Page 18 of Clichés & Curses

I was so caught up in my head, rethinking my decision, that I didn’t notice Colton talking to me.

‘Hmm?’ I hummed non-committally, turning to him.

‘Having second thoughts?’ Colton asked teasingly, snapping me out of my inner dilemma.

Caught off guard by him voicing out the exact thing I was contemplating in my head, a shadow of doubt appeared on my face, but I quickly masked it away.

Colton must’ve caught it, because the look on his face slowly started to lose its glint.

Last chance to back out, Clara.

‘Nope, no second thoughts. I guess you’re stuck with me for the whole semester,’ I told him and wrote down both our names on the paper, him spelling out his name for me so I didn’t misspell it.

It’s official then.

There was no going back now.

‘I think that will be all for today. I’ll see you all next week,’ Mr Albert announced, dismissing the class.

I started packing up my things, Colton did the same beside me. ‘Should we go to one of the coffee shops on campus to practice?’ I suggested, zipping up my backpack.

‘Anywhere is fine.’ He shrugged. ‘We don’t have to stay on campus, you know? I have my car and I’d be happy to drive you anywhere.’

‘But you have practice later, wouldn’t you prefer to stay on campus?’ I didn’t want to make this any more of a nuisance for him.

‘I’ll make it; practice doesn’t start in a few hours,’ he reassured me.

I considered his offer. I had been wanting to try out that new bubble tea shop that had just opened a few streets away from my apartment, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit it just yet.

‘Since you’re offering, do you mind if we go to a bubble tea shop instead? There’s one near my apartment building and I can just walk home afterward,’ I told him.

‘Sure,’ he nodded, before adding, ‘on one condition though.’

I looked at him suspiciously. ‘What’s that?’

‘I’m driving you home,’ he said with a teasing look in his eyes, then quickly got up from his seat and rushed his way to the door.

I sat there stunned, my mind slowly registering what had just happened.

Did he say he was driving me home?

I snapped out of my daze and rushed after him, only to see him lean on the wall next to the door frame in the hallway, waiting for me, with a crooked grin on his face.

‘Come on,’ he said to me, nudging his head as he made his way to the stairs. I noticed that he was walking at a faster pace than normal as if trying to outrun me before I could argue with him about his so-called ‘condition’.

When I finally caught up to his pace and was walking side-by-side with him, he slowed down his strides. We made it out of the building, and I could just about make out where his car was, amid all the others in the parking lot.

‘You don’t really have to drive me home, you know?’ I tried reasoning with him as we walked together toward his parked car. ‘I’m perfectly capable of walking.’

‘And I’m perfectly capable of driving you home.’

‘Then, let’s just go to the coffee shop on campus,’ I told him.

‘No problem,’ he said, ‘But I’m still driving you home afterward.’

‘Colton,’ I called out, my tone exasperated. ‘You don’t have to do that. I can just—’

I hadn’t even finished my sentence, when he abruptly stopped walking. I paused in my steps as well, just as he turned to face me. ‘Look, I am not letting you walk back home when I am fully capable of driving you. The way I see it, you have two options. One, we practice at the coffee shop, and I’ll drive you home when we’re done. Or two, we practice at the bubble tea shop, and I’ll drive you home when we’re done. So, what is it going to be?’

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