Page 4 of Babalon

Making my way through the open door, I dropped down into the low bucket seat, immediately grabbing the seatbelt to strap it over my body as he shut the door. After a few moments, he joined me inside and did the same. Turning the car on, then putting it in reverse, but instead of using the back-up cameras, he turned his upper body and placed his right hand to on the left shoulder of my seat while he looked out the back window.

This gave me a moment or two to really look at him. While he looked a little tired, he was still just as cute as he was when we had classes together. Now, however, he had grown out his facial hair to frame his jawline. The unruly spikes he normally would mold his hair into, were now long gone, the strands flopping over his forehead and poked out from the edge of his backwards hat.

Putting the Civic back in drive, we gently made our way out of the field and back onto the road where Kaleb immediately opened the car up, and we took off zipping through the winding roads.

“How has college been?” I asked hurriedly, trying to break some of the tension while simultaneously filling the space. Mystomach leaping into my chest as my body was forced back into the seat.

“Meh, not bad. Keeping my grades up isn’t that hard. I work most of the time so I’ve stayed out of the spotlight. The guys though? Different story. Logan already has a kid and Warren just got out of county.”

Dropping his hand, he grabbed the gearshift, and with a sudden press of one of his feet, he shifted the car into the next gear and launched faster.

Fucking hell.

“That doesn’t sound terrible for you. Say, if you could give me any advice when it comes to school or getting out of Hazelwood, what would you give?” My words breathy from being thrown back in my seat following the acceleration.

Silence lingered for a moment, the red glow of the dashboard and center console barely lighting up his features while he drove. I couldn’t help but watch him. He was going to be one of those guys that got better with age. Jensen Ackles-like, motherfucker. Something I am sure he knew, so I never commented on it.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t waste your time with school until you know what you want to do. There are so many different avenues and jobs out there that don’t require a college degree, and they pay just as much, if not more, than those that do.”

“Ahh, that’s helpful, I guess. Not really,” I stated with a little bit of a bite.

Kaleb chuckled again; a chuckle that used to sound enthusiastic, now felt a little flat.

“Always such a curt smart ass, Nadi. The things I could do to that mouth of yours now that you’re a big girl.”

Heat bloomed in my cheeks, making me yank my gaze away from his to stare out the tinted window. A soft, defiant huff leaving my lips.

Secrets be told; I wouldn’t shy away from finding out.

His dad wasn’t in the picture growing up so that’s what made us connect, in a way. I didn’t have a mom and his dad left for good when he went on a beer run. We both suffered with broken families, and now we both aspired to get the hell out of this town.

“Thank you, though. For telling... sharing. I don’t have the patience to waste my time so I’ll have to keep your words of wisdom in mind.”

“See that you do. College is unnecessarily expensive. Especially when you can do something else. Something good.”

“Yeah? What makes you think I want to do anything good, Rey?”

“You planning on committing murder or something?”

“Nah, not yet.”

Both of our chuckles fill the space between us, a completely different tension setting in.

We drove the rest of the night, until the moon was high in the sky and he had to fill the tank up before heading back to the field. We did this a few times before he left for college. I was always so relaxed when I got home that I went straight to sleep. Though he was friends with the assholes of school, he always made me feel safe.

It was about one a.m. when we made it back to the field where plenty of people were still milling around.

After Kaleb opened the door and I climbed out, I shuddered and tensed when I heard my name being screamed across the field by an all too familiar voice.

“Nadia Rayle Pierce!”

“Fuck, it’s my dad,” I said, turning to Kaleb.

He grimaced, remembering the bullshit dad has put me through, but being the smarter one of us, he remained quiet as my pissed off father approached. Those arms of his crossing over his chest once more when he leaned back against the hood of the car, never one to get in the middle of me and my dad. Perhapsthat’s the reason I never truly pursued anything with Kaleb. I wanted… needed someone to go to bat for me. And, sadly, that wasn’t him.

“I have been looking everywhere for you. Go, get your ass in the goddamn truck. We are going home!”

“Alright, alright!”

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