Chapter 13: Irrational

I really should know better than to get in a car with him. I'm gripping the dashboard for dear life while he breaks every law I know of.

"Relax, Todd!" he yells at me over the engine and wind.

"Not with your driving!" I yell back, and he gives me a smug grin.

"Has anyone ever told you-" the rest of his sentence gets drowned out as a car honks at us. He ignores it and pulls into a parking lot, doing the worst parking job probably in the history of automobiles (he's taking up at least three spots. It's horrible).

"Sorry, has anyone ever told me what?"

He grins and leans across the console, putting his mouth near my ear. It's unnecessary now that he's not driving, but I feel frozen to the spot, so I don't (can't?) move away.

"You worry a lot," he whispers in a low voice, his breath fanning over the outer lobe of my ear. I swallow as he pulls away and shoots me another smirk before hopping out of his car. If I thought I was frozen before, I feel paralyzed now. Still, I manage to somehow get myself up and out of the car.

"You shouldn't be allowed to drive on public roads," I tell him once I've caught up with him (he didn't wait for me, so I'm a bit behind. I feel like I'm also a bit behind in this conversation, and every other interaction I've had with him). "How do you still have a license?" I pause. "Do you have a license?"

"I'm rich. I can have whatever I want."

"That doesn't answer my question."

He flashes me a toothy grin. "Yes, I have a license. My parents like me to."

That's a bit of a surprise. His parents don't seem to exercise (or even really have) a huge deal of control over him. I decide to ignore that in favour of the topic of him having a license, though. "How has it not gotten suspended? You must get tickets all the time."

"Surprisingly, I don't get too many." That's not a surprise, it's a shock. He must have bribed the entire police force. "I don't drive on public roads a whole lot."

"Ah, that makes sense."

He smirks and pushes open the door of wherever we are. I glance up and see that we're at a restaurant. An actual sit-down-and-order-and-eat restaurant, not a fast food place. I stop walking. He rolls his eyes at me.

"What is it now?"

"We don't have time for this. Lunch period ends in less than an hour."

"Don't worry, Todd. I know how important your perfect record is to you."

I would glare, but I don't want him to get annoyed at me and then try and make me skip class again. And since I would have to literally run all the way back to school right now if I wanted to get to class even remotely close to on time without him driving me, I can't afford to antagonize him. So I just sigh and give in instead.

He doesn't acknowledge me, but I know that he heard because he smirks a bit and puts an arm around my shoulders, pulling me inside. The woman at the front desk looks up at him.

"Do you have a reservation, sir?"

"Nope. Table for two, please"

She shoots him an apologetic look. "Sorry sir, this is a reservation-only restaurant."

I glance into the dining room. It's almost completely empty, which makes sense considering it's lunchtime, so no one actually has time to leave school or work to come to a restaurant.

"Hm. I'm a big tipper."

"Sir-"

He pulls out his wallet and pulls out the first bill he sees. I catch a glimpse and see two zeroes. He slides it across the tabletop to her and smiles. "Such good customer service should be rewarded. We'd like a window booth, please."

She looks stunned for a moment, then blinks a few times and clears her throat. "U-uh... of course, sir. Right this way."

We're seated, given menus, and told about the chef's special before the waitress leaves to let us figure out our orders. He looks at his menu for about one second before putting it back down and announcing, "I'm having the rack of lamb. You?"

I blink at the menu and look back up at him. "There is no way I could even afford a piece of dry toast, so I'm having a glass of water."

He rolls his eyes. "I brought you here, I'm paying. Stop looking at the prices and decide what you want to eat. Like you said, lunch period ends in under an hour."

For probably the thousandth time (at least), I wonder what he wants from me. Why is he doing everything he's done for me if he didn't have something significant that he wanted in return? Still, since we're on a bit of a time crunch, I decide to listen and scan the menu. At first I'm looking for something that looks good, but I quickly change my criteria to something that I know the meaning of. So many of these dishes have long, French (or Italian, or some kind of European) names, and I have no idea what any of them are. My eyes land on the steak sandwich, but I quickly realize how expensive it is. Even if he's paying, I don't want to take advantage of that.

The waitress appears again before I'm even close to figuring out what I want. "What can I get for you boys today?"

"You don't drink, do you?" he asks me as I frantically try to decide what to order. I look up at him with wide eyes and shake my head (I'm 17- my birthday is in a week and a half). He smirks. "I figured. So, water for both of us. No appetizers please, we're a bit short on time, so we'll just skip to the point. I'll have the rack of lamb, and he'll have the steak sandwich, medium well."

She smiles and disappears before I can even process what happened. I look at him, and he gives me a sly smile.

"You didn't look like you were ready to order, so I took the liberty."

I blink. "Uh... yeah. Thanks, I guess. And, for paying."

He's smirking again. "Of course."

We're both silent for a moment or so before I blurt, "Is this a date?" and then promptly turn entirely red.

He's smirking even more now, showing his teeth. "Trying to tie me down already?"

My eyes go wide. "No, no, no, no, no. No, that's not what I-"

"Don't worry, Todd. A lot of people are attracted to me. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"That's not what I meant at all, I just asked because-"

"It's alright, Todd. I know I'm irresistible." He puts a finger underneath my chin, leaning in a little. "And if you're good, I might even give you a kiss later."

I stare at him, and a moment later he bursts out laughing. I drop my face into my hands, groaning. He's messing with me.

Fortunately, the waitress appears with our waters, saving me from his teasing and humiliation. "Here are your drinks, and your meal will be along shortly."

"Thank you," he says, still grinning, while I try in vain to inconspicuously not show my super-red face.

Once the waitress leaves, I take a long sip of the cold ice water, draining a quarter of the glass before setting it back down. He's still smirking like the lunatic he is, looking extremely pleased with himself. I roll my eyes and have some more water.

"You're still red," he comments after another minute of silence that I don't trust myself to fill.

"What is this? Actually," I add, when I see him start to smirk.

"You seem to have a few decent ideas," he says, smirking anyways.

I sigh. "I mean, why? Why do you keep doing all these things?"

"Wow, specific."

"Why did you want me to come to your house on Friday? And why did you pay me to enjoy myself? And why tell my parents I was tutoring you on Fridays? Why try to get me to skip with you, then get my tardy excused, and now take me to a fancy restaurant during lunch hour? What do you get out of it?"

He's grinning. "You're adorable, Todd."

"W-what?" Is this actually a date? Is he trying to woo me? Or (my stomach fills with dread at the thought) is he trying to get me to sleep with him?

He leans forward, holding my gaze coolly. "You seem to think there's a rational explanation that'll tie all of those things together with a nice little bow on top. But humans aren't the rational creatures we think we are. We act rationally and reason things away to simplify life, to get through it. But I'm rich, so I have no motive to do that whatsoever. I just do whatever I want, without caring why I want to. Everything I do, I do because I can."

Dedicated to @crispyriceonion for voting on and adding so many of my stories to their reading list! Your support means the world to me :)

Thoughts on the chapter? What did you think of the millionaire taking Todd out for lunch? Paying for him? How about his answer when Todd asked if it was a date? And (finally) actually answering one of Todd's questions? Do you think he's telling the truth? Why or why not?

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