Dreamer - Chapter 46

Rev pulled into a long driveway, pulling up on a giant, white-colored mansion type house with columns lining up the front porch and a majestic fountain sitting in the middle of the roundabout they had for a driveway. I had to bite my lip to not gasp at the sight. Was this where Jess had lived? I've never seen a house quite like this, even as a kid when my parents would drive around just for the hell of it. It felt as if we had pulled into one of those movie scenes from popular 2000s' romcoms. Once Rev came to a stop, he got out and opened the door for Jess.

"Thank you." She smiled at him before getting out and turning towards me, "It was nice seeing you again, Lex. Until next time, stay safe."

I raised my hand up, "Until next time." Oh, what I wouldn't do to make sure that next time wouldn't be with the whole squad... or end in such a tragedy.

Once Jess had safely made her way up the steps and into her house, Rev started his truck back up and slowly began pulling out of the driveway. The ride was pretty silent until we got back onto the main road.

"Why'd you put your hand out like that before?"

"Huh?" I broke from my trance.

"Your hand." Rev reached over to grab ahold of my hand and placed it back on the gearshift, "You made a decision earlier to rest your hand here just before. You've never done that before, yet when Jess was here you-"

"I was just trying to figure something out." I bit my lip.

"Figure something out?" He asked, "Like what?"

"Well, Jess had mentioned that you didn't like others touching your shift and, well I-" I didn't know how exactly I could word this without sounding like I was trying to get a reaction out of him, "I just never seen you get all touchy-feely with your truck, so I-"

"You wanted to try and get a reaction out of me when someone else was sitting in the backseat!?" He blurted out.

Kind of. "No." I tried to pull my hand back, but he continued to hold onto it tight.

"How would that even get a damn reaction out of me?" He was behaving almost a little too calm; I would've believed it too if he didn't have a tight grip crushing my palm.

"You're hurting me, Rev." I managed to let out.

"It isn't like you did anything wrong."

"Rev." I tried to free my hand, but he would just hold it even tighter.

"Let me guess," He smirked, "You never expected for me to rest my hand on top of yours when you had done it, didn't you?"

My hand was starting to feel as if it was going numb.

"You probably didn't think to realize that Jess knew me. She knew those who knew me. You're the new girl, Lex. You're the one who-"

I found myself pinching a nerve in his knuckle to get him to let go of my hand, "Christ Rev! You were hurting me!"

He nearly swerved towards the side of the road before turning to me, ignoring what I had just done or said to him, "Wouldn't you think to realize that I'd like you a little too much to give you a reaction to you doing anything in my truck?"

"I'm sorry?" My eyes widened with disbelief for the words that just came from his lips.

"You heard me."

"It's just a little hard to believe," I let out a small gasp, "considering the number of times you-"

"If I didn't like you, Lex, why would I constantly be having you tag along with me wherever I go?" He asked, "If you noticed, I don't just hang out with everyone all the time."

"I just figured you had to keep an eye on me," I shrugged, "since Ace technically cannot right now."

"Ace wouldn't actually do that." He kept his eyes focused ahead, "Well, he wouldn't do that unless he felt like you were in need of some extra protection."

"Because that would be your job?" I was trying to add some humor into our little conversation, but Rev did not seem to be amused by the words I was letting out.

"I don't know." He let out, "I just-" His gaze focused more on the road ahead rather than the conversation between the two of us. He just what? My eyes gestured towards him, but he didn't take his focus off the road ahead.

"You just what?" I finally found myself asking as the silence between us just urked me the wrong way for way too long.

"Nothing."

I gave off a silent nod in return.

"I like hanging out with you." He blurted out, "You seem different than everyone else I've known from this damn town."

"Could that be because I'm not actually from this town?" I asked in return.

"No." He turned his gaze onto me before looking ahead once more, "You just seem... different. It's just- It's- I can't explain it."

"I didn't ask you to explain." I let off a slight chuckle, "I'm just surprised. That's all."

"Why?"

"Maybe because in just two seconds you admitted that you not only care about me but that you actually want to hang around me." I answered, "After everything that's happened between us, I'm just surprised. That's all."

The truck slowly turned up a long driveway as my house started to come more into view. A moving truck sat behind my dad's car as a couple bigger gentleman in uniforms stood on the porch.

"Dad'll be pretty happy when he finds out our stuff arrived." I blurted out as Rev came to a halt.

"Do you need any-" His hand tapped his pantleg.

"Rev, no." I answered quickly, "They're just movers. They mean no harm." I hopped out of the car, closing the door behind me as I headed up the porch steps.

"Hello ma'am. Is Mr. Kiele here at the home?" One of the gentlemen asked.

"No, but I'm here." I replied, "I live here also."

"We really need Mr. Kiele to come out here, ma'am." The gentleman informed me.

"Why?" I asked him, "Those are my items in the truck as well. I'll just open the door and-"

"Ma'am," He held his hand against my chest as if to stop me from going forward, "We just need Mr. Kiele to come on out and confirm that these items belong to him, so we can both be on our merry little way. You aren't the only house on our roster that we need to deliver to, young lady."

"Excuse me?" I asked him when I heard a door slam behind us. Shit.

"Mr. Kiele is unable to come out right now." Rev sounded from behind.

"Sir," The gentleman held his hand up towards Rev before speaking out again, "We just need-"

"If you say that you are going to need Mr. Kiele to come out one more time, I will not be sorry for the fist that comes in contact with your face."

I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at his choice of words.

"Mr. Kiele is currently spending some time at our local hospital for a bit." Rev spoke out, "This is Mr. Kiele's daughter. Either you let her accept her belongings or you can back yourself right out of this driveway and move on to whatever houses you decided to deliver to late at night."

"Sir-"

"Sir me once more time." He placed his hand over the top of his pant line, but I grabbed his hand before he could have had the chance to pull anything out.

"Ma'am-"

"I'll help guide you through where everything is supposed to go," I unlocked the door before turning back to them, "although every box of ours is labeled and the house layout does seem pretty self-explanatory. On the right is my room, the left is Mr. Kiele's room, and anything labeled kitchen or living room can be left in this middle room by the front door."

The gentlemen nodded before they began to unload the trucks, as Rev stood next to me.

"You can leave if you want," I said to him, "I'm sure they won't give me any more issues."

"I have no other place I need to be."

"Because you like being with me?" I smirked.

"Shut it." He sat himself on the armrest of the sofa with his arms folded across his chest.

"Thank you, by the way." I told him, "I don't know what I would've done if they refused to let me accept our stuff."

"You don't have to thank me." He stated, "They were being the assholes." Rev caught eyes with one of the movers as he dropped off one of the boxes, "Maybe they should've realized you lived here as well considering you were entering late at night."

"You enter late at night," I chuckled, "I don't remember letting you live here."

"I used to live here."

"Yes. The keyword being used to." I told him, "This house didn't even belong to you. It belonged to your parents."

"You're still sleeping in my bedroom."

"It's not your bedroom anymore."

"You take showers in my bathroom." He smirked, "It's almost as if we showered together."

"Please don't ruin this house for me."

"This sofa-" He slipped off the armrest so that his butt fully sat on the cushion, "This sofa was my mom's favorite piece of furniture in the entire house. She loved how it was seated right between the front door and my bedroom, so I couldn't sneak myself in or out of the house without her catching me." His tone of voice began to drift off, "She used to tell me 'Rev, you don't have to sneak out. I'll let you out. All you have to do is ask'. She always assumed I was only sneaking out just to hang with Ace."

"She knew about Ace?" I found myself asking him.

"She knew about Ace," He repeated, a small smile creeping from cheek to cheek, "Ace and Mace." He laughed, "Although she knew them as Asa and Mason. God, they both hated that she would call them by their legal names."

Mace's legal name is Mason? That was far off from what I assumed why he went by Mace. Ace and Rev chose their nicknames by their initials, and Mace just shortened his actual name. Who knew Mace's nickname was a lot similar to my own?

"Ma'am?" One of the men asked from behind.

"Yes?" I swung around to see him carrying a giant box without a label on it.

"Where would you like for me to place this box?" He asked me, "There isn't a-"

"You can- uh-" I couldn't take my eyes off the unmarked box, "You can just-"

"I got it." Rev got up and took the box from the mover's hands, "Just continue with the unloading."

The mover nodded, heading back out as Rev placed the box down on the coffee table. "Damn," He picked up a box cutter that was laying on some table off towards the side, "by your reaction, you would've thought this box contained a dead body."

"Don't open that." I found myself jumping between him and the box.

"Alright." He set the box cutter down next to the box before throwing his hands up in the air. "I have a small feeling that box is unmarked for a reason."

"It was just packaged up before we ever thought to move."

"Got it."

"What?"

"You don't need to explain yourself anymore," He told me, "I understand perfectly what this box is."

"It's not a dead body." Who even packages up a dead body and takes it along with them in the first place?

"I didn't say that." He responded, "Besides, I keep a similar box."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do." He pointed towards the box, "That's a dead mom box. Pretty brave of you to keep it under the same roof as you, though, Lex. I had Ace hold onto mine."

"Didn't you k-"

"That doesn't mean I wasn't allowed to hurt after it happened."

A silence fell between us as we both glanced down at the box in front of us. The only sound that ran throughout the house were the shuffling of feet and ruffling of boxes as the movers moved each box and furniture to wherever they needed to be. Suddenly, Rev picked up the box cutter and handed it to me.

"What's this for?"

"Stab it."

"Wha-? No."

"It'll feel so much better."

"I'm not stabbing my mom's favorite possessions; my mom's only possessions."

"I never said to stab the items inside the box. Just stab the top of the box. Trust me, Lex. It feels-"

"That was the last of the stuff." One of the movers interrupted us before holding out his hand.

"Oh, thank you." I went to pull my wallet from my back pocket when Rev touched my wrist.

"Are you really expecting to be given a tip?"

"Rev."

"No." He carefully pushed me aside, "He seriously cannot think that we'd give him a tip after the scene he tried to pull outside."

"Sir-"

"What the fuck did I say about calling me sir?" Rev gripped his fingers around the box cutter in his hand.

"Ma'am." He turned to me, but Rev placed his face between us.

"You said you were finished unloading the truck?"

He nodded.

"Good." He pointed towards the door, "The both of you can leave."

"Rev, stop!" I pulled out a couple ten-dollar bills before guiding them towards the front door, "Thank you so much. Enjoy your night!"

Once I closed the door, I turned back towards Rev who was now standing a few steps closer to the door. "You're fucking insane, do you know that?"

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I'm going to accept it as one, though."

I took the box cutter from him before placing it back down on the coffee table besides the box, "They're gone. You could leave now if you wanted to."

"Seriously?" He smirked, "Just when I thought we were having a fantastic time."

I never said we weren't, Rev. "I just figured you'd-"

He brushed his body against mine before making eye contact with me. A smirk crept across his face, and he didn't break off any contact as he pulled his keys from his back pocket. I placed my hand over his chest, to which he responded by placing his over top of mine.

"You sure you want me to go?" He whispered into my ear as his fingers laced themselves through my own, "I don't have any other place to be tonight."

My breathing began to rapidly speed up, somehow being simultaneous with his own. A couple bead of sweats began to form at my forehead.

"I can stay." He whispered once more.