ɢᴏᴏᴅ ɢɪʀʟ, ʙᴀᴅ ʜᴀʙɪᴛꜱ (author's version)

nine

The familiar smell of rain filled Liv's nose as she stepped outside, pulling the black hood over her head. She smelled the inside of it, the hoodie being Fezco's and smelling like him.

She looked into one of the windows of the house behind her, seeing a light turn off, signalizing Fez had just left the room. She let out a sigh as she turned from the house to the white truck she was walking to, seeing Nate staring at her through the  windshield and the pouring rain.

She didn't want to get in the truck, but at this point, she knew she didn't have a choice.

Nate didn't say anything as she climbed in. She shut the door, and was happy to find her hair was dry when she pulled down her hood. He looked over at her, and Liv looked at him back, nervous.

"You alright?" He asked eventually. Olivia shrugged.

"Yeah. We're just going to hunt down a couple of drug dealers, threaten to put them in jail. I'm great. Why wouldn't I be?" She said sarcastically.

Nate sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He did feel bad about putting Olivia in this position, but he knew she was the only one who had as much money as she did to bribe the guys they were about to follow.

"Look, we're gonna be fine. Alright?  Nothings gonna happen." He tried to assure. Liv gave him a look, showing she didn't believe a thing he said.

"I brought pepper spray. Just in case." She said, gripping onto it in her pocket. Her knuckle pressed against the wad of cash that was also in her pocket, not wanting to bring it up to Nate yet.

"Like that's gonna do anything." He said, starting to pull out of the driveway. Liv rolled her eyes at the comment.

"I don't see you with anything to protect yourself." She said.

Nate looked at the rear view mirror, not looking at Olivia. She thought it was weird he didn't say anything back, but let it go.

They got onto a main road, the windshield wipers barely helping them see. There was silence and rain, which made Liv anxious.

"I'm putting music on." She said. She didn't care if he protested or not. If he was going to make her come with him, she was going to at least listen to the music she wanted to.

She went onto her phone, pulled up her music and connected it to the radio. Nate cringed.

"The fuck is this?" He asked. Liv turned to face him slightly.

"Taylor Swift." She said in a duh-tone. Nate gave her a confused look.

"It's trash." He said.

He went to turn the radio off, but Olivia put her hand out to stop him, grabbing his as a reflex. Both of their hands touched, and they both looked down at them before Liv pulled away.

She turned her body so she was facing the window.

"Just leave it on." She mumbled.

Liv zoned out to the music, and Nate continued to drive, secretly liking it. A few more minutes went by until they finally pulled up to Rue's house, parking a little bit away.

"What do we do now? Just wait and hope they show up?" Liv wondered. Nate looked over at her, turning the radio down.

"What? You have a better plan?" He asked.

Olivia frowned and looked out into the distance like Nate was.

"I can't even see anything." She said, trying to look through the rain. Nate put his hand out.

When he did, Olivia looked at it. She saw how he had a single ring on his thumb, and how his veins looked like he was just working out.

"Wait. There's that car." He said, sitting up.

Liv diverted her eyes from Nate's hand to where he was pointing. There, she could barely see a car's headlights going off and dimming a few feet in front of them.

"I can't see who's in the car, though." She said, frustrated and trying to sit up. Nate lightly got ahold of her arm to try and help her.

"Look where I'm looking. They've got a chick with them this time." He said.

Olivia had to lean onto Nate to see outside. He could smell her shampoo, but pushed that to the back of his mind and focused on helping hold her up.

"Can you make these go faster?" She said, motioning toward the wipers. Nate reached his arm out to turn them up, and it pressed against Liv's side. She looked at him, but he kept staring straight ahead.

Once the windshield wipers were going faster, Olivia could see a bit better.

And she could see the girl that was sitting in the back behind the passengers seat.

"Oh, shit." She said, fully sitting back down in her seat and her heart dropping to her stomach. She looked at Nate, worried. He could see the nervous look on her face, and wanted to reach out to comfort her. But, he didn't.

"What? You know her?" He asked. Liv nodded.

"That's Faye."