Chosen

Chapter III

~ Rain

I got into the car and he shut the door after me. However, just as I got in I could smell the strong odor of cigarettes and m*******a. The air was suffocating, but I pretended that everything was fine, especially that he just saved my ass from that creeper and for his kind gesture. I didn't want to come off as rude or spoiled. He opened the driver's seat and got in as well, closing it after him.

"I hope the smell is bothering you!" He said.

"No, it's okay. I can put up with it." I replied, not sure if it was the actual truth or not. He nodded, starting the car then taking off.

"You never told me what your name is!" He started, "I'm Lucas by the way." He tried to engage me in a conversation in an attempt to take my mind off the things that just happened.

"Rain." I said, trying to keep my answer as short and straight to the point as possible. I wasn't in the mood to 'talk' at the moment.

"You have such a nice name." He paused for a second. "Unique too." He continued.

"Thanks," I muttered, turning my head the other way and staring out of the window. I hoped that he would give trying to initiate a conversation with me up. I wanted silence. He stayed quiet for no longer than three minutes before he spoke again.

"So where is your boyfriend?" He asked and my heart skipped a beat at his question. "Wasn't he supposed to pick you up?" I totally forgot that I told him that. I internally face palmed myself for how dumb I was. I still had a few seconds to come up with an excuse, but my head was blank. My brain was too overwhelmed by what happened to actually think of an excuse. It felt almost numb. My time was up, so even if I said anything now, it would instantly be recognized as a lie.

"He wasn't supposed to come in the first place," I mindlessly admitted.

"What do you mean?" He was prying and the state of mind I was in wasn't helping. "Did something bad happen to him?" He carried on.

"No." I replied.

"Oh, I get it now. He must have cheated on you." He blurted. I bit my lower lip hard enough to swallow the tears the were on the verge of exploding. "I'm sorry. I was being too blunt." He apologized. I kept looking outside the window, not wanting him to notice my teary eyes. "He must have been an i***t to waste such a gem like you." He complimented me as to try and make me feel better, however, it wasn't really doing much of an effect on me. "He will realize what he lost very soon." he looked straight in front of him for a while concentrating on the road. We reached an intersection before he said,

"So do you know the direction to your house, or do we have to use the GPS?" He asked.

"I know."

"What's your address?" I was skeptical at first, but told him my address eventually, realizing that there was no point in being skeptical because he would know it anyway.

"That's far from here. How did you expect to go back home alone at this time of night?" He wondered.

"Things didn't go as planned. I wasn't supposed to leave alone." I ranted. I thought about for a couple of minutes before I decided to open up about it. My brain kept telling me that he was still a stranger and I shouldn't trust him, but I was too dumb to listen. "I came with my best friend whom I was supposed to drive back home because she will get wasted and wouldn't be able to drive. I didn't want to come, but I did this for her sake." I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and continued. "I found her kissing my boyfriend in one of the bedrooms of the house." I bit my lower lip again. "He said he didn't want to come and I respected that, but I didn't know that he had a different plan." I ranted again.

"That's harsh. I'm sorry." He sympathized.

"I don't need sympathy. I'm just telling you because I'm an i***t. I don't even know you." I chuckled.

"You need someone to talk to and rest assured, I can keep secrets pretty damn well, so let loose." He assured me and to my surprise, the thought that he might not be a bad person after all started to sink in.

"I have a feeling that he will be waiting for me when I get back home." I admitted. "He'll wait till my father come back from work and they'd both convince me that I got the wrong idea."

"I can take to my house if you don't want to see him for a while." He offered. His offer seemed nice and all, but opening up to him took me a lot of courage, let alone going to his place for a few days.

"It's either that he has a strong influence on my father or that they want our relationship to continue no matter what." I tried changing the subject, dodging his offer. Suddenly my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my bag to answer the call. It was my father. He must be back from work now.

"Hello," I said quietly, ready for the scolding I was going to have for being late and breaking the rules, but instead I could sense panic in his voice. I wasn't used to him being like this. He never showed his true emotions to anyone.

"Rain, where are you?" He frantically asked.

"Are you home, Dad?" I replied with a question.

"Yes, I am. Where. Are. You?" He repeated, more sternly this time.

"I'm on my way." I paused for a little while. I was almost certain that I heard another voice on the his end of the phone.

"Who's driving you home?"

"A friend." I blurted, stealing a glance at Lucas to see a smirk that spread across his face.

"You called one of your friends to pick you up. Why didn't you wait for Stacey?" He was genuinely concerned and I felt bad for lying to him.

"Yes." I only answered one question. "Is Caleb there?" I decided to ask.

"Yes, he is and hurry up because we have things to discuss." He sounded stern and I honestly wasn't a tiny bit excited to know what kind of topics we were to discuss.

"What if I don't want to see him?" I didn't want to start drama in front of strangers, however, I managed to do it.

"That's not for you to choose come here now before I come and get you myself." He warned before he hung up. I could feel anger rushing through me. My father was stubborn and as his daughter I was as stubborn as he was.

"Lucas." I called, putting my phone back in my bag. "Is the offer of staying a few nights at your house still up? I asked while wearing my sandals.

"Yes sure." He shrugged.

"Then I gladly accept your offer."