HOLD ME CLOSER (BL/BXB)

Thirty-One

"Take this seat. Sit there, comfortably. Relax and just . . . Oh . . . Wait. The seatbelt." He shoved me inside the front seat of his car and was about to put my seatbelt on.

"I can do it." I held the seatbelt and buckled it.

"Okay. Stop whining and be obedient."

"What am I? A dog?" I asked. My blood started to boil at how he treated me as if I were one of his subordinates to boss around. Her sister was the only one who could do that to me.

"No. You're not obviously a dog. I would like to compare you to a prince. And I would probably be your knight in shining armor by the way I carried you there." He stepped on the drivers seat. I could help but feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment. For a few seconds, I fell silent, and he started the engine. Ate Lucy for sure saw everything, and that was another slap of embarrassment on my face.

"You're blushing." He smirked after peeking at my face as he was already driving the car out of the place.

"I am not."

"Just stating the obvious."

"I told you I am not." I hit him on his arm.

"Don't hit me. That’s not a good idea." His expression changed. Then, when he noticed, I was not responding to any of his remarks. He was just giggling while driving. The smile never left his face, which made me smile.

We got to the town where the cafe was. It was bigger obviously and reeked business. People were on their phonecalls or texting as they were treading their way on the sidewalk. Most of them ate in a hurry as it was already 8:30 in the morning. Scott stopped the car on the front of a coffee shop. I supposed that this was the shop his sister was talking about.

"That’s it." He confirmed my thoughts.

We quickly mase our way to find the manager and told them about the cakes they ordered. Once confirmed and the payment was given to Scott, a few of the staff followed us and helped us take out the cakes and bring them inside the coffee shop. The smell of coffee in the air conditioning unit had been filling up the entire area, making me want to stay for a bit. There were a few customers, and they were giving us looks as we placed the boxes on a small desk behind the counter. The manager proceeded to check if they were the right ones they ordered and thanked us after.

Once done, I could feel bead of sweat forming on the temples of my head. I looked over at Scott, who was experiencing the same. The boxes made us work out in the early morning. The manager gave us free coffees and donuts. We politely declined at first, but they insisted. It was a great timing because we hadn’t had our breakfast yet, and the orphanage would take us a few hours away since they were in a much larger city, crowded, and we were expecting heavy traffic.

We stopped by the nearest fast food restaurant and had our lunch. We were kind of in a hurry because we only expected it to be a half-day delivery, but it took us too long. We got to the orphanage. My gratitude extends to the expressway as there were not many vehicles trailing in. Instead of a possible two hours and a half trip, we are able to spend an hour on our way to our next location.

I saw the kids watch the car get inside the walls of the orphanage, which made them unable to see whats on the other side. They were curious about the new visitors. Some of them even stopped playing on the field just to look who was coming. It made me think that they should probably look if we were just normal visitors or parent that would be adopting one of them.

They waited on the front door entrance of the building. It was a two story establishment with the outside wall filled with painted cartoons. The door was colorful as well, and there were a few adults lurking around to keep the children in check.

"Hi. From Lucy?" A lady brought herself up to us and asked us. A shy little boy who was on her waist length jogged his way behind her and hid in her shadows. He thought that I wouldn’t nofice how he peeked from behind, and I gave him a smile.

"This is Joel." The lady introduced him. "It's his birthday."

"Oh, hi. Happy birthday." I waved at him, and he waved back. Other kids went to meet us, and those who were old enough helped us bring the cakes and baked goods inside. They happily jogged our way in. The laughter filled the hallways, and they sang the birthday song uncoordinately. I gave a little giggle at how overloaded the cuteness was.

Unfortunately, the heavy traffic kicked in. We were stuck in the middle of a busy road with humongous trucks on both sides of the Scott's car. Thankfully, we ate a lot before leaving the city.

I giggled at how Scott kept cursing at the steering wheel as if all this was the car's fault.

"What?" He asked. The annoyance made his brows knit together.

"Calm down. Chill a little bit. We will be able to go hime in no time."

"Yeah." He sighed.

"Oh, you had your phone with you?" I asked. "I forgot mine in your house."

"Oh, I see that why you're so bored all the way here." He commented.

"Not really." I replied. "Please lend me your phone. I'll just text Sasha to tell Rowland that I wouldn't be able to meet him later."

"Good."

"What do you mean good?" I asked.

"I hate that guy." I was not able to reply to him as I was busy texting Sasha about it after he gave me his phone.

"What the?" His phone just died just after hitting the send button.

"Damn, I have no charger with me." He told me.

It almost took us eternity for us to get out of the heaviest traffic we have ever been to. The skies had turned yellow, and it would soon turn dark. The streets were empty. I was not familiar with the road we had taken, but obviously, we made a detour that I did not care to ask Scott since he knew this route more than anyone.

But what we thought that we were lucky enough to get out of the traffic would continue until we got home. Bad luck followed us here, and the car suddenly stopped.

"Damn it." He cursed.

"What happened? Is it the engine? Gas?"

"Gas."

***
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