The Art of Falling Apart (It Girls Series #3)

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Mirae

Eli and I were both silent while we're inside his car. The only noise that I could hear was coming from his radio.

Sheryl and Adrian were in a separate car. At first, Sheryl was skeptical with the idea of me and Eli being alone in his car.

She said she can't trust Eli because she's a manwhore, and Sheryl said that without blinking right in front of Eli.

She may be right, but I think Eli and I are friends... and I can see that he is more than the manwhore that everyone is trying to label him.

"You good?" He suddenly says, giving me a brief glance as he maneuvers the steering wheel using his large, muscular, and veiny arms.

I can even see the tattoo on his forearm while I'm seated here on his passenger's seat.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm good."

I noticed his jaw clenched before adjusting himself on his seat. Clearing his throat he asks, "So, what are you gonna do tonight?"

"When we get to our dorm?" I ask for clarification.

He just nods, his eyes still fixed on the road.

"I'm going to cook dinner first, you can join us if you want. And then after that," I pause the second I recall a bad memory that I had with him at the supermarket.

That one time where he accused me of teaching his sister on how to cheat.

"And then what?" He repeats, looking at me briefly.

I grin. "I'll continue my sideline as a bad influence nursing student who teaches people how to cheat," I say, trying to tease him.

He immediately snapped his head towards me, staring at me with those wide, beautiful eyes. "I..."

He closes his mouth and then he opens it again. "Mirae, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I was an asshole who knew nothing. If I could just turn back time, I wouldn't—"

Chuckling a little, I cut him off. "Eli, it's okay. I was just teasing you. Relax," I tell him.

He sighs and then he shakes his head. "No, Mirae, really. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." He says and I can feel the sincerity in his words.

I smile at him and nod, "Yeah, it's okay now. Don't worry about it anymore. We're friends now," I say.

Or at least for me.

He looks at me and snorted, "Just friends?"

"Ha-ha," I say rolling my eyes at him. Maybe I should get use to Eli's flirty side and I have to take note that they don't mean anything because I guess this is how Eli is around his friends.

"So you're going to hustle tonight?" He suddenly says after a few moment of silence.

"I hustle everyday," I say.

"Right," he nods. "Shall we go to a drive-thru?"

"Huh? Why?"

"To buy dinner," he says.

"I'm cooking dinner."

"Cross that out to your to-do-list tonight, you have a lot of essays to do, right?" he says, as he make a turn to the nearest drive-thru.

He didn't even wait for my response and he didn't even try to throw me a brief glance, because maybe he thinks that I'm currently looking at him with full of disagreement.

And thank God, he decided not to give me a brief glance this moment like what he's been doing the whole drive, because I'm afraid he'll see how stupid I look as I stare at him with nothing but appreciation.