The Billionaire's Highway Encounter

Chapter Four

Chapter 4

Javier Lorenzo

As I expected, it was a long drive—a very long one at that. But I wasn’t worried because I had company. I just needed to get to know the company better. A smile was on her face throughout the entire drive, and this time we were listening to a song she liked, Blue Side of the Sky by Sofia Carson was playing from her playlist. Well, at least she looked happier listening to these kinds of songs.

I, on the other hand, did not so much; I didn’t even know what the song was talking about. I looked at her sitting next to me and saw no expression of worry on her face. If I wasn’t mistaken, she looked like she was having the time of her life. I smiled briefly before sparing her a glance. It was then that it dawned on me—what if she never wanted me here in the first place?

My smile disappeared as regret filled my mind. This was a big mistake. I should never have come in the first place. What came over me though? It felt like I had been hypnotized by her. Had I? Oh, maybe. But that couldn’t be so bad now, could it? I thought to myself as a naughty thought crossed my mind.

"What genres of music do you vibe to?" she asked out of the blue. It got me so tongue-tied that I kept opening and closing my mouth for a full minute. "Gosh, that was so embarrassing," I whispered to myself, hoping she hadn’t heard me.

"Umm, Mexican music? Err, yeah, Mexican music, whatever genre it falls under," I responded with a slight chuckle. Gosh, what the hell was I saying? More importantly, why was I suddenly so nervous?

"Silly you. Mexican music isn’t a genre," she commented. Of course I knew that; everyone knew that. I am an entertainer, so even if not everyone, I should know that. In order to save myself from further embarrassment, I said the next thing that came to mind to cut her short. "Yeah, of course, I knew that. I just wanted to be sure you knew it too." Way to go Javier! Was that the really the best you could do? I wondered to myself.

It took her a while to process what I’d said, but when she finally did, she burst out laughing. She kept looking between the road and me, and I just had to cover my face in embarrassment. Gosh, this was humiliating; I didn’t even know what else to say other than to look out the window for a while till she sobered up. We had been driving for a while now, and each time I glanced at her driving, I felt a pang of regret.

I mean, I still couldn't believe it. I was still surprised that I had agreed to Lula’s half-joking invitation, but sadly, I couldn't explain why. Why did I get into the car? Why was I still in the car? Why had I not told her to stop driving so I could walk back to the city? Okay, the last part was a little crazy, but you get the point. Up until this very moment, I still didn’t know why I was in the same car with her, heading west. Just the way the thought of breaking up with Rosa had crossed my mind and I acted on it immediately, it was the same way I had just thought about going with her and I had done it. I guess I was giving in to spontaneity.

It was our first time meeting, but for some strange, unknown reasons, I had some unusual feelings towards Lula. Maybe it was the way she called my name earlier. The way she spoke to me like she could see me— nothing like my girl, well, now ex-girlfriend, who just yelled at me every five seconds. Gosh, I was so glad it was over between us. But still, we broke up less than 24 hours ago. Why would I be having these kinds of feelings towards her, and where were these thoughts coming from? I shouldn’t be having them because I just broke up with my long-time girlfriend.

I really shouldn’t be trying to imagine getting into another relationship right now. I mean, I just left one, and that one hadn’t even gone cold yet. Aside from that, it would be disrespectful to both her and my ex-girlfriend to get into another relationship so quickly.

“So what kind of food are you into?” She asked as she slowly pulled over to the curb. That was another question I wasn’t expecting.

How was I to answer this, and more importantly, why were we stopping? I was going to ask that, but I stopped myself, realizing I had not answered her earlier question, and answering a question with another question was just, to put it mildly, rude. I just had to answer her question first. “I don’t know. I just don’t like any food with too much oil or flowers. Yeah." I was going to ask her why we were now parked, but my phone screen began buzzing, indicating I had a call. I looked at the screen and saw that it was Rosa.

I let the phone ring a few times before finally picking it up, answering her call, determined to speak plainly and bluntly. “Hello? Where are you? Why aren’t you here?” Woah, this girl had some nerves for sure. I had apparently overestimated her maturity. She was definitely deluded if she thought that after breaking up with her she could still boss me around. I could imagine her standing at the exact spot we had left her, arms folded, demanding that I, Lorenzo, appear in front of her and apologize; so she could forgive me. This babe was full of s**t! How low was her opinion of me if she thought I’d actually obey her? What man in his right mind would obey her in this circumstance?

"Look, say whatever you want to say here; we don’t need to meet in private," I said with all the authority I could muster. "You and I know the reason for meeting in private-- so I can accept your apology, and we can get back together without any bad press.”

"Okay, stop. Are you even listening to yourself? I don’t even want to continue with this conversation. Goodbye, Rosa," I said, hanging up before she could say anything else.

I heaved a sigh, looking out the window, not knowing what to do. I just felt awful. Why did she call now? She had once again successfully ruined my mood? I heaved a sigh once again, and Lula looked at me. She flashed me a sad smile before asking me about my relationship. I looked at her for a while before looking away. I didn’t want to ruin the trip by telling her about a relationship that I had only just ended.

She grabbed my hand and held it until my heart almost skipped a beat. "She offended you, didn’t she? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to." She said, smiling at me. I sighed, holding her hand. I looked at our entwined hands and words just came spilling out of my mouth.

I didn’t have the answer to her question. But I needed her to know the truth, and it was that truth that I told her. "She was something. Rosa was a handful and was always on my neck; every little thing I did was infuriating to her. She didn’t care about how I felt. She was always yelling at me even when I had done nothing wrong." I paused for a while to look at her, and she squeezed my hand with a half-smile on her face.

"We’ve been dating for six years now, and those years have been hell for me. There was nothing peaceful about our relationship, and the worst part was that she just kept on doing whatever she wanted without even asking me. It was frustrating really, and I had to endure it for six years." She squeezed my hand to reassure me of her presence, and I smiled, feeling slightly relieved that I had someone to just pour it all out to.

It had been years, and this was the first time someone had listened to me-- Actively listened to what I had to say about my relationship. Everyone else just assumed that I was okay and that I was doing fine in my relationship when I wasn’t. I had been suffering in silence, all because of Rosa. Most people didn’t see any fault in her, they instead believed that I simply wasn’t patient enough, and so they didn’t pay attention when I spoke about her.

"The truth is, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had reached my breaking point, I had had it up to my neck, and I just had to bring it to an end. She is my ex-girlfriend now. I had just broken up with her when you came along.” She just laughed and said nothing. And I smiled. Even her laughter was music to my ears. I just keep falling for her more and more without even wanting to.

It took a while, but I finally figured out why she had pulled over to the side of the road and stopped her car. She was tired of driving and was probably just allowing her body to rest a bit. Since I figured out why we stopped, I decided to suggest something. We were still a long way from the west side so I said "Can I drive?” I asked and she immediately said “Yes please.” We switched seats before we continued the drive to the West as another song from her playlist came up. It was a Spanish song this time, titled Despacito. I sang along to it, making it lively, and she just kept laughing at my terrible voice.

That didn’t stop me at all; it only encouraged me because I wanted to keep hearing her laughter. After a whole lot of tone-deaf singing and driving, I eventually asked her a question, "So you were traveling west but didn’t bring your best friend along, why?" She was awfully quiet, and that kind of dampened the lively mood but didn’t make me any less curious. I wanted to know why she didn’t come with her best friend; were they fighting or something? I hoped it was something they could settle among themselves.

She scoffed and looked out the window before responding sarcastically, "My best friend? Yeah, well, she was too busy having s*x with my fiancé. So, she had no time to go west with me.” I was silent for a moment, processing what she had just said. Was she being real, or did she just make that up so I would pity her?

Nah, she wouldn’t do that. She didn’t look to be that type of person. Besides I could see how upset she had become after making that statement; she couldn’t have been making it up. Regardless, I was quiet for a moment and then decided to change the topic entirely, this one was obviously dicey. So instead, I asked her, "Why did you invite me to come along with you?"

She finally looked at me, and I did the same, sparing her a glance before keeping my eyes back on the road. She cleared her throat, ready to answer, but she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. She picked up the call, but after a while, she impatiently hung up, and the person kept calling. I asked her if she needed my help to answer the call.

She was quiet for a while, probably thinking about it. I offered her an apologetic smile for even suggesting it. But immediately her phone started ringing again, she handed it over to me. Before I got the chance to pick it up, she instructed me on what to say: "If the person claims to be my boyfriend, please just tell him that you are my new boyfriend. And tell him to stop calling me.”

Her phone had stopped ringing by the time she told me what to say, but once it began to ring again, she urged me to do what she said, and I intended to do just that.