Road To Rhodes

Chapter4

Two hours in, Sasha was still asleep on Maya's shoulder, drooling just a little. Maya didn't have the heart to move her. Also, her arm was completely numb and she wasn't sure she could move it if she tried.

The bus hummed beneath them, steady and hypnotic. Outside, the world had shifted, buildings gone, replaced by trees and more trees and occasionally a cow that looked just as bored as she felt.

Behind her, she could hear Rhodes laughing at something with his crew. His laugh was annoying. Loud and unapologetic, like he didn't care who heard it.

Maya cared. She cared a lot.

"You're thinking about him."

Maya jolted. Sasha hadn't moved, hadn't opened her eyes, but her mouth was curved into a sleepy smirk.

"I'm not."

"You're doing that thing where you go all stiff when his voice gets loud."

"I'm stiff because my arm is dead."

"Sure." Sasha yawned and sat up, stretching. "Sure, sure, sure."

Before Maya could defend herself, the bus made a horrible screeching sound and lurched toward an exit.

Donovan's voice crackled over the speaker. "Rest stop. Twenty minutes. Use the bathroom, buy snacks, don't wander off. If you're late, we leave without you. I'm not kidding."

"Has he ever been kidding about anything?" Sasha muttered.

"Pretty sure he was born without a sense of humor."

The bus rolled into a sad little rest stop with a gas station, a vending machine area, and exactly two picnic tables that looked like they'd seen better decades. Everyone piled out, groggy and stiff, blinking in the sudden sunlight.

Maya made a beeline for the bathroom. It was a single stall and there was already a line. Of course. She stood behind a girl from her history class and tried not to make eye contact.

"Maya, right?"

Too late.

"Yeah."

"You're partnered with Rhodes, aren't you?"

Maya felt her jaw tighten. "Unfortunately."

The girl—Tessa, Maya suddenly remembered, lowered her voice. "Is it true he said he liked you? On the bus?"

WOW.. Word traveled fast. Too fast. Ridiculously fast.

"He said I was spicy. Like a chicken wing."

Tessa looked confused. "Is that... a good thing?"

"It's a nothing thing."

The bathroom door opened. Tessa went in. Maya leaned against the wall and counted the ceiling tiles until it was her turn.

She found Sasha outside by the vending machines, already armed with two bags of chips and a soda.

"I got you the sour ones." Sasha tossed her a bag. "You're welcome."

"My hero."

"I know."

They sat at one of the sad picnic tables, and Maya tore open her chips. The sun was properly up now, warm and golden, and for a second it almost felt like a normal trip. Like a normal life.

Then a shadow fell over the table.

"This seat taken?"

Rhodes didn't wait for an answer. He dropped onto the bench across from Maya, sliding a bottle of water toward her.

"I didn't ask for that."

"You looked dehydrated."

"I looked fine."

"You looked like you were two seconds from passing out on the bus." He cracked open his own water. "Drink it, Martinez. It's not poisoned."

Maya stared at the bottle like it had personally offended her.

Sasha was watching the exchange like a tennis match, chips frozen halfway to her mouth.

"Fine." Maya grabbed the water and took a sip. "Happy?"

"Thrilled." Rhodes leaned back on his elbows, face tilted toward the sun. His sunglasses were pushed up into his hair now, and Maya hated that he looked even more annoying without them. "So what's your deal?"

"My deal?"

"Yeah. Your deal." He turned his head to look at her. "You hate everyone or just me?"

"Just you."

"Lucky me."

Sasha made a small squeaking sound. Maya kicked her under the table.

"I don't hate you," Maya said, which was only half a lie. "I just don't care about you."

Rhodes sat up slowly, something shifting in his expression. "See, that's what I don't get."

"What?"

"Everyone cares about me. My friends. My enemies. Random people I've never talked to." He tilted his head. "But you don't."

"Congratulations. You've met someone who isn't impressed by a leather jacket."

"It's a really nice leather jacket."

"It's a jacket."

Sasha was now openly staring, chips forgotten.

Rhodes was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled, not the smirk, not the lazy grin, but something smaller. Realer.

"You know what, Martinez?"

"What?"

"I think you're lying."

"About what?"

"About not caring."

Maya felt her stomach twist. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you draw bears eating guys in jackets. I know you let your friend sleep on you for two hours without moving. I know you fold notes really small and keep them in your... pocket."

He whispered his last words and Maya's hand flew to her pocket automatically. The note from her mum. How did he—

Did he read it?

"I notice things," he said, standing up. "You can't hide anything from me, Martinez."

He walked away, back toward the bus, leaving the water bottle and a very stunned silence behind him.

Sasha turned to Maya slowly. "Okay. I have questions."

"Don't."

"No, no, no. He noticed the note. He noticed you. He bought you water."

"It's water. It's not a proposal and I hope it's just 'noticed' the note, not read it. "

She gritted. "I think I'm losing my mind already."

"It's not nothing either." Sasha's voice was softer now. "Maya. He's not just messing with you. I don't think so."

Maya didn't answer. She stared at the water bottle, at the condensation dripping down the plastic, and tried to figure out why her heart was beating so fast.

It was probably just the chips.

Donovan blew a whistle that sounded like a dying bird, and everyone shuffled back to the bus. Maya climbed the steps with Sasha right behind her, already planning to sink back into her seat and disappear.

But when she got to her row, there was something on her seat.

A pack of gummy worms. The sour kind.

And a sticky note stuck to them.

"Told you I notice things. —R"

She groaned internally.

Maya stared at the note. Sasha leaned over her shoulder.

"Sour gummy worms. Your favorite."

"How does he know that?"

"I don't know." Sasha's voice was barely a whisper. "But I'm starting to think Rhodes Callahan might actually be scary."

Maya crumpled the note and shoved it into her pocket, next to her mum's. She sat down hard, opened the gummy worms, and ate one without offering Sasha any.

She didn't say thank you.

She didn't turn around.

But she didn't throw them away either.

The bus pulled back onto the highway, and Maya watched the trees blur past and tried very hard not to think about hazel eyes and sticky notes and the way he'd said I notice things like it was the most dangerous confession in the world.

Maybe it was.