Hickey

Hickey || 05

HICKEY / chapter five

Wanna get some smoothies? 

That text was all it took for me to get up from my bed at eleven at night and get changed into jeans and a green hoodie. I know that I should probably stay home after partying last night, but then if I did that then I wouldn't be the rebellious one between Elliot and I. Besides, I could use a chill night after everything that's happened between last night and now.

I type back to Nikki, Are you picking me up?

Already on my way is her reply a few moments later.

I tiptoe out of my room and knock on Elliot's door softly so our parents wouldn't hear. When my brother opens the door and sees me, his face turns sour.

"Eva," he says slowly, almost desperately. "Can't you skip this one for once?"

I almost laugh. My brother might be a football player and probably got invited to more parties then me, but he'll always be the type who preferred to stay home.

"I'm not going to a party," I whisper at him. "I'm meeting up with Nikki."

He lets out a heavy sigh. "Fine. But you have to be back before one."

I grin at him. "Deal."

I head back to my room, climb out my window and down the tree in our backyard. I take a seat on the sidewalk and wait until headlights almost blind me. I put up my hand to shield my eyes from them. Nikki's black car stopped in front of me and I stand.

Her window rolls down and the blonde shoots me an amused smile. "Did you wait long?"

"Not at all."

She laughs, rolling her eyes. "Hurry up and get in. I'm craving for some smoothies."

Nicole Tyson was probably my only close friend, and she didn't even go to my school. We met at one of the parties a kid from my school threw when I was a freshman and she was a sophomore. Her boyfriend was friends with the guy who threw that party, which explains why she was there even though most of the kids these were from my school. The rest is history—we've been best friends ever since.

We arrive at this diner that's open for twenty-four hours that has our favorite smoothies. Late night food trips aren't new to us. If we aren't out at a party, we're usually at twenty-four-hour diners.

The diner is empty except for a few people who were probably traveling and wanted to rest. Nikki and I head to the empty table at the far end of the diner where there weren't any people; we sit on opposite ends of the booth. A waitress comes to take our order. As usual, we order large fries to share, a strawberry smoothie (for Nikki), and a chocolate smoothie (for me).

"Nik," I say after the waitress walks off. "Where'd you go at the party last night?"

"What do you mean where'd I go?" she says with a laugh. "Where'd you go with that hot guy?"

My eyes widen in recognition. "You mean Ryder?"

"I never got his name. I was dancing so I don't really know much of what happened, but I saw you walk off to somewhere. I looked for you, but you two disappeared. He came looking for me at the end of the night, though. Said he was going to take you home. I wasn't going to let him since I literally spent the night panicking over what could have happened to you, but then he started asking if I had drank any alcohol and—hey, look!"

With wide eyes, she gestures to the front of the diner. I look over my shoulder and see a group of boys entering, talking and laughing loudly. At first, I think that she saw a guy she thought was cute and that was why she reacted. But then I did a double take and saw unmistakable dirty blonde hair and muscled figure.

My breath hitches.

Ryder Finnick.

"If this is a coincidence," I mutter, quickly ducking down in my booth in a futile attempt to hide, "then the universe seriously has a problem with me."

"This is a coincidence," Nikki says, sounding delighted. "A really nice coincidence. Hey, Eva, do you believe in fate?"

I roll my eyes at her, still panicking. "You're ridiculous."

"He's coming this way."

I glance over my shoulder and my eyes meet his blue ones. His friends were already taking their seats near the front of the diner.I plaster a small smile on my face, but his face remains serious as he approaches our booth.

He shoots Nikki a quick smile before taking the seat next to me. Nikki didn't know much about my brother since I didn't even know much about the whole hate thing between Elliot and Ryder, so she probably only knew Ryder as 'the guy I disappeared with at the party'.  I scoot a little so we aren't pressed up together. "What are you doing out this late?" I shoot him a confused look. "It's eleven thirty," he says, like that's the answer. "Does your brother know you're here?"

"Uh, yeah, Eli knows." My eyes narrow at him, still confused. "Why?"

"After last night—" he cuts off and we both glance at Nikki, who was probably listening to us but was pretending to text someone on her phone. "You should be home, in bed," he says softly. "A lot of things happened last night. I'm just saying, you probably shouldn't keep going out—no, sneaking out—especially if you have to sneak in to get home. It's not safe, especially for a girl like you."

What the hell?

"What happened last night was stupid, for both our parts," I say quietly, slowly, trying to contain my annoyance. "But I'm over it."

"We made out last night and you don't even remember it," he says, voice quiet but hard. My cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "Something could have happened to you, Eva. After last night, you should've learned a lesson about going out and getting drunk."

I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Look, Ryder, you aren't my brother, you aren't my dad, so don't tell me what the hell to do."

"What happened last night was a mistake." His voice is quiet, making it so I was the only one who could hear him. "I shouldn't have done anything with you."

His words are like a slap in my face. Ryder just stares at me, a million words in his deep brown eyes, but his lips don't say a single word. Trying to hide my hurt, I shoot him another sarcastic smile. "But you did. Neither of us can do anything to undo it, so the next best thing is to just forget about it, right?"

He opens his mouth to say something, but our food arrives. I turn away from him, biting my lip. I didn't want to fight with him, especially since we've never even exchanged words to each other before this, but I couldn't stand having some guy act like he was the boss of me or something.

Nikki watches the waitress put down our food on the table and gives me an excited look, which means that she didn't hear the last parts of Ryder and I's conversation. All I can do it shoot daggers at Ryder, food being the last thing on my mind right now. Who the hell did he think he was? I mean, sure, he was right about how we shouldn't have done anything in the first place but saying it was a mistake?

We may have hooked up at the party and he may have given me this stupid hickey, but that in no way means that he gets to act like a complete asshole.