Fifty Shades of Average

Chapter 14

"You can crash at my place for the night if you want to." He offers.

"No, it's okay. I would just like to get home. Please... just take me home." I give him a weak smile and turn my head away quickly. What with my smeared mascara and eyeliner, I must look like hell.

"Your wish is my command." The engine purrs as we continue to drive on the busy roads. This must be a really high maintenance car.

"Where to?" he asks.

"UCLA, please. Just drop me off at the dorms."

"You go there?"

"Yeah," I answer, suddenly not in the mood for conversation when the realization of what could've happened to me tonight hits.

"What year?" He pushes on, oblivious to the detached tone in my voice.

"Freshman, it's my first year."

He glances over at me before asking, "You're 18 then?"

"17, I finished high school a year early."

"So how'd you get into the club?" he questions without looking at me directly.

"I think my friend made me a fake ID or something of that sort," I say uncomfortably. I realize that I'm giving this stranger too much information about me, especially when he wouldn't spill anything at all about himself. I shut my mouth and my attention drifts elsewhere.

I let out a small gasp when my eyes catch sight of his bruised and bloody knuckles on the steering wheel.

He sits up straighter and asks, "You okay?"

"Your knuckles...they're all bloody and bruised! This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me," I say more to myself than him. "You should definitely get that checked out, you may need stitches... God, this is all my fault. Sorry for getting you into this."

He laughs lightly. "These are nothing. Quite frankly, I'm used to it. I've had worse, much worse," he admits.

"Is that how you learned how to fight?"

"Yes. But I was wondering, when you were able to get rid of the guy who was holding you hostage, why didn't you run away to save yourself?" He asks, genuinely curious.

I roll my eyes at his stupid question and respond, "I wasn't gonna leave you there. I couldn't let them hurt you, especially since you did save me."

"So you risked your freedom just to come back for someone you barely know?"

"You barely know me, but you still came to my rescue," I point out. "What kind of person would I be to just leave you there and only think about my safety?"

"Every other person would have done that," he runs his hands through his dark hair.

I shrug and reply, "Well, that would be selfish on my part."

He turns his head and I can feel his gaze burning into the side of my head. It isn't a very comfortable feeling because they make little butterflies erupt in the pit of my stomach. How is he driving smoothly and looking at me at the same time? I turn my my head to the left, meeting his gaze, and finally say to him, "What?"

"Nothing. You're --- That's different."

I can feel my face heat up at those words. Flustered, I mumble, "K-Keep your eyes on the road. One life threatening event for the night was enough, I don't need two."

I turn my gaze back to the windshield and not shortly after, I hear a consistent buzzing vibrating from my purse. After digging my phone out among the many other things in my purse, I look at the caller ID and find that it's Talie. Double crap, I've missed four other calls from her.