A Heart Still

8 Hell machine

“When you said I’ll give you a ride, I thought you had a f*****g car!” I said, irritated. I was looking down at a motorcycle parked right behind the open gate of the lake grounds.

Remember how I crawled through the hole in the fence. There was an open gate the whole time. Great, right?

“I didn’t say I had a car,” Ethan stated and sat on the bike.

“Well, I know you didn’t say you had a car, but I didn’t think you would want me to ride that," I said, looking down at the fabulous black motorbike.

I had to admit, it looked so cool and I had a thing for bikes, but I just liked looking at them. I had never ridden a bike before.

“How have I never seen it before?” I asked. He lived just down the street after all, even if only for a few days.

“I keep it in the garage and I guess you’ve never seen me go to school, neither drive home.”

I stared down at the bike. It was really shiny and the black colour suited him. “Are you really afraid to ride a bike?” he asked and I narrowed my eyes at him.

He sighed and handed me his helmet. “Why do you have a bike anyway? It’s quite impractical here. It would be too cold to ride a bike most of the year.” I asked. It was true, he would be able to ride it just in the summer. Now it was starting to get warmer, but then...

“There was a lot warmer from where we moved and I don’t have enough money to buy a car. Besides, I don’t mind the cold and I doubt I’ll even be here when the weather starts to get cold again.”

I stared at him for a good minute, comprehending what he said. Originally, I thought he didn’t talk much, but he did, sometimes.

“Are you going or not, you are welcomed to walk by yourself.” He said and started the bike.

I looked at how dark it was and it was really cold. I didn’t want to walk back the same way, so I put his helmet on my head and he gestured for me to sit behind him.

“So, what do I do?” I asked, unsure. As I said, I’d never ridden a bike before.

“Just hold onto me and don’t let go.” He said and I thought about this whole ordeal again. After a while, I circled my arms around his torso, not really holding him, which was a mistake.

Right after I circled my arms around him, he hit the gas and I almost fell off as the bike roared and quickly moved forward.

I yelped and quickly squeezed him with my arms, not ready to fall off the bike, and I could feel his chest vibrate with a low chuckle.

I would hit him if I didn’t need my both hands to hold him tightly. He wasn’t going slow at all. We drove on the dirt road at a speed I didn’t like. The trees were passing us in a blur and my hands were freezing from the cold air hitting them.

I really regretted not taking gloves. Ethan had his leather gloves, for the bike, but my hands were bare.

Despite my discomfort, I couldn’t deny the feeling when I finally lifted my head from Ethan’s back.

The little light from the bike helped us see the road in front of us, but not much. There was a thrill in going this fast when I didn’t even know what was in the dark in front of us.

When I got a little more comfortable with our pace, I eased my grip on Ethan a bit so I wouldn’t be glued to his back anymore. It was warmer when I was plastered on his back but I wanted to look around and enjoy the ride.

We drove out of the forest and were now passing the edge of the town. I felt better on the tarmac road and Ethan sped up even more. It was really beautiful, how the street lamps lit the road for us and we drove along the empty street.

Unconsciously, I hugged him a little tighter and just enjoyed the feeling. It all ended all too quickly when he drove to our street and stopped in front of his house.

I didn’t let go for a good while even after we stopped by the curb and he secured the bike with his leg.

“You can let go.” He chuckled and I quickly pried my hands off of his body.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, getting off the bike.

He stood up as well and just leaned against it, looking at me. “You can walk from here right?” He said and I threw him a glare. Did he think I was this incapable?

I handed him back the helmet and ran my fingers through my hair. I must have looked awful with my hair messed up from the helmet.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said and was ready to leave, but he asked. “What do you think about your first ride on a motorbike?”

I stared at him, how did he know? “What?” was all that came out.

“I could tell.” That was all he said and just kept looking at me. I should probably say something. “I might get a bike of my own one day.” He smirked at me and nodded.

I looked at my phone and it was half-past one in the morning. I groaned out loud. I wanted my beauty sleep and now I wouldn’t get it.

“What?” he asked, scanning my face. I showed him what the time was and he just shook his head. “It’s not that late.”

“It is!” I argued. “I’ll be a walking corpse tomorrow.” He chuckled at that.

“So just sleep in tomorrow. I’m sure you have perfect attendance at school.”

I scratched the back of my head nervously. I had a bad habit of sleeping through my alarm.  ”Not exactly.”

He chuckled and pushed himself off of the bike and grabbed it to push it to the garage.

“In that case, better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow Grayson.”

“Wait, we said we would tell each other what we know. I want my info.” I stopped him.

“Aren’t you a little too eager to know?” He smirked and stopped in the middle of the driveway.

“I don’t know much, most of it is from the diary, so…read the diary. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

He started walking again and I stood there. I was really desperate to know.

“Go home Grayson!” he shouted before he closed the door to the garage, leaving me standing there, again.