Washed out Rock Song

I took a hit of my cigarette and instantly felt relaxed as it made it's way into my lungs. Just the idea of hanging out with John was stressing me out. Most of me wanted to call it all off. I had decided to do this so spontaneously, while my head was full of anger. But I couldn't back out now. Kira was excited to see everything get blown up in his face, and when I thought about the end result, I was too.

"Hey," I heard from my right.

Are you kidding me? John was walking towards me. Of course. Why was I wondering when he would talk to me? No doubt he would try to right away. Why did I have to tell him where I would be in the morning?

"I hope this doesn't turn into a habit," I said, smirking, "I like to smoke alone."

"Nobody likes to be alone," John said.

"I do."

"I don't believe that," he smiled. "Ditch first period and hang out with me."

I laughed. "I don't think so."

"Come on," he said. "We can do whatever you want."

"What if I want to go to class?" I asked. I already knew I was going to go with him. I had to, but it didn't mean I wasn't going to make him work for it.

"I know that you don't want to go to class," he said, "I see you sometimes."

I gave him a weird look. "What do you mean, you see me?" As if that wasn't creepy.

"You come to school, but once the final bell for first period rings you jump back in your car and take off. It happens a few times a week."

"What?" I asked. "How do you know that?"

He smiled. "I see you," he laughed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a creep. My first class has a good view of the parking lot, and it's hard to look away from a pretty girl driving off."

There it was, the first one liner. I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything.

"So what do you say?" He asked. "Are you going to come with me?"

I sighed. "Fine. Where are we going?"

"Let's just drive and see," he said. He pulled the cigarette out of my mouth and threw it on ground. "Come on."

I followed him to the school parking lot as the first bell rang. There were still cars just getting here as everyone else was rushing inside. John led me to his Ford pickup and opened the passenger side door, inviting me to take seat. I wasn't surprised by his chivalry as Kira had told me to expect all of it.

He started his truck up and backed out of the parking spot. He made his way out of the lot and onto the main road before turning the music up a little bit. A familiar song was playing and it took me a minute to realize that it was a Death Cab for Cutie song.

I looked at him and he looked at me for a second before returning his eyes to the road. "What?" He asked.

"You like Death Cab?"

He laughed, "I love them," He said, "You?"

"Um, yeah, me too." I was surprised to say the least, I never would have expected him to actually have good taste in music. I guess I always pinned him as the bad rap kind of guy.

"Do you want coffee?" He asked. "I want coffee."

Before I had the chance to answer he pulled into a Starbucks parking lot. He parked the car and shut it off. It immediately dawned on me how absolutely ridiculous this was. I was ditching first period to get coffee with someone I hated.

I threw off the seatbelt and opened the door, stepping down from the truck to the black concrete. I followed John into the small Starbucks and to the barista waiting at the counter.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Oh, no," I said. "I can pay myself." It was just coffee and I wasn't going to throw my independence away on this. I didn't need a guy, especially not this guy, to buy me anything.

"Leah," he said, "Just tell me what you want."

What I wanted was to go back to telling him to leave me alone. I didn't want what was happening right now. But I knew neither was an option. I sighed, "White Chocolate Mocha."

John gave the barista our orders and paid. We waited at the end of the counter in silence. It was more than weird, I knew I didn't belong here. This wasn't me. This is what worked with all of those other girls, the ones like my sister. How was I supposed to act like this is what I liked?

John took our drinks from the counter once they were ready and led me to a small table before handing me mine. "So," he started, "Why do you skip out on first period so often?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

John shrugged. "I'm just curious. There's obviously something you're trying to get away from."

"I just hate school," I said. "Don't most people?"

John nodded, "Yeah, but most people still go."

"Fine," I said, "So I'm not most people."

"Well neither am I," he said.

"And why's that?" I was beyond annoyed at this point. I wanted nothing to do with John.

"I grew up different than most people did. My parents died when I was really young," he started. This was it. Time for his sob story. "I had to live with my aunt and uncle, They were beyond awful to me. My cousin was their pride and joy and I was just this nuisance."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I couldn't believe he actually did this shit for real.

"When I was younger, they said that I wasn't good enough for a bedroom. So they made me sleep in the crawl space under the stairs."

I couldn't take it any longer. I started laughing. Just a little at first, but then a lot. It was uncontrollable, I couldn't stop. The fact that he actually told girls this to get them into bed was hilarious. He was so serious when he was saying it, so sure it would work.

"What?" He asked, confused. "How is that funny?"

I tried to slow my laughing down and eventually managed to ask, "Does that actually work?"

"What?" He asked again.

My laughing had finally come to a halt but the smile from it was plastered to my face and my abs were in pain. "That story. Girls actually believe it?"

He smiled, "Most of the time, yes." At least he was willing to come clean about it. "So you like Harry Potter?"

I nodded, "A lot of people do. I'm actually shocked that more girls don't find your story familiar."

He shrugged. "Not all girls are as smart as you." He let out a small laugh. "And most of the time they don't care about my personal life. They care about going to school the next day and gossiping about who they slept with."

John was being serious and the tone in his voice made me realize that this wasn't the normal conversation he had with all the other girls. Or maybe I was being naive. Kira said the same thing I was thinking. That he told her things he wouldn't tell anyone else.

"What about you?" He asked. "Tell me something about you. We've known each other for years but I don't really know you at all."

"My favorite color is purple."

He laughed. "Noted, but that's not what I mean. Tell me something real."

I took a sip of my coffee. There was no way I was letting him dig into my personal life. "I'll tell you something about me if you tell me something about you. But it has to be the truth."

John sat back against the chair and smiled. I was getting really sick of that smile. "What do you want to know?" He asked.

"How about the truth behind all of the rumors about you? Like where were you when you skipped out on school for two months last year?"

He smirked, "Where do you think I was?"

I shrugged. "Some people say you were in Hollywood shooting a pilot for a show that ended up not making it on the air. Some people say you were on a long cruise with a Victoria's Secret model."

He laughed. "Actually, it was both."

I rolled my eyes. I knew these were just beyond absurd rumors that had no truth once so ever. He's probably the one that made them up, another gimmick to get girls in bed. "You're ridiculous."

"I'll tell you the truth if you have dinner with me tomorrow night."

"Ha," I laughed. "Not happening. I have to go on a date with you and all I get in return is information that I could care less about? No deal."

"It doesn't have to be a date, just two friends having dinner."

I shook my head. "We're not friends." And we never would be. John and I were complete opposites. The fact that he was actually trying to get me in bed kind of amazed me. He was a lot dumber than I though he was if he actually thinks I would jump at the thought of sleeping with him.

"Leah, do you even have any friends?" he asked.

I shook my head, "I don't need any friends. I don't want any friends."

"Everybody wants friends." John felt sorry for me, I could hear it in his voice. This just made me more mad. He didn't know me at all. I didn't need any friends, I was fine on my own.

The hate that I felt for him at this moment outweighed any terrible feeling I had about dinner with him. The faster this went, the faster I would break him. "Fine. Dinner. Not a date."