She nodded slowly as if she understood, then reached into her backpack and pulled out a roll of LifeSavers. After popping a pink one in her mouth, immediately the sweet candy scent hit me.
“Ohhh, that’s where the smell comes from.”
“What smell?”
“You smell like sherbet.”
“I do not,” she snapped, which I also liked.
I was liking a lot about this chick that I’d only just become aware of.
“You do. I smelled it earlier too. It’s okay, it’s not a bad smell.”
She handed the roll to me. “You want one? I have different ones if you don’t want any of these.
She fished out another couple of packets, and I took one from her. “Wow, you really like those, huh?”
“I eat them when I want to think, or when I’m a little nervous. It gives me something to do.”
“I make you nervous?” I used my teeth to ease a LifeSaver out of the packet she’d given me. Cherry.
“I’m in a vehicle with a strange boy, so, yeah.”
I frowned at that unwelcome piece of news, especially as with every passing minute I was enclosed in a tiny space with her, my fascination grew. “I’m not that strange. You already met me this morning, and you know where I live.”
“No, it’s okay. I just get nervous around new people sometimes.”
For some reason, that didn’t make me feel better. It made me feel worse, in fact. “And I made you get in my truck. If you open the compartment, my license is in there. You can see I’m telling the truth…”
“Thank you for helping me this morning,” she replied, and I wondered if that was the only reason she had accepted the ride – that because I helped her, it was okay for me to take her home. The tension in my chest eased a little.
“You’re welcome. Josh is always a dick. I don’t know him very well, but what I do know I’ve never really liked.”
We carried on in silence for a while. I turned left into a leafy tree-lined road which I always counted as the unofficial entrance to our neighborhood.
“So you’re not new? And you tutor?”
She brushed her hands over the book again and rested them on her knees. I wondered if they were actually sore. Maybe I should give her some arnica. I usually had tubes of it scattered around the place for whenever I was injured.
“No, I’ve been here three years. I’ve only tutored since last September though.”
I scratched my head. “I’m surprised I haven’t seen you around more often.”
“We’ve passed each other a couple of times,” she murmured so quietly I almost strained my hearing trying to make out what she’d said.
“Really? You’ve noticed me?”
She snorted loudly, making me laugh. “It’s hard not to. You’re massive and loud, and usually surrounded by a gaggle of girls.”
My chest puffed. The only part of that sentence I’d heard was that she’d noticed me, and I was massive; I was taking it as acompliment whether she meant it as one or not. The gaggle of girls was… well… not exactly false. Not that I encouraged it.
I almost told her I didn’t encourage the attention, but then decided against it.
“And now you’re my new neighbor, so I guess I’ll be your driver for the remainder of the school year.”
Her laughter filled the front seats, which had my chest puffing even further. It was a perfect sound and I wanted to hear it again. In the space of a twenty-five minute journey, I’d built a list of all the things I wanted from her again.
“No, I think this is a one-off. But thank you for the offer.”
