TWELVE

VERA

The car pulled up before the store. The ride had been pleasant, not like yesterday when he drove me back to my apartment. We were back to teasing and joking with each other now and I was somewhat sorry when the car stopped moving.

But, hey. I had not seen Martha and Beth for almost two weeks now, and yesterday had been spoiled by Freya. So, I got the door open, got out of the car and turned to wave him goodbye.

I froze when I saw he was out of the car too and a bad sense of foreboding came over me. "You're not thinking of following me into the store, are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "The door is just four feet away, for Christ's sake! And you promised," the last sentence came out more as a sulky pout than I would have liked.

"To stop my assholeness?" he asked, smirking annoyingly. "I will, trust me. But only when you have got yourself a boyfriend to look after you,"

My eyes widened, and I felt a little childish at the anticipation I felt. It shouldn't b