Sometimes he loves me

Chapter 6

EMMA

I turn to the familiar voice and face the guy who apparently wants to be of assistance ever since I got on campus. His dark eyes shoot a foreign bolt of lightning through me. He wraps a small towel around his neck as he walks over to me. I look past him to see where he came from and see a building that looks like a boxing school. Who the hell gets up at this hour to work out.

He didn't see my breakdown, did he? I try to keep breathing calmly and hide my embarrassment, if at all possible. I'm sure my face has turned red by now. I grab my necklace to keep my heart rate steady. His eyes follow my movement and I can see the corners of his mouth curl up a bit.

"My fuel tank has a leak." I say.

He stands next to me and looks at the inside of my car and whistles. "That's not the only thing that's wrong with this piece of-"

"Hey! Not one bad word about my car." I interrupt him sternly as I point my finger at him. He looks at my finger and raises his eyebrows, making me realise how stupid it looks.

"My apologies, darling. You have to take your car to a garage." He changes his sentence while he laughs, amused at my fierce response. I normally don't react like that, but I've already heard enough shitty jokes from Vincent about my car.

"It's not safe to drive like this, didn't your boyfriend teach you anything about cars?" He asks.

"I don't need him to teach me." I say. Talking to him feels somewhat easier due to the fact that he is now facing my car and not me. I'm horrible at looking people, mostly men, into their eyes.

He laughs "Independent woman, aren't you?" His gaze suddenly moves from the car to me, causing me to quickly look away. I grab the hatch and close it to avoid answering.

"So who taught you?" He asks. I look at him and raise my eyebrows at his question. "If not your boyfriend, then who?" He adds.

Flashbacks shoot through my head of the times in Finn's garage, where Andras taught us about cars. He mostly taught us the basics, before they vanished. After that I tried to teach myself, which is a lot harder than it seems.

"It doesn't matter." I say.

"If you say so." He leans against my car and grabs the towel around his neck, making my eyes fall on the tattoos on his fingers that make me wonder what else is hiding underneath his black tracksuit. I hadn't had the chance to really look at them at the party.
I ignore him and look up to the sky, sighing while putting my hands on my waist.

"What am I supposed to do now..." I mutter more to myself than to him.

"Do you need a ride?" he asks. He looks serious, yet I find myself searching for something in his expression that tells me he's joking. But he's not...
A ride from him? I could never, Vincent would kill me. He hates it when I even talk to other guys or am alone with them. He says they only want one thing, so I feel uncomfortable with his offer to help me. I would be stupid to refuse it, especially since he may be my only chance to get to school on time. But it still feels wrong.

"You live at the UOL campus, right? So I assume you were on your way to college." He continues when I don't answer.

I feel my neck and cheeks get hot again, wondering if it is the sun or just me. I don't know how to feel about this random guy knowing where I live and go to school. Besides, what will Vincent think when he gives me a ride to school?

"I don't know..."

When he sees my facial expression he raises one eyebrow, making me realise that what he offers me is very normal and polite.

"Look, I'm not asking you to marry me. It's just a ride, darling." He states.

Vincent would disagree on that.

"I'll take the bus." I say as I throw my bag over my shoulder and start to walk away slowly. "I'll call a mechanic while I wait."

"The next bus doesn't leave until half past eight." He says, and I feel him looking at me.

So... calling a mechanic will take too long, taking the bus will get me late, Vincent sure as hell won't come to help me. That leaves me depending on this stranger to get to college in time.

"My brother is a mechanic, I'll call him as soon as I drop you off." The guy offers, breaking my train of thoughts. When he seems to be reading the doubts on my face, he adds "Do you want to be on time or not? I'll make sure your car is ready to drive again before your lunch break starts."

I look at him briefly and then look away again. "Okay." I give in. Fuck, I hate this. I don't want him to give me a ride but I really need to be on time for my first day. Vincent will understand, won't he?

He slowly walks back to the boxing school. "Wait here. I'll be back in three minutes." He says, and disappears into the building before I can say anything.