Chapter Text
Chloe stumbles out of her door, tugging on her denim jacket as she goes.
Her hair is kind of a mess and the shoes that she hurriedly stuffed her feet into (probably chipping the newly painted on pink nail polish adorning her toes) most likely don't match her outfit, like, at all. She's pretty sure she's got pastel pink lipstick on her teeth as well. Did she even remember to brush her teeth?
She curses her faulty alarm clock for letting her lie in ridiculously late on a perfectly good Sunday. She could of gone for a gentle jog this morning. Maybe even gone to the gym.
Her eyes flicker to her watch for the third time in five minutes. 1:15. 'Crap', she hisses to herself. The panicked mess of a girl was supposed to be meeting up with her bestie right now. She tugs her door closed behind her, slamming it harder than necessary in frustration.
The sun is sweltering, beating down on the top of her head, making her even sweatier than necessary in her already flustered state. The neighbourhood seems picturesque and perfectly in place, birds chirping, an open market with fresh fruits, balconies with flower boxes- everything except for the ginger hurriedly searching for a cab. She throws open the back door when she finally finds one, making sure it's empty first of course- she'll never be that person. She slides into the plush, velvety back seat.
"Twenty-seven Albert Road please," the red head calls to the driver. The tiny brunette whips around. She looks extremely startled, her dark blue, thickly lined eyes widening.
"Um, excuse me?" she questions, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Oh, do you not know where it is? Do you need me to give you directions?" The woman's head tilts slightly, fiery red curls tickling her shoulder.
"I know where it is," she states. "But do you always jump into strangers cars demanding they drive you places?" She looks slightly amused, one eyebrow raised. Chloe's face screws up in confusion. Stranger's car? What did she mean? But then she begins noticing things, like the drivers ipod plugged in playing some remix of a Taylor Swift song and the fact there's no meter and-
"Wait," starts Chloe. "This is a cab. This is a cab right?" Her voice takes on a tone of desperation and shame as she buries her face in her hands. "Oh my God this totally isn't a cab at all is it?"
"Afraid not, Red," the stranger confirms, biting back a laugh at the flustered girl. "Just a yellow car."
"Why would you buy a yellow car?" she questions, face flushing ruby red as she gazes up at her between the gaps in her fingers. The brunette smirks at her.
She's attractive in an unconventional way, long, curly locks framing an angular face. Her eyes are strikingly blue, the kind of blue you'd expect to find in the depths of the ocean and God, Chloe wants to dive into them. Her small ears are covered in an assortment of weird piercings and stretchers and the ends are tinged with pink. The stranger tucks a stray strand of hair behind them with slender fingers. Her nails are painted an opal black, the ends chipped as if she's been biting them.
"It's just a rental actually, my car is at the garage being fixed," she informs her. "And I don't know why I'm telling you this." She cocks her head. Chloe grins widely at the strangely charming stranger.
"I'm sorry I accidentally tried to hitchhike in your car," Chloe apologises sheepishly, her blush fading.
"Don't worry about it dude. I've been meaning to tick 'pick up a hitchhiker' off my bucket list for a while now anyway, you've done me a favour" she deadpans. Chloe can't tell if she's being serious or not. She's normally good at reading people. She can tell when Aubrey is about to have An Episode from the strained lilt her voice takes on and she knows her brother is about to crash from exhaustion when he continually rubs his left eyebrow. But this stranger is a closed book if Chloe's ever seen one.
"Well, you're welcome then." They spend a moment and a half grinning at each other in a daze. The calm is broken when once again Chloe's eyeline gravitates to her watch and she let's out a long string of obscenities.
"Running late?" the girl in the front seat asks.
"Always. I'm supposed to be meeting my friend for coffee and she's kind of... enthusiastic about punctuality," Chloe explains, struggling to find the right words.
"Oh, you mean she's an uptight bitch," she corrects her.
"I guess you could say that. Or, if you're a nice person, you could say she's enthusiastic about punctuality. Which she is."
"Well to win my award as nice person of the year," she shoots Chloe a pointed glare in the rear view mirror. "How about I drop you off even thought I'm definitely not a taxi."
"For real?" Chloe enquired in disbelief.
"Got nothing better to do."
"Thank you," Chloe gratefully sighs. Relief surges through her bones. The girl simply nods in response, pulling away from the curb.
"The Starbucks on Albert Road?"
"Mmhm," the Chloe hums. She should of been there almost ten minutes ago. It's probably best that she silently prepares herself for the earful she's going to get from her best friend.
Chloe takes a break from agonizing over Aubrey's inevitable reaction to take in her situation. Chloe would never normally accept a car ride from a stranger. I mean, who does stuff like that? But the brunette's calming presence caught Chloe off-guard and now, here she is, settled into the backseat of an obnoxiously yellow car, completely trusting this brunette not to murder her.
That's just life, she guesses.
Before she knows it the stranger is swerving into a space next to the coffee house, staring intently at Chloe through the rear view mirror. She tears her gaze away to focus on pale hands drumming at the steering wheel when Chloe catches her eye, a slight blush tinting both their cheeks.
"You have reached your destination," she states, mimicking a SatNav voice playfully.
"Thank you so much!" the ginger exclaims as she clambers out of the car. "I really can't thank you enough." The brunette just salutes with a smirk and peels away from the curb.
It's not till she's completely gone that Chloe realises she didn't even get her name.