one
"Hey! I'm Colby! Go!" someone yelled, opening my car's backseat door, hopping in. I looked behind myself.
"What the fuck do you think you're—," I started, turning around. The boy slammed the car door shut and looked up at me.
"Go!" he said.
"Are—are you Colby Brock?" I stuttered.
"Yes! My name was on there! Now go! It's a race!" he yelled. I blinked once, not sure what was going on.
"Your name was where?" I asked. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Your name is Rachel, right?" he asked, holding his phone up to my face, showing me the Uber app for a girl named Rachel with the same car as me.
"No, I am not Rachel, but you're Colby fucking Brock so I'll drive you wherever the hell you want to be driven," I said.
"Oh! Sorry! I thought you were my Uber!" he exclaimed.
"Clearly," I said. He reached for the door handle but I quickly put the car into drive and pulled out of my parallel parking spot. "I said I'd take you. Where are we going?" I asked.
"Oh, you're going to just...drive a stranger who got into your car?" he asked.
"I've got nothing better to do, and I'm more a stranger to you than you are to me. Now, where are we going? You said it's a race," I responded.
"Um, right, yeah, it is a race. Here," he said, sticking his hand out up by my face, holding his phone. I took it from him, keeping my eyes on the road, and glanced down for a second to hit the green 'GO' button at the bottom of his screen. "So you know who I am?" Colby asked.
"Yeah, I know who you are. Who doesn't?" I asked, turning left as the woman's voice instructed me to do so.
"A fair amount of people. You know Sam? Golbach?" Colby asked.
"I know of him," I said.
"Yeah, whatever. It's rush hour in the middle of LA so Sam and my other friends Jake and Corey said they just wanted to walk back to my apartment, but I already ordered my Uber and didn't want to cancel it so Sam said it would be a race," Colby said.
"Okay, two things. One, I also know who Jake and Corey and everyone else is. Two, you technically did have to cancel your Uber," I said.
"Hey, I was about to get out until you started driving," he pointed out.
"And you didn't ask me to stop," I replied. I looked down at the address. "This is a shit way to get there, is this what Google said?" I asked, looking at the route when we stopped at a red light.
"Well, yeah," Colby said.
"How close did you think this race was going to be?" I asked.
"It's rush hour, they had a point. I just felt bad for canceling on the Uber, but it doesn't matter now. They'll probably get there, like, three minutes before I do," Colby said. I looked down at the estimated arrival time, which said fifteen minutes.
"This says fifteen minutes away. I can get us there in eight," I said.
"Legally?" asked Colby.
"Yes, dude. Legally. I used to be a Postmates driver for a few hours a week. I know all the back roads," I said, quickly switching lanes and taking a sharp right.
"Safely, too?" Colby asked. I laughed.
"Hey, brother, do you want to win this race or not?" I asked, speeding up.
"Desperately," Colby said.
"Then buckle your seatbelt," I said, looking at him in my rearview mirror, seeing the seatbelt resting in its normal position.
"Right," said Colby, grabbing it and clicking it into place. "So, not Rachel, what's your name?" he asked.
"Vanessa. Nessa," I said.
"Well, Nessa, thank you for helping me out," he responded.
"Haven't helped you win, yet," I said.
"You said you would. I trust you," he said. I looked in my rearview mirror again, but this time we locked eyes. We hadn't made eye contact yet. He didn't look away, just stared right at me. I tore my gaze away from his striking blue eyes, which were even more vibrant in person. I could feel him still looking in the mirror.
"And why is that?" I asked.
"Why's what?" he asked.
"Why do you trust me? You don't know me," I said.
"Well, I know your name is Vanessa and you have bright green eyes," he said. I laughed.
"And that makes us not strangers? And it's Nessa. My friends call me Nessa," I said.
"Well, there you go. You said we're friends," he said.
"And you're agreeing with that?" I asked.
"I've never seen someone with green eyes like that," he said.
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.
"I don't know. They're just really pretty," he said. I snuck a quick glance in the mirror again, where he was still looking.
"Thanks, I guess. Yours aren't too bad, either," I answered.
"Yeah, I get that a lot. Blue eyes aren't as cool as green ones, though," he said. "I thought only gingers had green eyes," he said. I laughed.
"How do you know I'm not naturally ginger?" I asked, pointing at my silver hair with black roots.
"Woah, didn't even notice that before. I like it. I don't think I've seen anyone with that hair before," he said.
"We're in LA. You have to have seen every kind of hair," I said. He shrugged.
"Maybe it just looks different on you. I still haven't even seen your full face," he said.
"You're not missing much, buddy," I said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"It means I'm not some hot LA chick," I said.
"Then what are you?" he asked.
"A branch manager at Chanel," I said.
"Well, I've never seen an ugly person working at Chanel," Colby said.
"Great, maybe I'll be the first," I said. Colby chuckled.
"Which Chanel?" he asked.
"Rodeo Drive," I said.
"Oh, so you're like, a big deal," he said.
"No. Especially not compared to you," I said.
"You know, your job actually explains a lot," he said.
"What?" I asked.
"Because you didn't freak out when I got into your car. Like, from other than the fact that I was a stranger. Since I'm, like, well known. You see famous people all the time," he said.
"You don't consider yourself famous?" I asked.
"No. Just popular or well-known," he said.
"Well, I consider you famous. And I did stutter when I saw who you were, so there's some evidence for you, considering you're right about me seeing celebrities all of the time," I said.
"Why'd I make you stutter, then?" he asked.
"I don't know. I've been watching your videos since you and Sam started out in Kansas," I said.
"Oh, god. So you've seen the cringe?" he asked. I laughed.
"I mean, I'm only a year younger than you, so it wasn't cringey to me at the time," I pointed out.
"Hm. Fair," he said. I took another left and pulled up to his apartment complex. "Thanks for the ride, Nessa. Hope I get to see those green eyes again and possibly your entire face, but I have to run. Bye," he said, hopping out and running inside. I laughed and started to drive out of the parking lot, and drove about a block away when Colby's phone told me to make a U-turn.
Damn