Page 16 of What Are The Odds?
I pulled up my notes app to write down Ryan and Will’s orders, then ushered Grace outside. Ryan had pulled in behind me, boxing my car in. I gestured to Grace’s car.
“All good if we take yours?”
She looked a bit anxious. “Okay. But just be warned, I’m still getting used to driving here.”
“As long as you don’t kill me, we won’t have a problem.”
Grace’s car was as girly as they came. It was a bright green hatchback. I hadn’t pegged her for the cute-car-type. I slid the seat all the way back before climbing in. Cars like this weren’t designed for guys like me. My eyes widened in surprise when I closed the door. The air freshener was so sweet, I practically had an instant headache.
“The car isn’t mine,” Grace said, as if reading my mind. “It belongs to my friend. As heckers as it is, it’s not worth buying one of my own.”
“Heckers?”
“Oh.” She blushed. “Must be an Australian thing.”
The moment she started the car, loud music blasted. Hurriedly Grace reached forward, turning it down.
“Does it go any louder?” I mocked.
She shrugged, nonchalantly. “Music should always be loud enough that you can’t hear yourself singing.”
“You like music?”
“Big time.”
“What type?”
The song playing now wasn’t one I’d heard before. I didn’t even recognise the band name on the screen.
“Australian Indie,” I suppose. “You know, like Spacey Jane. Ball Park Music. Ocean Alley. Skeggs.”
She pulled away from the curb and followed my instructions to drive straight.
“I haven’t heard of any of those bands,” I told her.
“Disappointing but not surprising.” The corners of her lips turned up. “Don’t worry, Holloway. While I’m here I can give you a music education.”
I tried to gage whether she was being flirtatious or not. Usually with girls it was easy to tell. Maybe that was because, more often than not, it was. As egotistical as it sounded, I’d always been able to get any girl I wanted. Put it down to being six-foot-three and good at sport. Dumb, I know. But a reality, nonetheless. Grace was just as outgoing as the girls I was able to read. But she wasn’t saying things to impress me or turn me on. She was just being her. I kind of liked that.
“How long is your exchange?”
Some students only did a semester.
“The full school year. I’ll head home after graduation.” She slowed at an intersection. “Do I have to give way to that car or are they waiting for me?”
“You’re good to go.”
She accelerated, albeit slowly. I gave her a few more directions until we were pulling into the Taco Bell drive through. I handed Grace my phone so she could read Will and Ryan’s orders into the speaker. When they asked what she was after, she pulled her lip between her teeth and frantically scanned the board.
“You go first,” she told me.
After rattling off my order and Grace deciding she wanted exactly the same, she drove to the next window. As she was handing me back my phone, a message from Veronica came through. There wasn’t much to it. Just the wordtonightfollowed by a question mark. Grace arched an eyebrow.
“Girlfriend?”
Shaking my head, I slipped my phone back in my pocket. “I don’t do girlfriends.”
“The captain of the ice hockey team doesn’t do girlfriends?” she mocked. “How surprising.”
