“What?” I ask as I near both him and the car.
“Well?” he prompts. Raising his eyebrows, he gives the vehicle a nod. I run my eyes over the white bodywork for anything significant, but there’s nothing of interest. “Do you even know what car this is?” He looks at me as though I’m stupid, like I don’t know what an airbag is or something, and to prove a point I walk around to the back of the vehicle and study its logo. Four interlinked metal circles.
“An Audi?” I guess.
“An Audi R8,” he finishes with an obnoxious smirk, his expression smug.
“Okay,” I say. “Do you want me to applaud you or something?”
He laughs as he places a hand on the top of his door. “Girls are clueless. You’d probably pass out if you saw the price tag on this thing.”
“Get over yourself,” I murmur, shaking my head and reaching for the door. I carelessly slide inside to discover that there are only two seats, and everything is leather and metallic, and perhaps he is right about this car being expensive, and so I keep my mouth shut.
“Call Tiffani,” he says as he joins me inside, slamming the door behind him. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he tosses his phone onto my lap and starts the engine.
“You mean your girlfriend who you like to either be all over or completely ignore?”
The corner of his lips pull up into a smirk, and my stomach churns in disgust. I have never in my entire life met someone with this many flaws, who thinks that everything is a joke.
“You’re an ass,” I mutter, gripping his phone in my hand and angling my body away from him. I stare out the window as he over-revs the engine and sends us flying down the avenue.
“Call her,” he says again. “I have no idea where we’re going.”
I heave a sigh and sit up, turning the device around in my hands and staring at the screen for a while. “Pass code?”
“Four, three, five, five.”
Quickly I type in the digits and unlock his phone. I pull up his contacts. “Is that your favorite number or does it stand for a word or—”
“It spells out hell,” he bluntly answers. But despite his monotone, he keeps his eyes on the road and tightens his grip on the wheel. “Call her.”
Obeying his request, which is more like a demand, I scroll through his list of contacts until I find Tiffani’s number. I take notice of the unbelievable amount of numbers he has saved, the majority of which are girls’. And then I call his girlfriend.
“Baby, what’s up?” Tiffani says once she picks up, and I scrunch up my nose at the use of the pet name.
“It’s Eden,” I tell her. “Tyler’s driving. Where are we all going tonight? Has it been decided yet?”
She speaks back within a heartbeat. “Hollywood Sign. We all agreed that we have to show you it. It’s amazing.” I bite down on my lower lip as excitement radiates through my body. I’ve always wanted to visit it, and although Venice sounds great too, I’m glad they’ve chosen the sign. “Have you guys left already?”
“Yeah.” My voice hitches when the car jerks roughly to one side, Tyler’s steering skills proving to be absolutely pathetic. I wonder how he even got his license to begin with.
“I’ll text everyone and see if they’re ready and we’ll all just meet you out there,” she says sharply. “Put me on speaker for a sec.” I move the phone away from my ear, doing as she asks, and then hold the device by Tyler.
“Yeah?” he says. He glances down at the screen for only a moment before slamming on the brakes when we approach a stop sign that he obviously hadn’t noticed.
“I haven’t spoken to you all day!” Tiffani’s voice loudly echoes through the speakers. I catch Tyler roll his eyes in complete disrespect. “Did your mom let you out of the house?”
He wrenches up the parking brake and fixes me with a firm glare, slowly shaking his head before saying, “No, I was stuck inside all day.”
“That sucks,” Tiffani says. Poor, poor girl. She’s totally oblivious. “I can’t wait to see you! We won’t be too long. Just wait for us by the Sunset Ranch.”
“Sure.”
“Love you.”
“Yeah,” he says, and then takes the phone from my hand to hang up the call. Yawning, he leans back in his seat and runs a hand through his hair.
I snort, widening my eyes in disbelief. Every day, every hour he gives me more and more reasons to detest him. “You’re unbelievable. Stuck inside all day?”
With a soft grunt, he releases the brake and lets the car roll across the intersection. “That’s what I’m going with.”
“You’re really going to lie to her like that?” I try to meet his eyes as he glances at me, but I’m also keeping my attention on the road, since he doesn’t seem to be doing it. “You were at the beach gambling and fighting and you’re just going to act like you were inside all day? I feel so bad for her.”