Lost Boy

Chapter Four

"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."
― Lewis Carroll.

...

It took about ten minutes before I finally calmed down. The whole time Tyler had remained frozen in place, staring at me with a look of both shock and confusion. But then, all too soon, my anxiety began to kick in again and I started to blush a deep cherry red. Using my bangs as a curtain to hide my face, I looked down as the room became quiet.

"Are you finished?"

I looked up at Tyler, only to see that he was merely inches from my face. Our eyes locked for a few moments, but then I came to my senses and remembered why I had been laughing in the first place.

Without thinking about it I slapped him in the arm, making him flinch and gape at me surprised.

"The fuck was that?"

 "Why the h-hell are you p-p-pretending to be m-m-mute?!" I yelled in his face. He seemed to be thinking about it for a minute and then as if we were talking about the weather, he shrugged. "S-Seriously? That's it?"

"Of course there's a fucking reason." He rubbed his forehead and glared at me. "I'm just not going to tell you. It's none of your business. Piss off."

"Why the h-hell not?" 

"I barely know you." He shrugged.

Ouch. There was no need to be rude.

"Sure you d-do. We're project p-partners. We work together r-remember?" I crossed my arms and smirked at him, smug. The crappy store lights flickered above my head and cast shadows across his face from where his hoodie lay. I could tell that he was becoming frustrated, and yet he remained talking to me in a hushed whisper.

"So? That doesn't mean that I have to like you."

"And when exactly d-did you decide that you d-d-disliked me?" I questioned, annoyed.

"You're not my type."

"Your type!?" I spluttered, throwing my hands up. "And what e-e-e-exactly do you mean b-by that?"

He took a deep breath as if to 'prepare' himself, looking upwards in annoyance. "Sorry love, but you're just not my type. I prefer blondes."

"Well, w-what g-g-gives you the right to judge m-me by my h-hair?" I argued.

"I don't need a right. It's a free country sweetheart." He smirked, proud of himself.

"You're a r-real piece of w-w-work." I glared at him angrily. This guy was such a jerk.

"And you're just a pure ray of fuckin sunshine." He said sarcastically in return, going to pat me on the head and then thinking better of it. The audacity of this man!

"Y-you know what?" I said as I walked straight past him, barely stuttering and all traces of thirst forgotten. "You're n-n-not worth my time. I'll d-do the project m-myself. You'll be f-f-fired soon anyway." And with those words, I left the building in a rush, on my way to go home.

...At least that's what I would have done. Sadly for me, I never even got past the doorway due to the grumpy security guard who was blocking my exit. Turns out someone had noticed the beer bottles Tyler had been hiding in his hoodie.

As I tried to pass him the officer shoved his arm in front of me, creating a barricade in the air.

In the background, one of Justin Bieber's old songs was playing, and the neon sign above the door glitched as I stared back at him in confusion.

"Nice try sweetheart. I can see the beers stuffed in his jacket."

Called it! I knew he'd get caught eventually. Wait- they think I'm involved in this?

"Y-you've g-got it all wrong- I'm not even with h-him!" I protested weakly as he led us outside.

"Nice try honey. This isn't my first rodeo, especially with this guy. I've heard it all before so don't bother lying. Not to mention your friend here vandalized the store just last week. They've been looking for him for weeks." I threw an exasperated look at Tyler who just shrugged innocently at me and waved at the officers stood outside. They must have been waiting for him.

I scoffed at Tyler in reply while I was dragged away. "I need to take you back to the station with me for now and then we can talk about pressing charges later." With those words I was led into the back of a police car with Tyler trailing right behind me; the evident smirk still plastered on his stupid  face.

"Well would you look at that." He said, poking me in the arm as I tried to lean away from him. "It looks like we're going on a little road trip!" He laughed at my expression of pure disgust and just leaned against the car window as if this whole situation was completely normal for him, which it probably was.

"You vandalized the store!?" I whisper yelled at him exasperated. "I c-cant b-b-believe this." I muttered hopelessly, as the car drove off towards the station.

"Don't sweat it okay. It'll be fine. Just let me do all of the talking and I'll get us out of this mess that you created."

Kid you not, he had the audacity to wink at me!

"That I c-created?" I gasped, stuttering from pure rage. "I'm not taking the b-b-blame for this. No. This is a-all on y-you." I pointed harshly at him and poked his surprisingly muscular chest. I tried to glare at him with all of my strength, hoping that he might disappear, but today luck was not on my side and he just kept smiling at me instead. "You're d-definitely g-g-getting fired after this."

"You know you look so darn cute when you do that." He teased me mockingly. I scoffed in reply.

But then his face softened and his tone turned more gentle towards me. "You might as well try to get some rest. It's going to be a long drive to the station."

What the hell?  I thought to myself as the car began to accelerate. Was this dude bipolar?

Before resting against the headrest I turned to glare at Tyler, but when I found him watching my every move I quickly turned away, fast enough to give him whiplash, and closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at him any longer.

This is going to be a long ride. I sighed to myself as I felt sleep take over.