The Bad Boy's Attraction

Need A Ride?

"That's odd." Natalie frowns when she finds Ava's usual parking spot empty. She could have sworn this is where they parked this morning. And it's rare for her to change slots. She looks at her watch and she notes that she's right on time. She tries to look around but it's almost impossible to spot Ava.

The place is filled with students everywhere. It's a typical first day so everyone is still trying to catch up with friends they haven't seen for a while. She feels herself getting a little frustrated already. Today has been a long day and she was looking forward to getting home and relaxing. And think on how the dramatic turn of her future affects her life.

"Ava, where are you?" She decides to text her while she tries to scan the rest of the slots just in case she changed today. When she doesn't get a reply, she decides to call but it goes straight to her voicemail.

"Since when do I get your voicemail?" She says before cutting the line. Something feels off. Ava wouldn't leave without her. And even if she was rushing somewhere, she would have called or dropped her a text. She gives the car park one last look before getting her backpack.

She sighs loudly when she thinks of the new route she will have to take to get home. It will definitely take her longer than she would like but at least it will get her home safely. She reaches deep inside her backpack and hopes what she is looking for is there.

This day just keeps on getting worse and she hopes it doesn't spill to her entire year. She is not superstitious or anything, but she thinks having her first day turn out this way might just say something about the rest of the year.

Someone bumps into her as she searches her bag and she can tell it was definitely intentional. She feels her frustration being replaced by rage and she is about to give whoever it was a piece of her mind but just then a sleek black sports car turns sharply into Ava's slot before coming to a stop. For a moment Natalie was sure it wouldn't stop and was ready to fly out of its way. She can feel her heart racing after the ordeal and she gets ready to tell off the driver for being so careless.

"Need a ride?"

A familiar but not welcome voice sounds from the sports car's window and she freezes.

"She didn't. I swear I will unfriend you Ava." She says with gritted teeth and instead of answering she resumes her search for her purse.

"You better have nothing to do with this." She mumbles as she searches the backpack a bit too roughly.

"It better be there." She thinks to herself when a couple of pats in her bag comes up with nothing. With her tormentor here, it has become something of an emergency. There is no way she'll shake him off if she has to walk home.

"Please...Yes!" She almost jumps when she finally finds her purse and begins walking without sparing the driver a glance. She has had enough drama for the day and she is not about to indulge him in any way.

"Hey!"

A car door opening and closing has her walking faster to her destination. The place is still crawling with students going in all directions and she tries to blend in with the crowd hoping she will lose the person if they did decide to follow her. She opens her purse and retrieves her bus pass. It never crossed her mind that it would be her saving grace one day.

She is practically running to the bus stop and prays the bus hasn't left already.

"Hey!" Brendan calls after her again and she pretends not to have heard and keeps going. After all 'hey' could mean any one and she didn't ask to be followed.

"I know you can hear me Natalie." This time he makes sure to call her by her name.

"How does he know my name?"

"Duh, that's not so hard to figure out dummy." Her mind retorts.

"Yeah right." She finds herself agreeing to the obvious truth. Her lungs are beginning to burn a bit with all this running too.

"Just a little while longer." She says to herself, encouraging her legs to keep going. She is almost there and she is glad Brendan hasn't caught up yet. Which is weird, she would think the self proclaimed god would be fit enough to easily catch up to her.

"Wait!" She calls out when she notices the bus leaving.

"Please wait!" She is practically flying as she gets her legs pumping. She can't afford to miss this ride and walking home is not an option. Neither is having Brendan catching up to her. Knowing that beginning tomorrow he will stick around to annoy her, she is determined to enjoy what remains of her freedom today.

"Damn you Ava." She curses as she feels herself running out of breath with all this running.

"Natalie!"

She hears him dangerously close but she doesn't even dare look back. She instead presents her pass the moment she reaches the bus and jumps on quickly.

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't get on without a pass."

A sigh of relief escapes her at those words and she proceeds to look for a seat right at the back. Somewhere where she won't be disturbed. Now that she knows he is definitely not going to be on the bus.

She finds an empty seat right by the window and when she's comfortably seated she takes a moment to catch her breath. She hasn't done this much running in a while and her lungs are not happy either. This reminds her to restart her exercise routine that she abandoned ages ago. At this rate she feels like she'll age a few years in just a couple of months.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Natalie's jaw drops. She seems to be doing that a lot lately. She looks up and finds Brendan smiling sweetly to the girl seated next to her.

"O.M.G." The girl squeals and Natalie just rolls her eyes.

"Yes, I mean no. It's totally not taken Brendan." The girl answers sweetly as she collects her things ready to move away.

"Oh you are such a sweetheart Jane." He says after having a look at the girl's I.D.

"Why thank you Brendan." The girl blushes profusely and Natalie gags at the sight.

"Do they really make them this stupid?" She wonders as she watches the girl scoot away in excitement. She just can't get why they do that to themselves.

"You didn't think I would give up that easily now did you?" Brendan says with a smirk on as he slumps down on the seat next to her.

"I don't have time to waste on nonsensical things." She retorts, and looks out of the window, determined to show him that nothing about his life is even remotely interesting to her. She belongs no where near the clueless bunch who think merely breathing in the same air he does is something to be happy about.

She's got to hand it to him though for still getting on the bus. The mean guy at the door sticks to the rules like gum does to a shoe on an extremely hot day. Or maybe he had a pass after all. Curiosity is getting the better of her but she is not going to waste her time asking how he got in. Like she said, she has no time to waste on nonsensical things.

And talk about breathing. "How is he not out of breath?" She thinks to herself.

While she literally had to gulp huge amounts of air when she got to her seat, he seems perfectly fine. Not even a single hair is out of place, making her wonder if he is the person that was chasing her or there was another.

"I don't know why you would choose this uncomfortable ride over what I was offering." He says looking amused.

"No one is forcing you to be here and besides this uncomfortable ride does not have an insufferable jerk for a driver."

"So if it is not to your preferred taste, you can simply get off." She says bitingly.

She is getting a little worked up by him just being here, which is surprising considering she decided not to let him affect her in any way.

"Uh huh."

She turns to him when that is his only reaction to her mini rant. She is met with his strikingly beautiful hazel eyes that are looking at her thoughtfully. She quickly looks away afraid of being sucked in.

"Why am I even thinking his eyes are beautiful?" She mentally slaps herself before deciding to not look his way for the rest of the trip.

"So where are we headed?" He asks after some time. She is surprised that he actually kept this quiet for that long.

"We are not headed anywhere." She replies still looking away from him. Why he even considers them as travelling together doesn't even make sense to her. It's not like she invited him.

"I guess that means home then." He replies before resting his head on the seat casually. His words make her realise a minor detail a little too late. He will now know where her home is exactly and she has a feeling this won't be the last time she will be seeing him there.