started with a lie ➳ raura revised

Chapter Twenty-Nine

In the car, I can almost feel the thick cloud of tension between Ross and I. And if I could, I'd take the tension and throw it out the window. I look at Ross. He is driving and his shirt is still buttoned wrong and his hair is more tangled and messed up than mine is. I don't even want to think about how bad I must look right now.

The worst part?

My bra is still undone and slipping every few seconds and I am trying to keep my arms by my side to keep it still, but I can't. I also can't just be like, "Oh, hey, Ross? Could you please ignore me as I put my hands under my shirt and fix the bra that you so beautifully unclasped? Yeah, thanks."

Ross hasn't said one word to me and there is no way in hell I'm going to say anything because I'm still not done recovering from the holy greatness I unleashed when I let my hormones get the best of me and basically attacked him.

"So," Ross says and then coughs, "we're almost there." "Oh...," I reply, looking out the window. 

"Cool."

The hum of the engine and the sound of our car whizzing by is the only sound that lasts for a good thirty-minutes. Does Ross regret what we've done? I kind of gave him no choice as I pulled him onto me. Secretly I know that if we were given the choice to that again, I'd probably do it all over again and maybe ignore the honking car this time.

Around one, the sun shines at its highest power down and the car rolls to a stop slowly. All I see are trees and for a minute, I'm confused.

Ross wants to take me hiking?

"Okay, we're here," Ross announces, breaking me out of my thoughts and possibilities of what this could possibly be. How could a bunch of trees be where we were headed all this time? I try not to let my disappointment show.

Maybe this is Ross's hobby and he wants to show me a little part of him. I would love to hike for him and enter a day in his world, but I want today to be special though. I don't presume we'll be going on rendezvous dates any time soon again so it's kind of maybe our first and last real date. Not unless time stops, that is.

"Wow, it's very...," I say, searching for vibrant words to describe this. "Green."

"Are you up for some walking?" he says, trying to hold in a laugh as he presses his lips down into a line.

"A walk?" I ask. I look down at my knock-off  vans, plaid shirt, shorts, and say, "Sure, I'm up for a walk." I can't wait to see how many different species of insects will eat me.

"Good," Ross replies, grinning. And I can't help grinning back and for a moment, it feels normal again like the whole car scenario thing didn't happen. But by realizing how normal we were almost acting, it reminds me of the very un-normal make out and I almost choke on air. "You okay?" he says, patting down my back as I cough lightly.

"Oh, yeah, pfft, of course," I answer too quick.

He stares at me for a while and then shrugs before getting out of the car. He walks over the trees and starts looking around. I don't get why, it's just a bunch of trees. If our date is supposed to be walking around and looking at trees, I am going to jump o the next cliff  I see. Ross must have some idea on dating, right? He proved many times he did....

I wait in the car because I want to savor sitting down for the last few seconds. I also need to fix my bra which I hastily clasp.

He doesn't realize I'm still in the car and starts walking off without me.

Oh, I think. Whatever happened to our one day of fun? Is he on a date with himself?

Ross suddenly comes running back, looking sorry and I already know what I'm going to do. He comes around to my door and as he reaches the handle, I slam the door open on one very sensitive spot for men. Deja-vu.