(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

Chapter Twenty-Three - To The Barn

RILEY

I TURNED THE HEAT on full blast and wound down.

"Why did you go outside in a shirt?" Luc eyed me up and down.

"I didn't have time if I wanted to catch you. If I had been a second late, you would have wheeled over me without remorse."

He kicked his head back. "You know me so well."

Did I? I felt like I hardly knew him. He kept many things to himself. Some of them were understandable like the situation with his sister, but he never told me about his suspicions when it came to my nature. He observed until he was sure.

"I mean, I know you hate me," I said. "And it's totally mutual."

The sign Welcome to Oakwood grew out of sight in the rear-view mirror.

"I don't hate you that much, Sunshine."

"Do I need to remind you all the crappy things you did and said?" At first, it was hurtful and I still remember it like a slap in the face. 

"I may be quick on the trigger." He stopped at a red light and noticed my unblinking, no-shit stare radiating across the whole car. "I just figured the further you stayed from me and my family, the better." 

Yeah, whatever. I get the deal now. 

"Great way to handle that, Luc." I couldn't help but sound snide. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

Okay, that was kind of dumb. Things have changed since then. Luc apparently thought that, too. Instead of answering, he made a face. I propped an elbow against the window and supported my head.

"Then how much exactly do you hate me?" I asked. "Like stubbing your toe against a furniture, laptop freeze, screaming kids or..."

"Honestly, I don't remember the last time I stubbed a toe on anything," he replied.

"... or being stuck in traffic." I smiled big. 

The amount of time it took him to decide was curiously short. "Like being stuck in traffic with screaming kids."

"Mean."

Against all odds, he smiled broadly and reached for the radio button, cranking up the volume. "Can't hear you."

They were playing some Throwback Thursday songs, and it happened to be Hey Jude, Dad's favorite. I thought of all the things I was doing behind his back and the cold between us. The knot in my throat caused me to lose interest in whatever Luc was hiding. 

I looked out the window, at the fields and tiny buildings elapsing.

We didn't talk until Luc parked behind a country bar one mile out. He unbuckled his seatbelt and reminded me to stay. 

"Woof," I said, flipping a middle finger. 

I received the lovely bird as well. He got out and disappeared behind tall stalks and grass, head perched to listen. A tightness bloomed in my chest. I sat with the keys in my lap, wondering if maybe this was indeed a mistake and he wouldn't come back, how easily I let him go.

How fast can a mutant cover the terrain before his absence was suspicious? Five minutes later, I was calmly toying with the keys and glancing around the parking lot. A large, expensive-looking Buick smoothed at my right and stopped. 

Nails tapping the screen of my phone, I tracked the young man in a West Virginia Mountaineers ballcap, breathing out when he showed his face and it wasn't Finn. He loitered, then entered the bar at eight minutes.