Chapter Twenty Seven - People Pleaser

"Are you kicking me out?"

I was a slow walker compared to his athletic self, and owing to his long legs, it hadn't taken him more than a few strides to get ahead of me. Instead of entering his music room, I'd watched as he'd walked past it and started heading downstairs, making me follow after him in confusion.

Without responding to my question, he marched out of the front door and neared his motorcycle.

"I guess you have to go somewhere? So, we're not training today?" I deduced in bewilderment while standing at his front step and wondering if he was going to ask me to leave or I was just supposed to take the hint and walk away.

"Get on."

"What?" I blinked.

He climbed on his motorcycle and started the engine. When I remained immobile, he raised an impatient brow at me.

Oh?

"Get on behind you? On the motorcycle?" I confirmed. I knew it was a silly question, but could I be blamed?

He cocked his head to the side, staring at me like that was the dumbest question he'd ever heard.

"Yes," he answered anyway.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out if you get on."

I should've been repelled by the idea of riding on a motorcycle with my enemy, but I was lowkey thrilled. Nobody had ever offered me a motorcycle ride before. It sounded like an adventure.

So, with a little shrug of acceptance, I started to near him, catching the little surprise in his eyes. He'd probably convinced himself he'd have to throw me on the motorcycle to get me to go anywhere with him.

Hesitantly, I placed a hand on his shoulder and started to climb on, feeling his hard shoulder muscles under my palm. They felt kind of... nice.

"Wait!" he said. "Run to the garage quickly and get yourself a helmet."

I sighed. "Do I really need it?"

"Yes."

I lazily sauntered over to his garage and came back with two helmets, tossing one at him. "If I need it, so do you. Unless you've got a skull of steel."

His eyes averted from me to the helmet. Then, keeping a straight face, he put it on without any complaints, and I finally got on the motorcycle.

Not sure what to hold on to, I crumpled the back of his t-shirt in my fist uncertainly. But he didn't say anything, so I guessed he was okay with that.

As the motorcycle started moving, all of a sudden, a past experience rose from my memory.

"Wait! You haven't signed me up for volunteering again, have you? I swear to God, Matt, if you—"

"Guess you'll find out."

My eyes narrowed. "I'll run away. I'm telling you I won't do anything I don't want to."

He didn't say anything, and my suspicions grew stronger. Where could he possibly be taking me?

"Just in case you're planning to kidnap me, I'll let you know I have 911 on speed dial," I warned.

He cut me a glance through the mirror. "You don't."

"Yeah, right because you know every—" I cut myself off at the smug look flashing in his eyes, which reminded me he had been through my phone, and I deadpanned. "Whatever."

"What could I possibly kidnap you for?" He scoffed condescendingly. "It's not like I need ransom, and even if I did, I'd at least go for someone worth my time. I seriously doubt anyone would be willing to pay a penny, let alone a whole ransom amount to save your life."

My jaw dropped. Asshole.

"If we weren't on a motorcycle and you literally didn't have my life in your hands, I'd be strangling you."

"Your hands are too tiny for me."

"Oh yeah, because you're as big as your ego," I clapped back, looking down at my hands with a pout. I wasn't one of those girls who were blessed with long, beautiful fingers, but mine weren't short either, just average.

I looked into the mirror to find his eyes gleaming with pride, and I didn't understand the cause of his smugness this time until I finally did, and my eyes widened.

"Ew!" I groaned. "No! We were talking about your neck. I walked into that one. You laid a trap. This is not fair."

"I'll take that compliment anyway, Becks." One side of his mouth lifted into an arrogant smirk.

"Ugh, gross! You know what? This was a mistake. Just let me get off, and I'll walk my way back home."

"I don't think so."

I shot him a scowl. "Now I'm even more suspicious of your intentions. Where are you taking me, Williams?"

"You'll find out, Andrews."

"You're not planning to sell my organs, are you?"

"Why would I doom some poor, already sick person like that?"

Easy, Becks, easy. Breathe.

Shaking my head and letting out an exhale, I looked around at the cars passing by. After a few minutes of me sulking in silence, the motorcycle finally came to a stop in front of an ice cream parlour.

I raised a brow at him to make sure that was our destination.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." He nodded. That was my cue to get off the motorcycle and remove my helmet with a frown.

He took off his helmet too and ran a hand through his dishevelled—yet somehow appealing—hair. How is this fair?

"As far as I can remember, you're not guilty of anything. Not like you would admit it, even if you were." I crossed my arms.

"What?" His brows pulled together.

"I've learnt from Will that your ice cream offerings are often a result of you feeling guilty about something."

With a straight face, he parked the vehicle and climbed off, walking towards me. I couldn't help but look at his arms and wonder if he wore short sleeves on purpose so he could show off all that...crazy muscle after his workout.

"Of course, he told you that stupid, exaggerated story."

"What's the non-stupid, non-exaggerated version?"

"I shouted at him and bought him an ice cream as a peace offering. What's the big deal?"

"That was nice of you. That's why it comes as a surprise."

A noticeable scowl appeared on his lips as he appeared to have fallen into a pensive silence.

"Anyway," I started. "What are we doing here?"

"I don't know, thought I could buy a new pair of shoes," he replied sarcastically before making his way towards the shop. I glared at his back, unmoving.

He walked inside, and the door shut after him. Then maybe he realized that I wasn't following as he turned around and frowned at me from behind the glass before swinging it open.

"What? Do you want me to hold the door for you?"

Uh huh?

With a shrug, I walked inside, passing him a sneer while moving past him. "Not bad. Bet it wasn't that hard, was it?"

Our eyes stayed locked in a challenge until I broke the eye contact to focus ahead. He didn't say anything as he silently closed the door behind me.

It was a nice place and smelled all sugary and sweet. The walls were painted in vibrant colours, and the counter was a bright shade of pink.

"Hey!" Matt greeted the girl behind the counter but did not address the grin she sent his way like she recognized him. Maybe he was a regular customer. Since there weren't other customers behind us, he casually leaned against the counter and asked me, "what do you want?"

"Why are you buying me ice cream?"

He grabbed a menu from the holder with a sigh and extended it to me. "Here."

"I don't want anything."

The girl blinked at me like I'd lost my mind, almost like I was letting go of some golden opportunity. What do girls even see in him?

Then she smiled sweetly towards Matt. "What can I get you?"

For some reason, that irritated me.

But that irritation instantly toned down once I discovered that Matt had been watching me the entire time. He raised an impatient brow, waiting for my response, which he never got, so he finally averted his eyes back to the girl. "We'll have chocolate, both of us."

"How do you know I like chocolate?" I demanded.

"Every girl likes chocolate." He shrugged, fetching his wallet from his pocket.

I crossed my arms and turned to the girl, reading her nametag. "Jess, hi! I'm gonna have one scoop of vanilla and two scoops of strawberry."

Even though I loved the chocolate flavour more than anything.

She nodded. "You got it."

"Add sprinkles on top," Matt said to her, cutting his eyes at me impishly, and I knew he was doing it on purpose to annoy me, whatever it was he was doing.

"No sprinkles for me, thank you," I told Jess. I really wanted sprinkles.

She looked between us and, with another nod, totalled the amount. Matt slipped her a big bill and asked her to keep the change. I internally scoffed. And he asked me to pay for that coffee I spilled on him. Maybe he was just angry about me ruining one of his many white t-shirts.

Jess got busy preparing our order while I looked around the shop and tapped my fingers against the counter, casually bringing my hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear, feeling a pair of eyes on me. Soon enough, Jess was done with the ice creams and handed them to us. "There you go. Enjoy!"

"Thank you." I smiled, quickly leaving the counter.

For once, Matt was the one following me as I made my way to a corner booth. I sat down and started devouring my ice cream in silence. I had three scoops while he had only one, so mine was going to last longer and be messier if it started melting.

It was so calm and peaceful, and the ice cream was so delicious; I had nothing to complain about, which was why this was the best part of my day so far. Even better than Sean winking at me after his touchdown. That's when I realized I loved ice cream more than Sean.

I had to admit that my enemy had also completely taken my mind off my mom and her expectations, and I hadn't even realized it until I'd received another text from her.

Mom: Hey Becks! Maybe you didn't see my earlier text but that's okay. Just wanted to know how music's coming along.

Rebekah: Hey, mom. I saw it, couldn't reply. Music's coming up great.

I suddenly felt glad that my parents were so busy at work and I wouldn't have to see my mom every evening, as opposed to what I'd been feeling lately about missing them. And then I felt terrible for thinking like that.

"Is someone dead?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Matt's question, and my eyes lifted to his face to find him studying me carefully. He hadn't even gotten started with his ice cream yet.

Was that question for me?

"What?"

"Is that why you're so..." He pointed a finger across my face. "... silent and lost?"

I blinked in surprise. Since when did he notice such things about me?

"What?"

"So, you're not just tone-deaf."

What the fuck?

My eyes narrowed. "It's nothing. And since when do you care about me?"

"About you?" He raised a brow and all of a sudden, I was embarrassed to have asked him that. "The only thing I was concerned about was music training, which you were in no shape to do today, judging by the look on your face."

"So, you brought me here instead? For an ice cream?"

"Yes."

"Is this an attempt to make me feel better?"

He didn't like being confronted for answers like that, I could tell as he looked away but it wasn't dismissive. It seemed like he was forming his reply.

"No," he finally said.

"Then why?"

"It was long overdue. I really owed you after you helped me on stage."

"What stage are we talking about again? The one where I sang with you or the one where I was setting up music instruments in a stupid onesie?"

His lips twitched into what surprisingly turned out to be the ghost of a smile. Again with the freaking smile, Williams. It wasn't the first time I was watching him do the unthinkable and it still made my heart skip a beat like the first.

He should smile more often, I thought.

"You know which one," he said.

"I do." Then I blinked out of the little daze his smile had pulled me into. "But I'd already told you what I needed in return for that—you training me—and you're doing it so this wasn't necessary."

"It was. Since I didn't agree to train you until I realized it was a means to kick Rebecca out of the event. I'm teaching you music more for myself than you."

I nodded, feeling a little miffed over the fact that in the end, he was doing it for Rebecca. Even if it was to kick her out.

"At least you're honest." I nodded. "But it doesn't matter because in the end, I still wouldn't put my money on me."

I only realized that thought was only meant to be kept to myself when his brows furrowed with a deep scowl.

"What did you say?"

Shit! Too late.

"Ever since I've heard Rebecca sing in the classroom, I've kind of accepted that I'm—" I paused when Matt tilted his head sideways and narrowed his eyes—he was practically daring me to finish that. I should be more careful about who I tell what. I finished anyway, speaking warily, "...going to maybe...lose."

His brows shot up as he scoffed to himself. "Wow. I can't believe this. I'm training a loser."

My jaw dropped. "Hey! That's mean."

"Are you serious?" He leaned forward, the burning incredulity in his eyes threatening to pierce my soul. "If you've accepted that, you've already lost the challenge."

"I know." I sighed. "But she's too good. She's practically Ariana Grande, less a ponytail."

"I know she's good," he snapped and something about it made my heart drop. It definitely wasn't the snapping; I was used to getting and giving that with him. "But she's a knockoff, a copy. You give her a song and she can sing the exact replica of it. While some people adore that and most singers actually make their careers out of it, in the end, it's still copying. Rebecca's not an original. You are."

Pathetic as it was, that was all it took for my mood to do a complete 180. I tried my best to stifle it but an uncontrollable grin spread across my lips at his words.

"You think so?"

That's when he realized he'd just appreciated me but maybe he decided it was too late as he rolled his eyes and nodded, "yes. Ever since I heard you sing for the first time."

"Oh yeah?" I narrowed my eyes playfully. "You said I had dead notes."

"You do. Don't be under any false impression," he said and I deadpanned. "But you also have the ability to give a song your own style, different from the way it's originally sung by someone and have people actually like it."

I smiled and leaned back in my seat with a sigh. Matt Williams was the last person I'd expected to get a pep talk from to make me believe I could win against Rebecca, but here we were.

"You can say it, Williams. I'm good." I smirked and looked down at my ice cream, realizing that the strawberry scoop had started to melt so I hurriedly licked it before it could start dripping on the vanilla. God! It tasted like heaven. I slowly devoured it, letting it hit each taste bud on my tongue while nodding in approval.

I heard Matt clear his throat and noticed him finally getting started with his ice cream. It looked way better than mine. It was chocolate after all.

We fell into a comfortable silence. So comfortable that when I snuck a glance at him, I didn't see my enemy. I just saw a person I could talk to and share stuff with.

"It's my mom," I exhaled after a moment, not sure why.

I had his attention right away as he put his ice cream on hold and something about it was so... comforting. Since when did people find comfort in their enemies? But that thought didn't stop me from continuing.

"She'd never taken much interest in my life," I muttered. "It's why I told her about the challenge in the first place. I thought it would make her happy and she would finally appreciate me. I'd just forgotten how controlling and obsessive she could get."

I bit down on my lip. "And now, all she cares about is the challenge and my college application. I'm just so scared of disappointing her if I lose."

Ten seconds passed, and he didn't say anything. Twenty...thirty...forty and soon, a whole minute was past us.

"You know, you could say a thing or two to not make me feel like a total idiot for sharing that, Matt." I shook my head to myself.

He remained silent and I could feel my cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

"Okay. I think I'm gonna get up now and run my way home and not see you for two days because obviously, you're not the kind of person to share these kinds of things with and I don't know what came over me. You don't care and I—"

"You have a problem."

My eyes finally lifted to his face and he was looking at me like for the first time, he could see right through me. I suddenly felt exposed and wanted to hide away from him but I chose to face it.

"Excuse me?"

"You're a people pleaser."

"What?" I scoffed. "I'm not—"

"You try way too hard to impress the people around you. That's your problem."

That's when he decided to go back to his ice cream. After dropping a statement like that.

"That is not true." I frowned. "You're wrong."

"Really?" He leaned forward and with the way his eyes bored into mine, I felt guilty all of a sudden. "Then tell me, Andrews, when was the last time you did something because you wanted to do it?"

Fifteen minutes ago, when I decided to come here with you, Matt and I'm still wondering why.

Surprised at the thought, I struggled to come up with a response.

"That's what I thought." He shrugged. "I don't know your reasons to accept the challenge but I know you didn't do that for yourself either."

Oh my God! I suddenly had this urge to smack myself at the harsh reality.

"Did you do that to appease your mother?"

No, to impress Sean. But appeasing my mother soon became a motive too, so technically, I didn't lie to him when I nodded.

But then I took in a deep breath and regrouped myself. "Since you happen to know it all, Williams, tell me what you think I should do about my mom not approving of most of the things about me."

One side of his mouth raised with distaste. "Why are you even seeking her approval? Why are you seeking anyone's approval?"

"So, what am I supposed to do? Go against her wishes? Rebel at my own house?" I scoffed. "That's not how families work."

"Families are overrated."

He looked out of the window, a distant look reaching his eyes and I started wondering what things were like at his house. How he was with his parents.

"Okay, bad boy," I scoffed again, catching his attention and his little eye twitch at what I'd called him. "They might be overrated but they're all we have. We have got to change ourselves for them."

"If you have to change yourself, it's not worth it. Whether it's for your family...or a relationship," he spoke with all seriousness and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. Then I nodded very slowly.

"I won't change myself for anyone," I stated, realizing that it had come out as a promise and I cringed. Why would he care about that? It wasn't like he was depending on it in any way.

Without taking his eyes off me, he leaned back in his seat and I could've been mistaken but he'd looked satisfied with my words.

"Anyway..." I started with a little smile, not caring if he was going to brush me off awkwardly for saying it. "Thanks for doing this, for bringing me here."

He was caught off guard but was quick to recover.

"Don't get too corny yet," he replied. "I'll think of something nice you can pay me back with."

"Of course. Gotta keep the scores even, Williams. I'm ashamed to admit I did not see that coming."

He let out an unexpected laugh and I was stunned for a moment. Then, I couldn't help but laugh with him. With the kind of infectious laugh he had, he should've definitely been laughing more often.

We fell into a comfortable silence, eating our ice creams and it stayed like that until about a minute later when a girl stomped inside the parlour, looking very pissed as she headed straight for the counter, followed by a guy who looked exhausted but trailed after her anyway. They seemed to be our age.

"I want blackberry ice cream. The largest you have. Make it giant. He's paying." She smiled bitterly.

Poor guy. I suddenly felt bad for him as he shook his head to himself and fetched his wallet from his jeans.

"Um, do you want a tub?" Jess asked.

"I said the largest. Whatever you have." She made one of those bitchy 'duh' faces.

"Got it." She nodded.

"I'll wait in the car," she snapped at the guy and turned around. As she passed by our booth, her pace slowed and her frown wore off a little as she looked at Matt.

I noticed he'd been watching her too and when he realized she was staring, he threw her a little smirk of acknowledgement; then smoothly averted his eyes back to his ice cream like nothing had happened. It was the way he sat there—back straight and one arm folded over the table, with his side profile showing off his annoyingly perfect jawline—that made it a hundred times better.

Damn!

I blinked. What the hell, Rebekah?

"The ice cream's nice," I said with narrowed eyes, demanding his attention.

He seemed a little baffled. "Are you always pissed about nice things?"

I blinked. "No, I just...nothing."

"I thought you were gonna wait in the car, babe." It was the dude's voice.

I turned around to find the girl sitting in the booth behind ours, in Matt's direct line of sight. I frowned at her, which she didn't notice because she was too busy making eyes at my enemy.

She shrugged at the guy she'd come with. "I was waiting for you. Let's go?"

With a smile, he threw his arm around her once she got up and pecked her lips. "I'm happy to see you in a better mood."

"It's definitely this place." She smirked in Matt's direction. "On second thought, why don't we just stay here and eat the ice cream?"

She settled back in her seat and threw Matt a flirty smile, but he didn't return it. Instead, he pursed his lips in disapproval and went back to his ice cream.

"What?" I blinked. "You suddenly decided she isn't pretty enough now that she's showing interest?"

"That's her boyfriend," he explained.

"That means something to you?" I raised a brow.

"I'm not as immoral as you think of me, Andrews. I hate cheaters. They're disgusting."

So that meant he'd never cheated on some poor girl. But then, I seriously doubted if he'd ever been in an actual relationship to do that. Either way, he had my respect for that.

"And the fact that he's her boyfriend wasn't obvious enough the moment they walked in?"

"I don't live on assumptions." He shrugged, eating a large portion of his ice cream at once and finishing it.

"How about some common sense?" I gave him a sarcastic smile.

"You're really hard to stand sometimes, Andrews."

"So are you, Williams." I shrugged. "I don't know how we're doing this whole challenge thing. When it's over, I'll look back and think wow, Becks. You really did something there."

He narrowed his eyes while I innocently went back to eating my ice cream, feeling the girl's eyes burning holes in my back so I cut back a glance and yes, she was watching me. But it was more out of curiosity and maybe a bit of... jealousy.

Now why did I take pride in that?

"Let's go?" I asked Matt once my ice cream was finished. He nodded and we got up to leave. While walking out, I took one final look at the girl and her eyes were following Matt. She looked a little annoyed again as she shoved a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, nodding mindlessly at whatever her boyfriend was saying.

Well, good luck to the dude.

My phone buzzed with a notification. Meera had shared a post with me on Instagram. I saw it, let out a chuckle, reacted with a laughing emoji, and just as I was proceeding to exit the app, I found Sean's photo on my feed. He was in his jersey, leaning against the bleachers with a smile. It had been posted ten minutes ago.

My eyes couldn't help but linger on it for a few moments, not because I was mesmerized like I used to be before, but because I was trying to figure out what had changed to not leave me mesmerized by a picture of my Prince Charming.

His account was public, so I'd never bothered following him. Exhaling, I liked his picture and shoved the phone in my pocket.

We made it to the motorcycle, and just as I started to reach for my helmet, Matt put his hand on top of it, stopping me. I looked up at him with confusion but was taken aback when I found his deep brown eyes watching me intently, and they seemed like they'd been at it for a while. I also realized he'd been silent this entire time like he had something on his mind.

"Why do you like him?"

The question caught me off guard. "Sean?"

He gave a curt nod.

"I..." I was speechless. "I don't know. I just do. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity."

I scratched my forehead in thought. Why did I like Sean?

"Why do you like someone?" I shrugged. "There's no reason. You just do."

"Does he know?"

I shook my head. Where was all that coming from?

"You haven't told him?"

At this, I let out a chuckle, but he didn't find anything funny as he folded his arms in silence.

"If I could just tell him, things would be so much easier, now, wouldn't they? I simply can't. I'm a nervous wreck around him. I guess God put an 'only to observe' label on him for me."

"So many words just to say you're a coward? I get it."

I crossed my arms over my chest, a little offended. "I don't expect you to understand, Matt. In fact, I'd be surprised if you did."

Now he'd taken a little offense, I could tell. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you do it...with Rebecca. More often than I can imagine and you feel absolutely nothing for her."

I realized it had come out more as a question than a statement. He felt nothing for her, right?

"So?" He raised a brow.

That was confirmation enough.

"So?" I repeated him with a scoff. "How is it not a big deal? I mean, isn't that supposed to be the final stage of a relationship?"

"Final stage?"

"You know, two people fall in love or at least get to know each other before they start having..." I scratched the back of my neck. "...sex."

He stared at me in disbelief for about ten seconds. "You're serious."

I blushed, cursing myself for forgetting his player reputation. Oh God! Why did I have to say that to him?

"Have you ever heard of casual sex?" he asked, and my mouth went dry. It wasn't my first time hearing about a casual relationship. It was just him. With Rebecca. My enemy with my enemy. That shouldn't have bothered me, right?

"Of course," I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Feelings. Falling in love." He chuckled to himself. "What else is on your list? A simp who'd buy a girl flowers and chocolates?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Anyone can be that person. Maybe even you someday. You'd be surprised with the kind of things you'd be willing to do to keep the right person around," I argued, cursing myself yet again for saying such mawkish things to him when his eyes began to sparkle with an inner laugh. He was laughing at me. I needed to have some damn control on my mouth.

What is wrong with you, Rebekah?

"I see," he said. "You're that kind of girl."

My eyes narrowed. "What kind of girl?"

"You believe in the idea of a perfect relationship that gives you butterflies in the stomach, but you're gonna be disappointed because it's never gonna happen. That's just how it is. It's only in those corny books and movies people waste their time on. It's not real."

"Whoa!" I scoffed, taking his words to heart. "Of course you would say so. I wouldn't expect anything else from a person like you. You're basically emotionless."

I could've sworn his eye had twitched for a second. "Well, my lack of emotions gets me laid..." He smirked, adding, "...casually. I don't have to live in the delusion of falling in love with someone just to have sex with them someday."

Touché. I rolled my eyes.

Don't listen to him, Becks. You're on the right path to get Sean.

"Whatever, okay? That's not even my priority," I stated proudly.

"Figures."

Now that just ticked me off. "You'll be surprised to know that most people feel that way, Williams. Not everyone only cares about sex."

"You'll be surprised to know how wrong you are, Andrews."

I crossed my arms, feeling my temper slowly rising.

"But you have nothing to worry about." He gave a pitiful pat on my shoulder, his hand remaining there as he leaned down. "I don't suppose you get hit on very often."

He appeared to be in a bright mood all of a sudden. Of course. Our moods were constantly on the opposite ends of a see saw. One had to be down in order for the other to be up.

"Haha you're so funny," I snapped, shrugging his hand off my shoulder. "But you couldn't be more wrong. Did you forget about Steve hitting on me? And Chad literally being on the verge of making out with me?"

His eyes narrowed for a fleeting moment. "No. I remember."

"Also..." I smirked. "Mindy thought I was hot."

I stopped breathing when he took a step towards me and instead of moving back like I mostly did, I angled my face up to look him square in the eyes. For some reason, I felt like he liked it.

"You told me that yourself," I muttered, my voice not as solid as it had been a few seconds ago.

"She also said you have the most beautiful pair of gray eyes she's ever seen."

I blinked. He was close. So close. Close enough for me to see the golden cast of sunlight in the browns of his eyes.

I swallowed. "W-well, tell her thank you."

"I don't play messenger."

"You just did, five seconds ago."

He cocked his head to the side as if asking, did I?

Obviously, I'd read that action wrong. I swallowed.

"Anyway..." He took a step back as the mischievous glint slowly returned in his eyes. "Both Steve and Chad were drunk and in that state of mind, most guys don't care who they're hitting on as long as they see a good time ahead. We can cut them some slack."

"Oh yeah?" I glowered at him. "What about the guys in your gym eyeing me the day I showed up? Were they drunk, too? I don't suppose a lot of people like to down a few shots as a pre-workout."

"Those losers?" He scoffed. "They know Mindy swings the other way and they still hit on her. Guess they'll go after anything with a va—"

I slapped my hand over his mouth, pointing towards the little boy standing on the sidewalk holding his father's hand, who was busy on the phone. They were very close to us and the kid was probably listening since he was looking at us.

Matt frowned at me and when I felt his lips move against my palm, I quickly withdrew my hand.

Then, he shot a glare at the kid.

The little dude's eyes widened and he buried his face in his father's thigh, looking at Matt cautiously from behind it. He reached just above his father's knee and couldn't be more than four. Poor thing.

"Oh my God!" I said under my breath, barely being able to stifle a chuckle at the sight. I grabbed a hold of my enemy's jaw and turned his face in my direction. "Stop terrorizing the poor child. If you wanna look at someone, look at me."

Then my smile vanished at the sudden shift in his eyes from scary to...something that made me weak in the knees. As his intense brown eyes ran across my face, I slowly let go of him and brought my hand to my side awkwardly.

"Um, I..." I trailed off. I had nothing to say. I don't know why I had even started talking.

"You're too uptight for your own good," he finally said.

"What?"

He pointed to the child with his thumb.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not uptight. It's called having—"

"Morals?" He raised a brow, mocking me.

I pouted. "I was going for brain. But yes, morals too. How can you say that in front of a child?"

"You're never getting laid, Andrews."

I scoffed. "I most certainly will, especially if you're nowhere in my vicinity to ruin my plans like last time."

"Is that what I did?" He crossed his arms. "You weren't actually gonna sleep with Chad at Chris's party."

It sounded more like a question, a question full of warning.

"Of course not. I'm a one-guy girl. I only said that because A) I was drunk and B) I wanted you to leave me the hell alone."

He rolled his eyes and started to reach for his helmet.

"But I'm glad you didn't. You saved me a lot of embarrassment and trouble. Thank you."

He was in the middle of putting his helmet on but stopped once he'd registered my words, looking a little taken aback. I'd thanked him twice in the same hour. It had to have been difficult to process.

"I mean, you had no reason to do all that for me but you did it anyway."

"Don't flatter yourself," he jibed, holding out the other helmet for me. "I'd do it for anyone."

Just when I was being nice to him.

"Bite me, Williams," I scoffed.

"Tell me again when you mean it and I will, Andrews."

Needless to mention, I was left standing there stunned. Why did that sound like a promise? And why the hell was I suddenly looking forward to the possibility?

Dammit, Becks! Pull yourself together.

"Let's go," he said, his gaze fixed ahead as he started the motorcycle, revving the engine.

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I climbed on behind him and this time, I put my hand on his shoulder. Again, he didn't say anything.

"Are you alright back there?" he asked over his shoulder after a few minutes into our silent ride and I stared at him through the mirror, bewildered. Stop asking me things that give me weird feelings, Williams.

"You're not going that fast."

"That's not what I meant." He shook his head and I caught his amusement in the side mirror, which made me smile too. "I don't think you've ever gone silent for this long."

"Just enjoying the ride."

I noticed he was taking a different route back home. It was a better route with a seemingly endless road stretched out in front of us. The weather was beautiful, and I was really enjoying the soft breeze on my face.

I shut my eyes and inhaled deeply.

My hands should have stayed where they were—on his shoulder. But I don't know what the hell came over me when I mindlessly lowered them and brought them around his torso.

On top of that, I didn't immediately realize it, not until I felt him tense up under my touch when my fingers fell flat against his defined abs.

"Sorry," I muttered and started to pull away until he placed one hand on them and gave a little squeeze.

"Hold on."

"Wha—"

I squealed in surprise when the bike sped up, and suddenly, it felt like we were cutting through the air. My fingers clutched the front of his t-shirt tightly.

"Oh my God, Matt! Are you trying to kill me?" Laughing, I pressed my cheek against his shoulder to shield my face from the fierce wind.

"Do you want me to slow down?" he shouted over his shoulder.

"No! Hell no!" I chuckled. "Not until you really have to."

I slowly got used to it and opened my eyes, looking over his shoulder with a wide smile while also hoping I wouldn't get some bug slapped on my teeth. But nothing could deter me from seeking thrill from that moment as I tightened my grip around him and felt tingles shoot across my entire body.

But since all good things come to an end, soon enough, we merged onto a narrow lane with more vehicles around us, eventually slowing us down.

Good while it lasted, I sighed.

Once we made it back home, I got off his motorcycle with the biggest smile on my face and handed him my helmet.

"I can't believe I'm saying this to you, but that was fun."

"You're welcome," he stated proudly.

"See you tomorrow." I took a step back.

"Wait."

"What?"

His eyes lingered across my face, and once again, I got to behold the sinking depths of his dark brown eyes as they held me in a stupor.

He leaned in, fingers slowly lifting to the side of my face. I froze, completely tongue-tied as I watched him reach forward, but his hand never met my face. Instead, it reached my hair and, just as quickly, pulled away.

That's when I realized I'd tilted my head to make contact.

Blinking, I noticed one tiny wisp of hay in his hand, which he smoothly flicked off his finger.

"Oh!" I laughed nervously, realizing.

"Did you roll in a haystack or something when I wasn't looking?" He raised a brow.

"It's a windy day." I shrugged, crossing my arms. "But I'm surprised to know how carefully you observe me. That wasn't easy to spot in my blonde hair."

"Yeah, who knows how many more of those you've still got in there. Just out of curiosity, how often do you shower?"

"Matt!" I snapped in disbelief.

His lips didn't need to show me his smile because I could see it in his eyes as he started to ride his motorcycle towards his driveway.

"See you tomorrow morning," he called over his shoulder.

"Okay," I muttered, smiling.