Author's note: this is fun little idea I had about a couple of months ago, but I did the majority of writing only in the past week. Hope you enjoy this refreshing change of pace and palette before I jump into my next long story. My muse this time around was the stunning Hailey Wingit. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing.
All characters in this story are above eighteen years of age
.
***
Thud
Mister Carter barely looked up from his newspaper as his daughter pulled the door shut. Wade stood outside, looking down at his hand. He had been about to close the door after Nicole had got in, when she had snatched it and roughly pulled it close by herself. She seemed in a bit of a huff, which was confirmed when Wade got into the driver's seat and looked in the mirror. Nicole was staring daggers at her father. But Mister Carter was too busy perusing the headlines to even notice. Wade adjusted his chauffeur's cap and pressed the "Start" button on the dash. A light hum that reverberated through the cabin was the only sign that the four-and-a-half litre engine had come to life under the hood. Wade checked his mirrors before smoothly pulling out of the driveway.
They hadn't even made it a dozen feet when the passenger seatbelt warning flashed on the instruments. Wade cleared his throat.
"Ma'am would you please put your seatbelt on?", he requested, slowing the car down.
Nicole either didn't hear him, or didn't care. She already had her earphones in her ears, and was staring pointedly out of the window.
"Ma'am?"
Wade brought the car to a stop. This stirred Mister Carter.
"Nicole, put your seat belt on.", he said from behind his newspaper.
His daughter still did not respond. Instead, she turned up the volume of whatever track she was listening to. Wade heard a tinny, pop chorus coming from her earphones. Mister Carter wasn't having any of it.
"Nicole!"
"WHAT!" Nicole yelled back.
"Put your
fucking
seat belt on this second!"
"FUCK. YOU."
In response, her father rolled up his newspaper and whacked her across the temple. It was clear that Nicole was more shocked than hurt.
"Wha-" she stammered
"I'm not taking any more lip from you this morning. Now settle down and put the
damn
seat belt on!"
When Nicole still didn't move, Mister Carter reached across and sharply pulled the seat belt from its holster above her shoulder, snapping it into place in its lock.
"Happy, Wade?" he said, looking at the driver through the rear-view mirror. Wade cleared his throat.
"Yes Mister Carter."
"Good, now
triple-time
it to the office."
"The office first, sir?" Wade said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes,
Wade
." His client replied testily. "I already lost half an hour this morning cuz of this brat. She can afford to miss a class, not that she ever goes to one. Nineteen years old and still in high school..."
Nicole, who had gone back to staring out the window, blew some stray locks of hair off her face. She didn't respond. Mister Carter scowled.
"Now, if you're done with the dumb questions..."
Wade, understanding the urgency, got on the road as quickly as he could without pulling rubber off the tyres on the driveway. Mister Carter's office was thirty minutes away, more than double the distance from Nicole's school. The back of the car was silent the whole way. When they got to the office entrance, Mister Carter didn't wait for the car to stop moving before pushing the back door open. He was already a couple of steps into a power-walk towards the revolving doors at the front when Wade brought the car to rest. Nicole leaned across the back seat, throwing a dirty look at him. She spat at his retreating figure. Her spit landed on the closed window, spattering across the inside of the glass.
"Slimy piece of shit".
Wade sighed, knowing he was gonna be the one to clean it up later. He pulled out of the building's driveway, and turned the car back the way they had come. He noted that the traffic had gotten worse in the past five minutes. Rows of cars stretched out across both lanes.
"Sorry Miss, looks like we'll be a little late this morning." Wade said.
"Uh-huh" Nicole replied, not looking up from her phone.
For the next ten minutes, Wade weaved through traffic, picking off cars, sliding expertly into gaps, pressing his advantage. Before they turned onto the main expressway to take them out of the city centre and into the suburbs, Nicole tapped him on the shoulder.
"Can we take a left up ahead, Wade? I need to pick up a friend of mine."
"Sure"
The car turned into an avenue overlooking the park. This was the billionaire's row, old money kind. High-rises with sedate facades from the nineteenth century lined the avenue. At this hour, elderly people wearing Versace track suits strolled along the building side of the avenue. A couple of them were walking dogs which looked to be expensive, foreign breeds. It was a relatively quiet part of town. On the park side of the avenue, however, there was a lot more activity. Runners cut past the throngs of people who had turned up for their morning constitutional at the park. A couple of street food vendors sold coffee and breakfast snacks. Not a few people sat on benches, looking up at the buildings across the street. From one of which emerged Nicole's friend.
He wasn't wearing a school uniform, rather he was dressed in a peach pullover and slim-fitting black joggers. Wade pulled up to the kerb and stopped the car. He was about to step out to open the door for the boy when Nicole unsnapped her seatbelt and slid across the back seat, opening the door herself.
"Hey!" she called out cheerily as the boy walked up.
"Hey" he replied. He had a half-smirk on his face. A mop of black hair fell across his temple. He had a gold chain which hung from his neck on top of the pullover's collar. Nicole slid back to let him get in. As he got in the car, he glanced at Wade.
"Hey man."
Wade had to restrain himself from frowning. The kid closed the door behind him, and dumped his bag unceremoniously at his feet. He turned back to Nicole.
"
How you doin'
?"
"I'm doing
so
much better now" Nicole said, fawning.
"Yeah, why's that?"
"You
know
why"
"I
don't
know why"
"Yes you
do