I Broke The Girl I Loved

Stupid Swedish Fish

"Hand me the keys I'm driving," Aydrian said. Her smile kept faltering but she looked like she was trying hard to keep up this mask so I pretended not to notice and played along.

"Hell no," I replied.

"Oh come on," she begged.

"No. My baby is too precious."

"Your car can't be that..." I pointed over to where it was and her jaw dropped. "Holy cow! Can I please drive?"

"Like I said beautiful," I was now dangling the keys in her face before wrapping my hands around them and opening the passenger door for her to get in. "Hell no."

"Fine," she fake pouted as she got in the car and I shut the door.

I walked around the front of the car and got in the driver's seat.

"Are you gonna pout the whole time?" I asked, teasing her.

"Not if I can be DJ," she said. Aydrian looked over at me and stuck her hand out waiting for me to give her my phone. I took my phone out of my pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to her. The first thing she played was Payphone by Maroon Five.

"Oh my," I said as I glanced over at her to see her belting out the lyrics to the song at the top of her lungs. This time her smile looked genuine but I couldn't tell because I had to look back at the road. There was something off about her today, something different about her from the first time I met her.

                                      •••

"I thought you had work?" Aydrian asked as I pulled into my driveway.

"I do, but I have to grab my work clothes," I responded. "Wait here."

She stayed in the car as I ran inside to grab my apron. I switched my shirt and left the hoodie on my bed. I ran back downstairs and out the door, locking it behind me. When I got back in the car I threw my apron in the back seat and Aydrian reached back to grab it. She giggled as she held it up.

"Where in the world do you work?" She asked, still laughing at me.

"You're gonna laugh at me," I replied, starting the car.

She snorted. "I'm already laughing, you dork. Might as well tell me before we get there."

"You know, I didn't take you as the skipping type. The you last night was different than this," I stated, hoping that maybe I'd be able to pry something out of her that would help me figure out what changed.

Aydrian started fiddling with her fingers again as she glued her eyes to her lap. This was the Aydrian I remember from last night. The quiet one who stared down as she messed with her fingers. I had only known her for two days so I guess I shouldn't be quick to judge. Maybe this was the real Aydrian and last night was a false version of Aydrian that she had put up.

"Is that a bad thing?" She asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Not at all, it's just different." That made her go quiet.

"I hear that a lot," she whispered.

"From who?" She looked up and smiled but it didn't reach her eyes the way it did when she was laughing in class earlier today.

"Oh, no one. Anyways, are you going to tell me where you work or am I just going to have to find out when we get there?" She questioned.

                                       •••

"You work at The Sweet Shoppe?" She asked. We had parked down a side street and I made her close her eyes as I guided her to the candy shop. Once we were standing in front of it I told her she could open her eyes and when she did she burst out laughing.