50 Things I Hate About You

I Hate That You Live Next Door

Any hope that Onyx would take it easy on Olivia vanished a couple weeks later.

I was stirred awake at a quarter to seven by his shouting and slamming doors. I had hoped that once I'd showered and gotten ready he would have cooled down and left it alone. Nothing Olivia could have done could possibly piss him off to this extent. Especially with how emotional and closed off she'd been the last few months.

Stepping outside and on to the front porch I stopped mid step, my right foot still elevated off the ground. A familiar silver Mercedes was double parked behind Onyx's Mustang and there was no way for him to get out. Jefferey Howard stood in the middle of the driveway between the cars, hands thrown up in exasperation as he shouted profanities into through the open door-likely at Onyx.

Mondays and Thursdays Mom let me have the car as they were her off days. No errands, no last minute calls from her agent or illustrator to come down to the office. She was holed up inside the house binging rom-coms all morning or editing her manuscript.

As I made my way down my own driveway, I mentally scolded myself for being so damn nosy, but stopped as I realized that Onyx and his father were making it everyone's business by screaming at seven in the morning.

Seeing that the window was partially rolled down, I tossed my backpack in through it and walked around the car slowly.

"You can't! You can't just come and walk into our lives like you've been here! Get out of the way! I need to go to school!"

I heard Jeffery shout something back, but it was muffled by me climbing into my mom's Nissan and turning the key in the ignition. I grasped the steering wheel, but found my drama-craving self throwing a look over my shoulder to see if Jefferey had obliged and gotten into his car to move it so Onyx could leave. He hadn't budged from where he stood, but Onyx had gotten closer, brooding over his father, entire body tense. I could swear that he was ready to throw a punch at any given second.

So I lay on the horn. Not for Onyx or his piece of shit sperm donor, but for Olivia. This is the last thing she needs.

Both of them jump a few inches, Onyx so far back he rams into his car behind him. Their heads whip in my direction and I start to sink in my seat, feeling heat rushing to my cheeks.

At least it had brought them back to reality and stopped the fight from escalating further.

I had just forced myself upright in my seat again when the passenger side door was thrown open and Onyx through his backpack on top of mine on the floorboard and climbed in.

A little bit scared, a little bit confused, and a lot irritated by his sudden appearance should have had me able to stand my ground and tell him to get out. But all the left me was a weak, "What are you doing in my car?"

He doesn't even bother looking my way. "Drive."

I thought about snapping or sitting idly in the driveway until he got out, but the look in his eyes had me reconsidering and I pulled away from the house, not chancing looking his way again.

*

I was shocked to find Mikey alone in the cafeteria. He'd been spending so much time with Levi, I'd swear they were attached at the hip. Now, the tall, funny, and dreamy baseball player was no where to be seen, and unfortunately had taken Ty with him.

"Why the hell did Hayes get out of your car this morning?" Mike asked as soon as I set my tray down across from him.

I eyed him. "Well, hello to you too, Michael."

"Seriously, Rory, what the hell?"

"I don't really know. It all happened kind of fast." I explained. "One second he was in a vicious shouting match with his dad and the next he was in my car."

Mikey's dark brows drew in confusion. "So you offered to play chauffeur?"

"Mikey, he climbed into the car already agitated. It was way too early to argue."

He reached across the table and rested his hand on top of mine. "Look, Rory, all I'm say is it doesn't look good. You running after him a couple weeks ago out in the hallway, him coming out of your mom's car this morning. Ty's into you, but not for long if you keep this crap up. He hates Onyx."

Surprised, and a confused, I responded, "Look, Mike, I hate to burst your bubble but if Ty really is into me, he shouldn't feel even a little bit threatened by Onyx. I have shown every indication that I hate him for the last four years."

"But have you?"

I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying what I really wanted to say, and retracted my hand.

"Mikey, I'm not into Onyx, but I'm not a heartless piece of crap either. If I see that he's hurting, if I see shit going on at his house, I'm going to be a decent human being and help him. If that makes Ty not want to go out with me then oh well." I said in a quick breath, then added quieter, "Love is just an inevitable road to heartbreak anyway."

I expected a lash back out of Mikey, but his eyes were trained over my shoulder, widened a fraction, his Coke halfway to his mouth.

I felt the blood rush up the back of my neck into my face and slowly turned, expecting to find Ty standing behind me. Instead I found Onyx, head tilted to the side, eyes narrowed. Rather than embarrass me further, he nodded quickly then continued to the Courtyard.

*

I'd just broken apart from Mikey and Angie with a promise to see Mikey at work later when I caught sight of Onyx leaning against my mom's car texting.

"Can I help you?"

He tucked his phone into his pocket and made a gesture toward the car behind him. "You were my ride here, Sky. I need a ride home."

I looked at him, then around us-or more specifically every looking at us and leaning in to whisper to one another.

"This doesn't look good, Onyx."

He shrugged a shoulder. "You shouldn't care so much about what other people think."

I sighed and walked around him and unlocked the car, cursing quietly when I saw the sticky note I'd left this morning on the radio. "Dammit, I got to stop at the store on the way home."

"That's fine."

I pulled the sticky note down and stuck it on the cup holder as I started the car, waiting for him to gathering its bearings before I pulled out of the parking lot. Onyx waited until we were out on the main road to speak.

"I heard what you said in the cafeteria this afternoon."

"Yeah, that happens when you eavesdrop on a private conversation.

"Well, I appreciate it." he said, looking a little uncomfortable for a minute before a smirk starts to touch at his lips. "But for a girl who has a whole list of reasons why she hates me, you sure aren't acting like it."

I almost told him then that my mother had told me to befriend him and be nice, just to wipe that smug look off his face. But given the last couple weeks, I guess he kind of deserved to have a win for a few minutes, so I just shrugged.

"My dad asked who the hell you were when you laid on that horn this morning." he said.

I raised a brow, slowing the car to a stop at a red light and looking to him in the passenger seat.

He'd made himself comfortable, his head resting against the headrest, amused blue eyes on me.

"Yeah?" I responded, genuinely curious. "What'd you tell him?"

Onyx reached up to flex his arms behind his head and chuckled before he finally answered me.

"His worst nightmare."