Eric's Mess 2

“Need a ride?” The semi-sweet voice was close to me, causing me to give a little jump in response. I swear I heard a chuckle.

When I turned around, Eric's face glowed in amusement. A crooked smile playing half his face made me smile back. I didn't want to smile; I just did. I always knew I was empathetic, but this was ridiculous. Eric nodded in impatiences, waiting for my reply.

No matter how charming he was, I didn't really know him. You know what they say about getting in the car with strangers. “Thanks for the offer. But I'm probably a little out of your way.” I lived farther out from the school than most people, but a lot of the staff lived there too.

“Doubt it.” He said. “Where do you live?”

Doesn't this break the same rule? “I live in Cherryfield.”

“Good let's go.” He started to walk towards the back parking lot where the juniors and lower classman parked. I let him get a few paces ahead still not sure what I was doing. When he turned around to make sure I was following though, my feet made their way forward without any further consent.

Eric stopped in front of a shiny new Privus. I gawked at the flawless paint job. It probably didn't even have fingerprints on it it was so new. “You like?” Eric's grin widened as he noted my approval. I went around to the passenger seat and threw my bag in the back. The car started and a CD automatically picked up where it had left off. Eric turned it down and I buckled up looking around the spotless interior.

The first few minutes of the ride seemed extremely long. I couldn't think of anything to say now that we were alone though my head was buzzing. I looked over at my chauffeur and he turned to meet my eyes briefly. “Do you like living here?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I took a moment to really think about the question. “I mean, Maine is beautiful and I get along great with my mom. I'm doing pretty decent in school and I have a couple good friends.” He smiled at me again. “I'd say I like it here.”

“That's good.” The car slowed to a red light and Eric tapped to the almost inaudible beat from his stereo on the steering wheel. “I think I'm going to like it here too.”

First question. “Where did you move from?”

“Utah.” Green light. “Terma, Utah.”

“Why did you move here?”

Eric just smirked. “So, this is were the interrogation begins.”

I flushed a little and looked out my window. “You don't have to answer. I was just wondering.”

“Don't worry about it.” He chuckled. “I was just messing with you.” We drove across the bridge out of town and he continued. “My dad, brother and I moved here after our house burned down.”

I could feel my eyes widen. I wanted to say something comforting but thought it best not to interrupt.

“It was a domestic fire caused by bad wiring and luckily none of us got hurt.” He turned towards me again this time letting his eyes show his reminiscence. “We decided change of scenery would do us all good. Cherryfield seemed nice enough.”

Cherryfield is a nice town to... wait what? “You live in Cherryfield and you didn't tell me?”

Eric let out a genuine laugh. “You catch on quick.” His words were broken by the dying chuckle.

I let out a heavy sigh. We were getting close to my house and for some reason I wasn't too happy about that. I should be. The day was long an exciting and I just wanted to relax. So, why was I getting so anxious?