High School Sweethearts

•10•

I see the little gym rat in his sweats and tank top walk out and he gets in my car.
"Everything okay?" He asks.
"Absolutely not" I say.
"What's going on?" He asks, a little more concerned.
"So I can't tell you but just know it's stupid boy drama and I need a distraction" I explain.
"Boy drama? With who?" He asks.
Ugh I shouldn't have even mentioned anything.
"Someone from New York, it doesn't matter, want to go on a drive?" I ask.
"Sure" he shrugs. "I'll drive"
We get in his car and I buckle up as he starts the car.
We pull out of the parking lot and he starts his drive out of town, not far, just enough to get away from the chaos of London.
"Talk to me Elle, who's being mean to you?" He asks.
"What do you think of friends with benefits?" I ask and his eyes widen.
"What?" He laughs.
"Not including me or anyone, just in general" I say.
"Okay well.. I personally think it's a bad idea" he says.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think if two people want to be together, they should be together, if they don't, and just want sex, they should find someone else. Don't ruin friendships for sex." He says.
"Now say.. it's not about sex, or at least not yet..." I start.
"Elle, is my brother trying to get in your pants?" He asks and I burst out laughing.
"What?!" I ask.
"Harry has done this several times. He never thinks I find out but I always do" he says. "Trust me, you don't want to get involved with my brother, he will break your heart, And I don't want to see you broken"
"Oh my god Tom I swear on my soul It's not your brother!" I laugh.
"Harrison?" He asks.
"No! It's not anything. Forget about it." I say.
"I know you're lying about something, but it's okay. I won't push you" he says. "How'd your photoshoot go?"
He changed the subject and I smile, he's so sweet. I go on to tell him all about the photoshoot, the crazy mishap with them wanting me to model lingerie, the fat shaming, and the good parts. I then go on to tell him more about my time in New York, my jobs, friends, everything, and he tells me about his life here. We truly can't run out of things to talk about.
We're driving backroads now, blasting music. It's getting pretty late but we don't care, we're having too much fun to care.
"Let's go here" he says, pulling over to a dirt road.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"Ah just an entrance to an old camp site we use to go to. It has a lake and I have a very fond memory of Sam getting sprayed by a skunk here" he says and I laugh.
The car stops and we get out.
"Here" he throws me an extra hoodie from his backseat. I pull it on over me and walk alongside him as he leads me down the trail to the lake.
"We bring the boat and jet skis out here every summer" he says.
"I've always been too scared to go on a jet ski, I'm not a good swimmer" I say.
"Well you'll have to come out with me sometime, I'll keep you safe" he says.
We make our way further down, and we're surrounded by trees. We hear crunching coming from around a few trees. Tom stops and looks to where it's coming from.
"What is that?" I ask.
"I don't know" he says.
We hear it again and Tom grabs my arm, pulling me close to him and pulling out his pocket knife.
"Well what the fuck are you going to do with that? Carve our initials into a tree?!" I whisper yell at him.
"Stab a bear? I don't know!" He whisper yells back.
The sound gets closer and Tom points his phone flashlight in its direction.
"Oh my god" I laugh.
We see a deer walking though and Tom puts his knife away.
"So much for my legendary bear fight" Tom frowns.
"Aww Thomas, you would have died" I say.
"And you would have been alive to tell the world of my bravery" he grins proudly.
We finally get down to the lake and find a log to sit on.
"So I have to know" he starts. "Modeling, dream career?"
"I like it, I really do. I just want to be more" I say
"We all want to be somebody, but don't sell yourself short. Your career isn't all that determines who you are" he says. "You're an amazing girl all on your own."
"Thank you Tom, you're great as well" I smile, side hugging him.
He tells me a few stories about his camping trips up here with his family. They all seem very close. I wish my family was close, but my sister lives far away with her husband, and my parents are always busy.
"We should head back.. we have school tomorrow" he says.
"Orrr, we could ditch?" I say and his mouth drops.
"Mrs. Saltzman that is terrible!" He says sarcastically.
"Come onnn Tom, have a little fun" I say. "We can keep driving, get a hotel room?"
"I guess we could tell our parents were staying at Harrison's house" he says and I cheer.
"Yes! Let's fucking do it!" I say.
"We're 18 we're adults. This is fine" he says.
Poor thing feels guilty aww.
We walk back to his car, and drive to the nearest town.
My phone dings and I look at it.
Mom: when will you be home? Getting a bit late.
Elle: staying the night at Harrison's!
Mom: okay! Hope the shoot went well!
My phone dings again and I check it.
Haz: hey, hope you're feeling better. I was thinking I could pick you up for school tomorrow early and we could go get breakfast?
I sit and think about what to say, I don't really have a reason to lie to him at this point. I could just say I went over to Toms once I started feeling better.
Elle: I won't be going to school tomorrow, but we can hang out tomorrow evening?
Haz: why won't you be at school? Are you sick?
I roll my eyes at his questioning.
Toms phone dings.
"Hey can you check that for me?" He asks.
I grab his phone and check the text.
Haz: are you with Elle?
"My god" I mutter under my breath and Tom raises a brow at me.
"Everything okay?" He asks.
"Why is Haz obsessed with knowing where I am and who I'm with? Like Jesus Christ it's not like he's my boyfriend" I say out of pure frustration.
"What?" Tom asks.
"He's just asking if you're with me" I say.
"Tell him no then" Tom shrugs.
"He'll know you're lying when we both don't show up tomorrow, and it'll look like something it's not if we lie" I say.
"That's true, just say we're going on a little road trip"