Page 43 of Pit Stop

Thirty-One

Odette

I don’t have class for another couple of hours, but Onyx asked me to have coffee with her the moment I showed up downstairs. Of course I agreed, because as happy as I am that things have landed where they have with Tillman, I’m also incredibly overwhelmed. I know I can’t deny what I feel for him and I wouldn’t want to. Somehow, we are truly connected on a completely different level, like magnets almost. Tillman is what I want, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that Onyx might think we’re going too fast—with everything with Lyle that just settled. As I head outside, I stop to grab my purse and bookbag for the day. Onyx is waiting in the car, music blaring, windows down and wind in her hair. This is the story of Onyx’s life. I’m not even buckled up before Onyx has us flying down the street towards one of the local coffee trucks, One Stop Drink Hop.

I feel like it’s a matter of seconds when the bright orange drink truck comes into view. The line is five cars long already. This place is so popular, but I totally get why. The girl that runs the truck does all kinds of drinks like coffees, sodas, teas, and energy mixes as well as protein shakes and smoothies. It is literally a one stop for any drink you want. Plus, she keeps her prices cheaper than anyone else in the area… almost half the price of everyone else. I don’t know how, but she does. Onyx parks us in line as we wait. She looks over at me. I shrug my shoulders after a few moments. “What?” I yell over the music.

She opens her mouth and says something, but I can’t hear her. I reach forward and turn the music down. Onyx sits up a little straighter. “Hey, why’d you turn the music off?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Maybe, because you were trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear you over the volume of the music.”

“It wasn’t that loud,” she huffs out.

My eyes bug out in her direction. “Have you suddenly become deaf? It was so loud. What did you say anyways?”

Her face lights up with excitement and she zeroes back in on me. I’m not sure when the last time was that I saw Onyx this excited. “So…” She eyes me expectantly, as if I know what she’s talking about.

I keep waiting for her to continue but she never does. “So... what?”

Onyx growls in frustration and throws her hands up in the air. “You’re impossible.”

“I’m not following.”

“You and Tillman, silly. That’s what! What the hell is going on?” she asks.

I start to fidget and squirm under her watchful eyes. Shaking my head, I look out the window. “Nothing really.”

“Bullshit!” I spin around to stare at Onyx. “There’s totally something going on. The two of you share like this electrical charge any time you’re in the room together. It’s a sexual tension you could literally sink a knife into. Then you came out of his room this morning. I didn’t miss that, you know. Not to mention that there were multiple seats open at the table and he chose to sit next to you.”

I sigh. “I don’t exactly know what's going on with us. I mean yes, all of what you said is true, but we haven’t fully talked about the details or labels of the ordeal. All I know is one minute he felt like I deserved better and wasn’t capable of deciding for myself and the next he had a totally different idea.”

“Yeah, that might have been my fault,” Onyx admits, looking slightly sheepish.

This is news to me, and I think my body reacts the same. My hand darts out wrapping around her wrist and forcing her to look at me. “What do you mean?” Onyx explains about a conversation she had with Tillman yesterday after we got back and they were all unloading the things from Lyle’s and Finders Keepers. “I can’t believe you said that to him.”

“Oh, come on!” She shakes her head and moves the car up one spot. “You can’t tell me you aren’t happier right now than you were then because you are. You deserve to be happy. He just needed a little push. It’s what he wanted too.”

That’s my first concern. I’m now worried he changed his mind because of what my sister said to him and not because it’s what he wants. “Do you really think he wants it too?”

“Yes! The way that man looks at you... it’s like you hold the entire world in your hands. He adores you. Granted it was quick, but they say that when you know you just know.” She shrugs her shoulders.

We move up another spot and I sigh. “Do you think it’s too quick? I mean considering everything with Lyle and whatnot.”

“Let me ask you this. Were you in love with Lyle?” Onyx asks.

I shake my head and reply, “No.”

“Why were you with him then?”

Ugh. This is an answer I don’t want to give because it sounds so horrible. “Because it was a place for Odin and me to stay. I didn’t have enough money to get a place on my own for us. I needed to make sure that Odin was taken care of. In that sense I used Lyle and it’s not something I’m proud of.”

Onyx scoffs. “I don’t care if you take him for everything he’s worth. After everything he did to you, he deserves it. I’m just getting to the point where if you never had any real feelings for Lyle then there was nothing to mend or get over. You’re free and it’s okay to want what you want.”

“I really like Tillman, but what if it’s just another mistake?”

Onyx looks over and smiles at me. “I talked to Decker. Tillman is one of the good ones. Just be yourself and go for what you want, and everything will work out.”

My hand locks around Onyx’s. “Thank you.”

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