look at him. Even Mini was snickering behind.
His laugh died after a second. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to...” his voice faltered when I didn’t react. He continued, “... It’s been a while since I laughed like that.” He murmured.
“I saved that deer’s life,” I mumbled. I wasn’t mad at him for laughing at me. It was just embarrassing.
“Of course you did.” I peeked at him through my fingers and saw him smiling at me. I felt my heart thumping in my chest.
I missed his smile.
The last time I saw him was when he was leaving for college, which was around nine years ago.
I may have stalked him in these nine years, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“So where are you going?” He asked, turning on his car.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I said in a duh tone.
“You are going to our hometown?” He choked.
“Why are you so shocked?”
“Because since you left for college, you haven’t visited.” He grunted.
“And how do you know that?” I wondered.
Wait... Was he stalking me, too?
“Alice told me.” Ah! Now that made sense.
Alice and I were high school best friends. We went to different colleges and lost contact.
“Yes, I am going there.” I whispered looking out the windshield and continued “Caleb’s bringing his fiancée and wants to introduce her to us.”
“Wow... He got engaged, that’s surprising.” He chuckled.
“Tell me about it, I thought he would die alone-“ Mini barked from behind, “-see, she agrees with me.” I giggled.
He laughed and we went silent after that; the silence was uncomfortable for me so I tried making small talk.
“How’s Alice doing?” I asked.
“She’s good. She completed her baking course and opened her bakery back at home.” He praised.
WOW.
She always wanted to be a baker whenever we had a girls’ night out. She would always bake fresh cakes to try out on us and dreamed of opening her bakery.
Speaking of food, my stomach grumbled, Mini bark. [I’m hungry too, sh*thead.] I shot her a look.
“I have some snacks in the glove box.” He chuckled.
I gave him a toothy grin and opened his glove box. There were so many things in it; charger, chocolates, pack of chips, condo- Oh, I blushed at that and a book.
I took the chips pack and looked at the book cover, ‘Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix’ before I picked the book out, shaking it in front of him.
“I didn’t know you were a nerd.” I teased.
“Reading Harry Potter doesn’t make you a nerd.” He smirked.
“Eh uh...” Giggling, I opened the page that had a bookmark and skim when one quote caught my attention.
‘Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.‘
Hm.... Interesting.
I side glanced at Daniel, who was focused on driving. He came back, and it was a pure coincidence that we met today. Was it fate? I scoffed at that.
I closed the book and put it back. Before closing the box, I gave one more glance at the condoms. He’s a full-fledge guy, of course he carried that with him.
I tear the chips pack and took some out to feed Mini; she growled at me. [Thank goodness you came to your senses, I thought I was going to starve to death.]
I rolled my eyes at her. “You won’t die on my watch, relax.” I scoffed.
“What?” Daniel hesitated.
Shit! I forgot he was here, too.
He must think I’m a weird person talking to my dog.
So what? She talks with me too, and it’s not my fault that I can understand her.
“Nothing. I was talking to Mini...” I mumbled.
“I didn’t know you like dogs.” He glanced at Mini.
You know nothing about me.
“Yeah, I always wanted one but my grandpa never allowed saying that I wasn’t responsible enough.”
“And now you are?” He teased.
“No, but I live on my own, so no one can stop me from getting one.” I grinned. “As soon as I graduated, I got her.” I turned back and scratched Mini’s ear.
[And I was the one you found to ruin.] She scoffed.
“You should thank God for that, you ungrateful bit-“ I halted and glanced at Daniel.
He was staring at me like I lost some screws.
“You talk to your dog.” It was a statement.
“Yes...” I trailed off, “but she starts first.” I blurted.
He stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing.
How many times am I going to embarrass myself?!
Mini snort from the back seat. I glared at her.
“I-I... I’m impressed.”
I frowned my brows. “I know you are making fun of me so pl-“
“No, seriously I am. I haven’t met a girl as honest as you.” I blushed hard at that." besides it’s cool. When I was a kid, I used to talk to my goldfish and I don’t know how but I knew what she was saying." He explained.
I looked at him with wide eyes, then burst to cackle.
“You-You talk to a goldfish,” I chuckled. “What did it say when it did this?” I made a pouty fish face and moved my lips.
“You shouldn’t joke about people when you are one of them.” He mimicked.
“Dogs at least bark! What does fish do, huh? Make bubbles.” I giggled.
We argued for a while, calling each other stupid and idiot.
Who talks to a fish? At least Mini responds to me.
Suddenly, his car made a weird noise and slowed down. Daniel parked it at the side of the road. We sat still, then I turned to Daniel, who glanced at me with wide eyes.
What the f-
*~*~*~*~*