Love At First Fight

Chapter Twenty Four

A/N: There's Carlos off to the side----}}

Violet

Deciding to not make a scene in front of everyone, I follow behind Carlos as we exit the building. I look around grimly, not seeing anyone around for miles. Most people are probably already in school or at work by this time of day.

A shiver runs down my spine as the cold wind blows at me. I'm surprised that we haven't seen more rain yet considering the fact that it's almost the end of October. With Halloween coming up in a few weeks all I can do is anticipate the bad weather that comes with it.

As soon as we step out of the school I look at Carlos and something begins to churn deep inside of me. When I look at him all that I'm able to see are the scars. All of the scars that he's created over the years and have yet to cover up. He looks old fr his age, far too worn out and heartless to just be approaching 40.

A part of me remembers having met him the first day that my mother brought him home. I had remembered thinking that he was so nice at the time. He had brought ice cream for Angie and I while my mother received roses. He had looked handsome at the time. Not at all like a man that would prey on a newfound widowed mother.

Perhaps my judgement was clouded that day.

"What're you doing here?" I hiss at Carlos. I stop walking, refusing to go any further until I understand his full intent.

"Come on," he says gruffly. "We're going for a ride."

He doesn't look back to make sure that I'm following as he makes his way toward the parking lot. I contemplate ignoring him and just going back to class, but my curiosity gets the best of me. I take a few steps toward him, watching him from afar as he stops in front of his raggedy car.

"Climb in sweetheart," he says with a sneer on his face. My face twists in disgust at the odd use of the pet name. "No one's going to do anything to you. At least not today."

He gets into the driver's side of the disgustingly raggedy vehicle. I watch warily from the side as he waves at me through the window. He's acting unusually chipper today and it only causes for an ill feeling to begin setting in.

I take a few steps closer and attempt to open the car door, having to jiggle the door handle a few times before successfully opening it. I look around one last time, trying to see if there could possibly be anyone following us before climbing into the ar and shutting the door behind me.

As soon as I get into the car I'm immediately attacked by the smell of cigarette smoke. The interior of his car may very well be even worse than the exterior of the car. The floor is littered with empty bottles of alcohol and old fast food bags. The seats are filed with stains, so much so that I almost second guess whether or not they are stains or just a part of the design. Carlos puts the key in the ignition and a gut wrenching sound emanates from the machine as he attempts to start it. I almost have to cover my ears just to ignore the sound.

"What're we doing?" I ask him as the engine finally starts and he begins to pull out of the parking lot. "What're you doing here?"

"Am I not allowed to just stop by and take you on a ride?" Carlos asks tauntingly. "I wanna talk."

"About what?"

"You," he pulls out into the road and looks over at me. "Let's have a talk about you."

"Cut the bullshit," I say as I grow more and more annoyed by his laid back behavior. "What're you getting at?"

"You should really learn to watch your mouth."