Before December

Chapter 17: You're distracted

Lydia POV:

Theo continued marching ahead of me like he was trying to outrun his own bad mood. I followed for a few seconds before stopping.

"Theo."

He kept walking.

"Theo!"

"What?" He spun around.

I pointed at his face. "You're not driving."

His eyebrows pulled together. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Give me the keys."

A short laugh escaped him. "Absolutely not."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

I caught up with him and held out my hand. “You’re hurt, you’re pissed off, and you’ve barely paid attention to where you’re going since we left the gallery. Give me the keys.”

"Can you even drive over here?"

"Believe it or not, Henderson, Americans have cars too."

"On the wrong side of the road."

I glared at him. "I have a license."

"An American licence."

"Which I'm pretty sure I can use here."

"Pretty sure isn't exactly convincing."

"Fine. Look it up."

He continued walking. I followed, getting more irritated with every step. "Theo, seriously. You shouldn't be driving."

"I'm fine."

There it was again. I'm fine. Apparently, those were the only two words he knew. "You're bleeding."

"Not anymore."

"You can barely move your jaw and you're angry."

"I can move it."

"Congratulations."

We reached the Porsche and Theo unlocked it. I held my hand out again. "Keys."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're not insured on my car."

I opened my mouth. Closed it again. Okay. That was annoyingly reasonable. "Then call someone."

"No."

"James?"

"No."

"Your mom?"

"Definitely not."

"Why? Because then you'd have to explain why you look like you've been beaten up?"

His expression darkened.

I folded my arms. "Exactly."

"Get in the car, Lydia."

"No."

"Lydia."

"Theodore."

He stared at me. I stared straight back. For several seconds, neither of us moved. Then he sighed. "Please get in the car."

I stared at him. "Did you just say please?"

"Don't make me regret it."

I reluctantly walked around to the passenger side. "This is a terrible idea."

"Noted."

"If we die, I'm haunting you."

"Also noted."

"And I'm going to be really annoying about it."

He glanced at me over the roof of the car. "How would that be any different from now?"

"Asshole."

A hint of a smile surfaced, then vanished almost as quickly. Something was wrong. More than just his face, anyway. Whatever it was, he clearly wasn’t going to tell me. I climbed into the car and slammed the door. Theo slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. For the first few minutes, neither of us spoke. I waited. And waited. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "So?"

"So what?"

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

I turned in my seat. "Do you genuinely think I'm stupid?"

"No."

"Then stop treating me like I am."

"I'm not."

"You disappeared for an hour and came back with a busted lip and bruises. That's not nothing."

He kept his eyes ahead. "I dealt with something."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means I dealt with something."

"Oh, brilliant. Thanks for clearing that up."

"Lydia, leave it."

"No."

His grip tightened on the steering wheel.

“You were acting weird around Sebastian, but I’m not allowed to ask about that or why you turned up looking like this?”

“I asked you one question.”

"While glaring at him like he'd personally offended you."

"He annoyed me."

"He said about four words to you!"

"Four annoying words."

I stared at him. "You are unbelievable."

"So I've been told."

"Mostly by me."

"Frequently by you."

I folded my arms and looked out of the window. For about thirty seconds. Then I turned back. "Was it Jake?"

Theo went still.

I caught it immediately. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

"You didn't have to."

"Lydia."

"What? He hit you last night, and now you've mysteriously disappeared and come back hurt. I'm not exactly Sherlock Holmes here."

"It wasn't Jake."

"Then who?"

"Drop it."

"Why?"

"Because it's none of your business!"

The sharpness of his voice made me fall silent. Fine. If that was how he wanted it. I turned towards the window. "Whatever."

Silence filled the car. The kind that wasn't remotely comfortable. I watched trees and buildings blur past outside, trying to work out why I was even angry. Theo didn't owe me an explanation. We barely knew each other. A few days ago, we could barely stand being in the same room. This morning had been different. Coffee. The uniform shop. Walking around town without trying to kill each other every five minutes. For a couple of hours, I’d thought maybe we’d finally stopped hating each other. Apparently not.

"You know," I said quietly, “I thought we were actually starting to get along.”

Theo glanced at me. “We are.”

I gave a short laugh. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Forget it.”

“Lydia—”

“Just watch the road.”

"I am watching the road."

"Doesn't look like it."

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you're angry, you're distracted, and you shouldn't even be driving!”

“I'm not distracted.”

His eyes flicked towards me.

“Theo, look out!”

Everything happened too quickly. Theo reacted and the car jolted sharply before coming to a stop. For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. My heart hammered against my ribs. Theo stared ahead, breathing heavily. I looked at him in disbelief. Then the fear disappeared beneath pure anger.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I shouted.

Theo turned towards me. “Me? You’ve been going at me since we got in the car!”

“Because I told you not to drive!”

"I was fine!"

"You nearly—”

“I know what happened, Lydia!”

"And you were already angry, hurt and refusing to let anyone else drive!"

"You're not insured on the car!"

"Then you should've called someone!"

"I can drive my own damn car."

"Clearly!"

“Don’t,” he warned.

"Don't what? Point out that you nearly got us into an accident because you're too stubborn to admit when you shouldn't be driving?"

We stared at each other for a second before Theo looked back towards the road. “I’m done talking about this.”

I glared at him. "Good. So am I."

I turned towards the window and folded my arms. The rest of the journey passed in complete silence. No music. No arguing. No stupid comments. Nothing. I kept my eyes fixed outside and counted down the minutes until the gates of the Henderson estate finally came into view. The second the Porsche stopped outside the house, I unclipped my seat belt and climbed out, slamming the door behind me. I marched into the house, up the stairs and straight into my bedroom. The door slammed behind me. For once, Theo didn't follow.

By late afternoon, I'd had enough of staring at the same four walls. Thankfully, I hadn't seen Theo again. I didn't want to. At least that's what I kept telling myself.