Twenty minutes after we pulled up to the only convenience store that runs 24/7 on campus, Lorraine finally knocks on the window-rather aggressively-which isn't helping the headache I'm currently nursing. I hang up the phone with Ryan and wind down the window -slowly so that it pisses her off-and give her a toothless smile. "I know you don't own a car sophomore but this is BMW, and it is very disrespectful to knock on it like that-"
"Do I look like I care right now?" She cuts me off abruptly, her nose flaring slightly as pulls the door handle once more to no avail "can you unlock the door?"
I scowl slightly as I press the unlock button, my eyes dancing to watch her glide into the passenger seat next to me with a tired huff. Why in the world is she always so f*cking angry? She dumps the plastic bag she's carrying on the centre console which makes me roll my eyes. "Still mad I sent you into anal all by yourself?"
"Danal's." She corrects while leaning against her seat before staring out of the window at the flickering lights on the first and last letter of the store's name. Danal's has been known as anal long before I became a student of UCLA. Rumour has it the store owners love the attention the store gets from freshers that they deliberately leave the broken store sign as it is. The only problem I have is the creepy vibe the flickering lights emit but it looks like sophomore here is finding it extremely inappropriate as her cheeks are filling with pink "and I'm not mad, I'd just rather not be here."
"Whatever" I grab the plastic bag to see if the sophomore got the right things to treat the little cut on my forehead. I glance at her swiftly before pulling down the sun visor. I grimace slightly at the sight of the wound. Although it looks bloody, I'm thankful it's not deep enough to need stitches and is short enough to be covered in the small plaster Lorraine got-even though I specifically told her to get a bigger size than the one she bought. It seems like she'd do any little thing in her power to get back at me for not letting her write my article. "Coach is definitely going to give me a lot of sh*t at practice today."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have gotten in a fight for no reason in the first place." I hear the sophomore grumble next to me which causes me to turn to look at her unbelievably. She's still staring out of the window, hands folded across her chest like a defiant child. I don't know what's pissing me off the most, her excessive whining since she got in my car or the fact that she just asked me that question. "That would have saved us all a lot of trouble."
"Maybe you should shut the f*ck up for the rest of the night sophomore." I snap back before I can stop myself "that would most certainly save me from wanting to kill you because of your annoying voice."
"I wouldn't be annoying if you had turned back like I asked you too. You forced me to leave my friend behind."
When I finally got through to Ryan, I found out that the sophomore's friend ended up getting a ride with him because he told her he saw Lorraine leaving in my car. Although I didn't support Ryan driving under the influence, I can only be relieved that she made it out of there in one piece. I don't think the sophomore would be able to live with herself if anything happened to her. Plus she'd blame me for it forever.
"Yeah, turn back to the police." I say to myself wondering why I ever thought she was smart "That's very f*cking smart." She's opens her mouth to speak but I cut her off "your friend's fine, she's with Ryan. He'll drop her home."
"Ryan was drinking at the party." She says.
Yes I know Ryan was f*cking drinking at the party and I already told him he better find one of his jersey chasing FWB that live in Lorraine's complex and stay the night there instead of driving back to the frat house. But I'm not telling her that, she's ready to blow my f*cking head off as it is already.
"And so were you, but the adrenaline sobered you up pretty damn fast didn't it." I half expect her to call me up on my bullshit but she doesn't. Instead, her eyes glaze over as she turns back to the window.
"I wasn't drunk. I was tipsy." She corrects.
Yeah right. Tipsy my ass. The game of do or drink can only end up two ways-you either get shit drunk or end up with one night stand and if you play your cards right and end up lucky, you get both. Lorraine was reluctant with the game-she chose drinking over doing anything. When she finally decided to do something, I knew the alcohol was starting to show effect and left there before I did something I couldn't control.
I want the sophomore to be a 100% aware when anything does happen between us.
If anything f*cking happens.
Don't say it Charlie.
Don't say-
"You unzip people when you're tipsy, I wonder what you do when you're actually drunk." I rip open the packet of cotton pads hoping the question sounds nonchalant. I bring out the Elastoplast bottle, my eyes skimming over the ingredients. I should have known she'd get alcohol instead of water based. I press down on the pump but it doesn't work. A few more seconds of trying and failing, Lorraine snatches it out of my hand. She then shows me you have to twist it to unlock it before spraying.
I should have known that.
She removes a ball of cotton pad from the pack and spray on the Elastoplast wound spray on it before reaching for my face. I try to act like I'm not freaking out about the sting that's about to come and focus on her face-which I sense is making her uncomfortable as f*ck because she's resisting eye contact as she eerily replies "Guess you're never going to find out."
"Well then I guess you're never writing my article." I whisper back. Lorraine sprays the wound cleanser right on my cut, which makes me jerk away from her and swear loudly. What the f*ck. "You totally did that on purpose."
And it stings.
She angles her entire body so it's facing me and I realise I've hit a nerve. "Are you for real right now? You want to trade an article for a relationship with me?" The question sounds more confused than angry.
"Yes," I scowl. "Can you not be a bitch about this?" I point to my wound.
"You deserve it."
"Well do you mind?" I snatch the bottle and pad out of her hand in irritation. She rolls her eyes dramatically and tells me to suit myself "I don't want you to be my girlfriend idiot. I just want you to pretend to be my girlfriend so that I can make my ex girlfriend miserable."
She looks at me like she can't quite believe her ears which is absolutely understandable because I can't believe my ears either. Truth is when I asked the sophomore to date me, I was only trying to be annoying. After a conversation with Melissa who told me I had no f*cking choice in the matter to start with, the article was hers already. But I still wanted to pull rank on her since she doesn't know. I know I could have asked for anything else-like babysitting Mila or doing my laundry for a week-or maybe even treat me to pizza for a week because that'd be ironic but I couldn't control what escaped my mouth. And I didn't care that she walked out on me without giving me a reply.
But seeing Alexis and Bradley today at that party really f*cked with my head up. They looked happy. And that made me angry-makes me angry. Nothing could kill Alexis' happiness than her finding out that I'm in a relationship and nothing could kill Bradley than the fact that I got a girl he couldn't.
"You really want me to believe that you had a girlfriend?" She makes a pfft sound "yeah right."
"Why is it so hard to believe?"
"Only the fact that you've slept with almost all of UCLA's female population."
"Don't you think you're exaggerating just a little bit?" There's a moment of silence and I raise my brows at her. "I haven't slept with you-or your friends. And I sure as hell haven't slept with half UCLA chicks."
"Okay, whatever."
I turn back to the small mirror in the sun visor and clench my jaw before wiping around the edge of the wound. "I had a girlfriend two years ago." I say in between pained breaths.
"Wow." She sounds really shocked which is f*cking offensive. "So when did she leave? Before or after you cheated on her."
Are you f*cking kidding me right now? I stop swabbing at the cut and turn to face her. I try not to let the question piss me off as it should. She doesn't know me. It's what everyone else thinks anyways.
"What makes you think that I cheated?"
"Have you seen you? You have the face of a cheat and a liar-and a user. You've got the f-boy look down to a t."
"Sadly you're not the first to say that." I peel open the plaster and stick it on the cut. That's enough pain for the day.
"Which is why my friends will never believe I'm in a relationship with you. They'll know something is up."
"Seems like you're just looking for excuses not to do this." After chucking the things back in the plastic bag, I buckle down my seatbelt and start the ignition. I look at her with a serious expression "Do you really want this article or not?"
"I do."
"Good." I smile-I'm probably going to hell for this. "Seatbelt." She puts her seatbelt on as I pull out of the driveway. "You can come up with a bullshit story about how you changed me or whatever shit you girls see as an epic love story."
"So this whole dating thing isn't real? We don't actually have to," she glances at my face, her eyes moving up and down my face. I give her a prompting look and she clears her throat "so we don't have to do stuff."
Do stuff. What is is she, twelve?
"You mean make out and have sex?"
Her face warms up instantly. "Yes."
"Well I don't see how a relationship would work without that."
"I am not having sex with you."
"And trust me when I say this, it's your loss sophomore." She rolls her eyes "but we both know nobody's going to believe us when we miraculously get in a relationship but don't f*cking touch each other or at least make out sometimes. Think about it."
"So if I do all this, I get to write the article and keep my internship."
"A small price to pay for your in-"
"Shut up please." She cuts me off "We kiss only when it's absolutely necessary, like if you're dying and I need to give you CPR."
"Why do I have to be the one dying?"
"You're older, it makes more sense." She replies "plus you're an ass."
"And you're just a peach aren't you." I say sarcastically which makes her smile.
Throughout the ride, the sophomore looks deep in thought-no doubt about my proposal. Which I still can't believe she has somewhat accepted. I still have the chance to tell her this is a big fat joke but I kind of want to see what it'll be like to be in a relationship with a girl who doesn't like me-even if it's fake. In no time, I pull up in front of her complex. I feel relieved to see Ryan's car parked at one of the spaces and I know Lorraine noticed it too.
"Your friend better not have gotten mine killed." She says flatly "I'll make sure he rots in prison."
"Ryan is the most confident-drunk driver I know. Your friend is safe." I reply and feel bad for lying. She eyes me weirdly before unbuckling her belt and opening the car door. She turns back and shuts the door.
"You never told me about why you got in a fight."
"You never asked."
"I'm asking now."
The anger I kept bottled in starts to bubble as I remember the reason the fight happened. I better not be seeing Marcus for the whole year because I swear to God, I'll f*cking kill that bastard. I'm sure Judge Judy next to me has already made up her mind that I'm the bad guy in the situation. Not that I f*cking care what she thinks.
I glance down at the time on the dashboard It's a few minuets past 12:00 AM, I'm nursing the worst headache and I really want to catch some sleep before I wake up for practice in a couple of hours so I rush through the story.
The fight happened because I found Marcus coming on to an unconscious girl in the bathroom. The girl's drink was spiked by Marcus earlier in the night before he took her up to the bathroom. I hate to think about what would have happened to the poor girl if I hadn't chosen that time to use the bathroom.
Unfortunately, Marcus ended up escaping when everyone heard about the police. Sadly, nothing's going to happen to Marcus as his father's the dean. He gets away with everything-there's at least two sexual assault charges against him. It's f*cked up. The guy is a f*cking predator.
"Wow, that's scary." Lorraine says, her eyes looking fearful and I nod in approval "maybe you should be my fake boyfriend after all. At least I know my friends and I can be protected from preys like that if you're there and you're not entirely useless."
I let out a short laugh "are you saying yes sophomore?"
"I guess I am." She smiles. "I'll probably regret it." I'll most definitely regret it.She proceeds to get out of the car "but at least I'll go to sleep knowing my internship is in the bag."
"That's the spirit." She shuts the door "I'll see you tomorrow." I tell her with a fake wide smile which she returns with a what are you talking about look "we can finally start up on that interview."
"We totally should." Her eyes light up. "Starbucks?"
"I prefer young's." I reply truthfully. "I'll pick you up after your 2 o'clock."
She nods excitedly before walking towards her complex. My eyes linger on her ass before they disappear behind the glass doors. I sit in my car for at least 5 minutes thinking about what the f*ck I've gotten myself into.