Miles to Go

Chapter 11: The Other One

“So how bad was it? Tell me honestly,” Charlotte instructed the next school day, falling into step with me as I walked to sixth.

“It wasn’t bad at all, really. You’re just being hard on yourself.”

Her eyes narrowed with exaggerated suspicion. “Are you just saying that?”

“Now why would I do that?”

“To be nice?”

“Do I look nice?” I asked rhetorically, grinning.

“Stop answering my questions with questions!” she exclaimed, pouting in the most dramatic way I'd seen yet. When I laughed, she rolled her eyes and grinned. “Oh, hey, Rylie.”

I followed her gaze until I saw her and smiled. “Hey, Rylie.”

She sent us one of those nods, not bothering to verbally reply. And then she was gone, walking past us to her math class.

“Is she normally so quiet?”

I shrugged. “I guess, yeah.”

“Huh. I wasn’t expecting that from her after the way she took charge Friday night.”

“Yeah, she has her moments.”

“No, I don’t think so. I think it’s there all the time, just in a more passive way.” She shrugged. “I’m probably wrong though. You’d know her better anyway.”

“Yeah,” I agreed distractedly as I wondered what Charlotte saw in her. I knew chances were the only reason I didn’t see it was because I was her brother and I lived with her. Not to mention all the prejudices I’d held against her in the past.

“Uhm, this is my class… so I guess I’ll see you…?”

“Later,” I finished vaguely, giving her a short hug with my mind still racing. “Bye.”

***

“She likes you, you know,” Rylie said suddenly before practice.

“How do you know that?” I asked, glancing at her as we made our way to the field. “And why are you following me around?”

“No one could pick me up.”

“What about mom?”

“She’s got a manicure appointment. And it’s obvious.”

“How so?” I asked, digging around in my gym bag. “I don’t see it.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you’re you.”

“Logical,” I said, holding out my car keys to her. When she reached for them, I pulled them out of her reach. “Be nice to her, please.”

“The car?”

“Yes.”

She rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway.

“Promise?”

“I will take care of your stupid car.”

“Not the best way to go about this, Rylie. I’m trusting you here,” I said, placing the keys in her waiting palm.

She stared at me for a moment, dumbstruck, before looking down at the keys. “I hope you don’t regret it.”

I nodded, watching as she turned away, towards the car. “Me too.”

It was an hour later that I realized what I’d done. Rylie-irresponsible-Miles had my car.

And, with perfect timing, someone took a shot. The ball sailed past me into the net.

“Seth! What are you doing?” Coach asked angrily.

I slowly picked up the ball and muttered, “Hell if I know.”

***

I lucked out. When I got home and went in the garage, I thankfully found my car parked perfectly in place, not a single scratch on her. Running a hand over the hood, I mumbled thanks to myself and went back inside, more relaxed than I had been since the first ball I’d missed and every one after that.

“Rylie?” I called as I stepped inside, softly closing the door behind me.

“Kitchen,” she said, barely audible.

I found her seated on the counter, notebook in hand. “What are you doing?”

She shrugged. “How’s your car?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” I stuttered.

She looked up from whatever she was writing at me through her thick hair, not lifting her face up. “I know you checked.”

“Right. You never answered my question,” I said, not so subtly changing the subject.

“Yeah, for a reason.”

Sighing, I made my way towards her, frowning when she closed the notebook, finally looking up at me.

“Don’t you have homework or something?”

“It can wait. What’s so personal that you have to hide it?”

“It’s not personal.”

“So why can’t I see it?”

“Because it’s none of your business.”

I half smiled. “Touché.”

She nodded once, reaching up and pushing her hair behind her ear as her legs fell over the side of the counter.

“Uhm, do you want to go to the mall or something?” I asked suddenly before I could think twice about it.

She looked at me strangely. “Why?”

“I don’t know. To hang out. Talk. Something.”

“The last time we tried that I ended up having alcohol pried away from me.”

I laughed, unable to help myself. “So you do have a sense of humor.”

“That wasn’t a joke.”

“Wasn’t it?” I shot back. “You’ve got me fooled.”

“And we both know how easy that is to accomplish.”

I scoffed, telling her to shut up when I couldn’t think of anything witty. “So do you want to go, or what?”

“Not really, no.” When I frowned, she, stuttering, quickly changed her response to, “Maybe some other time.”

Before I could respond, the doorbell rang, and Rylie and I stared at each other for a moment before I finally said, “I guess I’ll get it,” while leaving the kitchen.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to find a strawberry blond standing on my doorstep, wearing a black and white top hat for some reason.

“Hi,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the house. “Let’s take a walk.”

“I’ll be back later!” I called, closing the door as she tugged on my hand. “Where are we going?”

She shrugged, towing me behind her. “The beach?”

“Okay. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, can’t I just come to hang out?”

“Sure,” I said laughing. “I don’t mind.”

“I hope not,” she muttered, letting go of my hand.

I glanced at her, hearing something off in her voice. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”

“No, nothing.” She smiled, but I could see something wrong there, too. “Really.”

“Okay,” I said hesitantly, not knowing what else I could say. It wasn’t like we were really close or we’d known each other for a really long time. I couldn’t just go right out and ask her pointblank when she clearly didn’t want to tell me.

We made our way between the houses to the sandy beach in silence, the air around us slightly tense.

“So... how was school?” I asked lamely, sticking my hands in my pockets.

“Okay. It’s school, you know?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Uhm, do you have a lot of homework?”

“I guess not, since I’m here.”

“Ah, right.” After another short break in conversation, I said, “What did you get on that history test?”

“An A,” she answered shortly. “You?”

“Same here. What are you reading in English?”

She shrugged. “The same thing you are.”

“Right.” We continued walking down the shore, right at the edge of the water.

“So…?”

She glanced at me, eyebrow raised. “Yeah?”

My jaw clenched and I stopped, taking her wrist when she continued walking. “What’s going on with you? You were fine earlier and now—”

“Nothing, God!”

“It obviously isn’t nothing.” Annoyed that I couldn’t see her eyes, I tapped the back of her hat, tilting it slightly. “Talk to me, Charlotte.”

“Why should I? One second you’re fine and you act like you’re totally into me, and then the next second you’re blowing me off. Why the hell should I talk to you?”

I felt my anger die down slightly as I resisted the urge to smile. “That’s what this is about? This afternoon?”

“No,” she snapped, jerking her wrist out of my grip. “It’s not.”

“Liar.”

“Just shut the hell up, okay?” she whirled away from me, crossing her arms and storming away.

Grinning now, I jogged behind her, touching her elbow. “Hey.”

“Stop it, Seth. I hate it when guys pull stunts like this, and you’re absolutely no exception—”

“Charlotte, hold on a sec—”

“No, I will not hold on. Do not tell me to—”

“I have no idea how you’re going to react, because your reactions always manage to catch me by surprise, but I really hope this is okay.”

“What the hell are you—”

I wrapped an arm around her waist as my other hand went to the back of her neck and I dipped her just barely. She immediately reached up, one hand going to hold her hat in place and the other lightly touching my cheek.

Her chin lifted and I took the invitation, pressing my lips to hers.

Her body went slack and I half smiled, tightening my grip on her waist.

And when I pulled away a minute later and set her upright again, she only stared at me through heavy lidded eyes, cheeks pink. I wanted to touch her face, see if it was as warm as I suspected, but refrained.

“Was that okay?”

She nodded slowly, clearly disoriented. “Yeah. At the risk of sounding clichéd… can we try that again?”

I grinned, somewhat smug. “Sure.” I let go of her then, everything but her hand and began walking again. “Some other time.”

Her eyes narrowed with confusion as her brow furrowed. “I don’t…”

I looked at her and, smirking, said, “I like you when you’re speechless.”

***

“You seem very concentrated.”

I looked up from my desk at Rylie who stood in the doorway, arms crossed across her chest. “Yeah, I am.”

Her eyebrow rose. “Ah. I didn’t know staring at blank surfaces required so much.”

I ran a hand over my hair, sighing. “Don’t do this right now, Rylie. Please.”

She took a step in the room before catching herself and freezing. “Are—are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” On second thought, mostly because I knew that Rylie had a talent for telling when people were lying, I added, “I guess.”

“Believable. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay.” She shrugged, turning towards the door.

“At least pretend you care.”

“I did.”

“I know you can do better than that.”

She sighed, turning to me again. “What’s wrong, Seth?”

“It’s stupid.”

“It usually is.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Is that supposed to help me?”

“I guess. You gonna continue stalling or you plan on telling me what’s wrong?”

“I kissed Charlotte.”

“Did you get slapped?”

“What? Did I—no, no I didn’t.”

Her head cocked to the side. “So what’s the problem?”

“I kissed her, and we walked around. I held her hand. We didn’t talk. I don’t… I don’t really know what’s going on.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”

“Thanks, Rylie.”

“No problem. Go to school tomorrow, see how she reacts. Talk to her when you’re alone. You’ll probably luck out though. She’ll take the occupation of the girl and ask to talk to you first.”

“You think?”

“Yeah,” she answered shortly but confidently.

“Okay… thank you, Rylie, honestly.”

“Mhm.” She turned to the door again, and this time I let her go.

I smiled, getting up and hitting the lights as I closed the door. A year ago, I couldn’t have even imagined going to Rylie for advice, and now…

I thought of what I’d told her that day, what seemed like years ago but was only a week. Things change.

It seemed to prove to be more and more honest each day.

***

She was right. That surprised me more than it should have, her being right, but I couldn’t really get myself to think of that as much I should have right then, standing in front of Charlotte.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked, trying to hide my anxiety as much as I could.

“Yeah… look, about yesterday. Uhm.” She bit her lip, looking away and forcing a smile as she waved at some brunette. “Uh, w-we kissed.”

My lips twitched of their own accord even as I told my body to remain still. “Yeah, we did.”

“And, uhm… well, you know, I was just wondering what was going on. Like, if it was just a one-time thing, or if it’s a not serious thing, or if you have a girlfriend you forgot to mention, or if you have a girlfriend you’re taking a break from, or—”

“That’s a lot of if’s and or’s, especially in one sentence.”

“Yeah,” she breathed, “I know. Is… is it—are one of those…?”

“I don’t know. Do you have a boyfriend you forgot to mention, or a boyfriend you’re taking a break from?”

She half smiled. “No, I don’t.”

“Okay.” I reached up, twirling a strand of her hair around my finger before leaning down and pressing our lips together.

When I pulled away, she grabbed onto the neck of my tee-shirt, holding me there. “That doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Make of it what you want.”

“No,” she said stubbornly, “you aren’t allowed to do that.”

“It wasn’t a one-time thing,” I whispered. “It isn’t a one-time thing.”

She smiled, nodding slowly. “Okay.” Her fist loosened, flattened, and slid around my neck. “So, when are you taking me out?”

I laughed, not even surprised as my arms went around her waist. “I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”

Smirking, she clicked her tongue. “Nu-uh. It’s a school night.”

“Oh well. I can’t wait for the weekend.” I grinned. “Don’t worry; I’ll get you home early.”

And then, before she could respond, I kissed her again. Right there, in front of everyone walking by.
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So I realized as I was doing last minute edits that I didn't mention what kind of car Seth drives. But it's 11 where I am and I just got home so... maybe I'll edit that in later. Let me know what kind of car you think would suit Seth!