"It's a ‘yes’ or’ no’ question."
“What if I don’t have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer?”
“Then I’d say you're fucking with me,” I said with huff.
I could see a smirk forming on his face. “So you think that I would convince my parents to pay for you—the one person in our school that hates my guts—to go on the club trip?”
I blinked. “That was what Mr. Rowe said.”
Javier exhaled. “Yes.”
Holy shit. The Cortez’s spent their money on me and I didn’t even ask.
"But why?"
The car slowed down as we approached a red light. Once the car was fully stopped, he turned toward me. "My mom really likes you for some reason."
There was a light, tingly sensation in my chest and I was unsure of what it was, but I knew it wasn’t a bad feeling. “But your mom and dad wouldn’t have known I hadn't paid it off if someone didn’t tell them. That someone being you, Javi."
"Okay, I asked them to do it, sue me," he said with a casual shrug. "Also, stepdad."
“Huh?”
The light turned green and the car began moving again. "He’s my stepdad."
Javier continued to drive, his mood unchanged. Neutral. I paused, finding his clarification a little random.
"Okay, stepdad," I slowly repeated. "Anyway, why did you tell them? I mean, I'm thankful. Thank you. I just don't get why."
My rival sighed at my continuous questioning. "It was a good deed, okay? Can you just accept and enjoy it?"
"You made it clear to me a few days ago that we are not friends." I said, my tone firm. "Why do you keep doing nice things for someone that you hate?"
"You throw around the word ‘hate’ a lot. I don't hate you, Eli." His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I just think that you have a shitty attitude the majority of the time and I am shocked that you have managed to make real friends."
His words stung far more than they should have. I didn’t disagree with what Javier said, but it hurt hearing it from him felt like a knife to the gut. In order to not let him see that I was offended, I clenched my jaw and glared.
"Well if I am such a bad person then why aren't you making me walk to the convention center instead of letting me ride in your car?"
Javier’s eyes softened and his grip on the wheel loosened, but he didn’t spare a glance my way. “I never said you were a bad person.”
Finally, his eyes met mine with a lopsided smile as he reached his arm out and gripped my shoulder. He squeezed it a few times, meanwhile my stomach was doing somersaults at his touch. What was wrong with me?
When his hand returned to the steering wheel, I noticed how much colder my shoulder suddenly felt. Trying to mask the odd sense of disappointment that rushed over me, I laid my head on the headrest and shut my eyes. I intended to spend the rest of the car ride in silence.
“Do you really think that I would make you walk?” Javier blurted before we had even made it to ten seconds of silence. I responded with an uncaring shrug. He wasn’t pleased by my nonverbal response. “It’s too far to walk, but even if it wasn’t I would give you a ride.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Javier wasn’t finished talking, though. “Do you walk a lot?”
Another shrug.
“If you ever need a ride, I’ll come get you.”
I opened one eye to get a view of his expressions. “As if.”
“I’m serious. It’s not safe to walk alone everywhere you go, not where we live. And you seem to walk a lot, so I'm sure you could use the free lift. Whenever you need a ride somewhere, you let me know.”
