I grit my teeth against the pain that now began to pound throughout my skull. I touched my temple with my hand, wincing at the gesture. A cloudy memory seemed to envelop my mind, bits, and pieces of someone who looked quite similar to Chase, and another who looked almost identical to James appeared in front of me, a heated conversation between the two was happening.
"Why are you always like this ----," The one who looked similar to James shouted towards the other. I stumbled backward, shaking my head, trying to figure out whether what I was seeing was real or not.
"Hey, are you alright?" James grasped my left shoulder softly, his chocolate brown eyes staring intently into mine. Concern plastered his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I smiled, biting my tongue against the pain radiating from my head as it began to subside.
"Are you sure?" James squeezed my shoulder ever so slightly in reassurance. I placed my pale hand on his chest, pushing him away from me.
"I'm positive," I said, keeping my arm out in front of me, my words beginning to reveal my annoyance. I felt another, much stronger grip on my right shoulder, that yanked me backward, away from James.
"Are we ready to go?" My mother smiled fakely, clearly frustrated with James. The tension in the room seemed to grow more robust. Mrs. Lewis, glared at him, still infuriated.
"Let's head out, we only have so much time to wander through the city today," Mrs. Lewis swiftly spun on her heel, walking towards the intimidating front doors, her burgundy dress swirling around her ankles. I rubbed my shoulder where my mother had grasped me, feeling the imprints from her red painted nails that had dug into my skin. James walked out the grand door, stopping outside on the stone path, checking to see if I was following. I looked back inside before exiting only to see Chase aggressively sweeping up the disaster on the floor. I stared at him a moment, before his gaze met my own and I quickly turned away.
The outside air was clean and fresh. It felt cool against my skin, much different from the blistering hot weather that plagued us yesterday. A gentle breeze rustled through the aspens and pines that surrounded our property, stirring each leaf, pine needle, and branch. Robins sang to the sun, and the squirrels scampered in all directions as we walked down the old stone path, to the cars that were parked in our driveway. As I looked there was, of course, our red Chevy which had been parked in the same spot since yesterday, but there was, alongside it, another car, which I assumed to be Mrs. Lewis's. The white 2018 Ford Mustang parked in the driveway beside our red Chevy made us look poor and out of place.
Our footsteps padded against the stone path as we continued to walk. The earthy scent from yesterday's rain flooded into my nostrils as we continued to move, James accompanied me silently while our mothers chatted in front of us. They were discussing how the move was, what the countryside was like, along with many other things that I can't seem to recall. I felt somewhat awkward as we walked, the silence killing me.
"How far is the town from here?" I asked with curiosity to no one in particular as we reached the Mustang. I didn't want to be stuck in a stuffy car with these people who I didn't know for too long. Because of where we now lived and the vastness of our property, I had no clue whether or not we had any neighbors at all, which made me believe we lived solitarily. I had not even the slightest clue as to how far away the city was from here, which made me nervous as I thought about being in a small car, driving through the woods. I shivered at the thought of it.
"Only ten minutes," James said, a small smile crossing his face as a gentle breeze blew his blonde curls about, "so don't worry, you won't have to be stuck in a car with me for too long," he winked, opening the white Mustang's supremely clean door on the passenger side in the back. "Ladies first," he bowed, in a way that seemed to mimic a standard gentleman. I rolled my eyes and entered the car. Each of the four seats within the car was created by authentic black leather that was smooth to the touch, yet sturdy nonetheless. All of the windows in the car were tinted, however, the tint in the front was quite lighter than the tint in the back.
The shortage of a fifth seat in the Mustang forced me to sit, sadly, beside James. Although we had just barely met, I felt as though we weren't going to get along. He seemed too arrogant for my liking, and to be frank, rude overall. I crossed my right leg over the top of my left, all the while placing my hands in my lap, interlacing them after placing the seatbelt in its spot. James shut my door and walked over to the driver's side in the back, where he too entered the car.
The interior was clean, clearly taken care of and the new car scent wafted into my nose. However, this scent quickly faded into the faint smell of exotic cologne mixed with perfume that invaded my nostrils. Once buckled, Mrs. Lewis and my mother entered the Mustang as well. Mrs. Lewis turned towards us, smiling sweetly.
"I hope the car isn't too small, the city is only a measly ten minutes away and once we're there we'll be able to explore on foot!" She said excitedly. James looked out the car window, his arms crossed over his chest as his mother started it, the engine roaring to life. While doing so she began speaking to my mother some more.
I glanced towards James, studying his features. His dirty blonde hair seemed more curly on the ends rather than on the top of his head where it was mostly just wavy. His skin was sunkissed and the black button-down shirt he wore revealed the outline of his biceps through the fabric. The first two buttons on his shirt were undone, exposing his tan collar bones. On top of that, he had high cheekbones and a cutting jawline. There was no denying it whatsoever, he was attractive, but that didn't mean much to me, he was too ill-mannered, at least from what I could tell.
"Now, how much longer are you going to keep staring at me before I tell you to stop?" James ran his right hand through his flat curls, looking at me straight in the eye as he turned away from the tinted window and smirked. "It felt like your eyes were boring holes into my skin."
"Correction, I wasn't staring at you", I stated, matter of factly, "I was studying your features." I returned his gaze, my face slightly pink.
"Oh? You were just studying me? Then what's up with your expression and," he ran a rough finger against my cheek, "the
redness on your face?" James smiled at me, his voice an enticing whisper as he spoke.
I grabbed him by the wrist firmly, abruptly moving his hand away from my face. "Do you expect me not to? It's not like I've ever met you before," I spoke in a hushed tone.
"Whatever you say," James laughed, smiling. Dimples were prominent on his cheeks, and his teeth were perfectly straight. I dropped his hand onto his lap all the while keeping it away from me. I looked towards the front of the car, seeing our mothers still chatting about, paying us no mind.
"Mother," I said, "Where in the city are we going?"
"I'm not too sure yet, but why don't you two chat a bit more? Get to know each other better," She smiled her pearly white smile while looking at us through the rear view mirror.
"Get to know him?" I asked in disbelief, as I spared James a second long glance, he looked right into my eyes, a smirk still plastered on his face. "You're joking, right?" My mother was still looking at us through the rearview mirror.
"Is it such a bad thing to get to know me?" He asked sarcasm leaking through a sad facade. "How rude, and to think we've just barely met and you don't want to learn more about me, I feel hurt," James placed his right hand on his chest, staring at me with a gloomy face and mischievous eyes.
"Makayla," my mother began, her voice already seeming to tell me, you need to try to get along, I sighed and rolled my eyes, crossing my pale arms over my chest.
"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled in disdain. My mother gave me a final small smile, before returning to her previous conversation. I ran my hand across my flattened hair.
"So are you going to make conversation or what?" I asked harshly, looking at James whose eyes widened in surprise when I spoke to him in a cold tone. He sat back against the black leather seat smugly and began tapping his finger against the dark-colored armrest.
"Well, Ms. Clark, what would you like to converse about? Your passions? The move? Or dare I say it, your favorite color?" James asked sarcastically, a smile dancing on his lips. I glared at him, anger heating my face.
"How about we don't speak to each other, at all, sound like a plan?" I gritted my teeth as I spoke to him, but he just shrugged, making me assume that he didn't care. My eyes wandered over to the tinted window beside me, the woods outside surrounded our land as the car began to approach the steel gate which opened automatically.
The shimmering black gate towered much higher above us than it did when my family arrived here in our Chevy just one day prior. Just past the gate, trees surrounded our property. The sun cast down beams of light onto each individual tree which created ominous shadows throughout the woods. Fog lined the forest floor, and although it was sunny out, the woods made me feel utterly unsafe as we exited our property.