Broken

• Chapter 10 •

"So, how was your night?"

I shift my position in the passenger seat so my back is leaning on the door, I fold my left leg and tilt my head onto the window. "Entertaining, to say the least," I tell him with a yawn.

"I met two psychos. Aya and Hana," I continue.

A chortle escapes Eric's mouth as he shakes his head and widens his eyes. "Yeah... Aya's quite out there... Hana's something else," he shrugs. "But they're good people, you can stick to them."

I snort, "Thanks for your approval."

"Anytime," he winks, causing me to roll my eyes. "You ready for school, then?" he asks hopefully, a smug smirk playing on his face with the knowledge that I'm going to be less nervous to go to school, now.

I decide not to give him the satisfaction. "No," I tell him half-truthfully.

He frowns, and I decide to elaborate. "I don't know. I guess I just want to get the year over with and just go to Uni. It was hard enough socializing at that party, I don't know," I shrug.

He's quiet for a moment. "You're overthinking this, it's just high school. You're gonna have to go out into the world eventually and socialize with human beings. So just relax, you'll be fine. We'll just party a lot and make memories we won't be able to remember the next day because of how shitfaced we are," he reassures me with a slight smile.

I laugh at this, getting drunk and making memories with Eric is definitely something I want to do. I suddenly grow quiet, a shy smile on my face when I say, "I'd like that."

His eyes meet mine and his face drops slightly at my expression. He turns his eyes back to the road and remains quiet for the rest of the drive home.

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"Thanks for tonight."

We're standing at my front door, and it's kind of awkward. I don't know why, but he's acting weird. Was it something I said? We stand and look at each other for a moment. An uneasy look is planted on his face.

"Sure thing," he suddenly snaps out of it and offers me a friendly smile.

And it's quiet again. The tension is thick, my gaze wanders to his lips. Is he nervous? Does he want to kiss me? I mean we weren't on a date per se, but maybe?

"Goodnight," he finally says. Guess not. My face can't help but fall slightly in disappointment. "I'll see you tomorrow morning?" he adds guiltily when it's evident my hope has deflated.

Is it that hard to kiss me? What the hell, Eric? I give him a tight-lipped nod and go into the house, closing the door behind me without saying another word. Shit is never awkward or tense between us, what the fuck is happening? I settle with the fact that we're both pretty tired and leave it at that.

Maybe I'm just overthinking shit.