Page 1 of Tandem
CHAPTER 1
ROSALIE
Ringgg.
I looked up from the test I was finishing as the sound of the bell made the whole class jump to life. A smile grew on my face. I don’t think there were many more sounds I loved more than hearing the bell ring at the end of my last class on a Friday. Except maybe hearing it for the last time in two weeks since graduation was right around the corner. Only two more weeks, and then school's out forever!
“Finally.” I turned my head to the guy who just mumbled, sitting next to me as he ran his hand through his hair and stood up. I started slipping my books into my backpack.
Jayden Wells was pretty cute, I guess. He always wore some relaxed high-end designer joggers and slightly oversized t-shirts to school. His brown eyes and black hair were basically identical to Dad’s. He got a lot of his more subtle facial features, too. Combine all of that with a gold chain hanging around his neck and diamond stud earrings in his ears, and he had enough of the high school cheerleading team trying to date him for me to gather that girls thought he was hot. But to me, he would always be my younger twin brother.
And while Jayden could hang with any crowd in school through the years, I never really “fit in” at school. Never cared to do any of the after-school activities or clubs since I essentially only hung out with the same five people I knew outside of school while at school, and none of us wanted to be here any longer than we had to.
Leaving school in my rearview would mean I could finally begin to work at my dad’s custom auto shop full-time. To be able to work while inhaling the smells of grease and paints being created with the sounds of metal against metal, those were the after-school activities I couldn’t wait to do full-time. I had dreamed about being one of LA’s best car painters since I was a little girl, and I interned at Dad’s shop last summer and throughout the school year. I had most of the basics down, but Dad had been waiting to get me into the more complex paints and hand-painting until I graduated.
“Rosalie, let’s go. I got places to be and don’t want to hang here.” Jayden yanked his head toward the door and I rolled my eyes at him but followed him out of the class, walking through the tan halls of our school and toward the front doors.
We walked down the stucco stairs at the front of the school and down the sidewalk through the passing shade of the palm trees toward the school parking lot. I had been sick on our eighteenth birthday last week, so I hadn’t been able to get my driver’s license yet. It was already annoying enough that Mom had made us wait until we were this old to get our licenses already, considering everyone else in LA was driving years ago. Still, Jayden had to be one of the most obnoxious people to drive with.
As we walked over to his gunmetal gray Audi R8, he pulled out his keys from his pocket and pressed several buttons. With the click of a button, the car started automatically, and the top began to retract back. He opened his door and hopped inthe driver’s seat while I gripped the cool metal handle on the passenger side. Giving it a tug, I placed my backpack on the floorboards as I sat down.
The cool leather felt nice against my skin. I don’t know how Jayden managed to get one of the best parking spots in the lot, but he did. His car was parked in the shade almost all day, so it stayed pretty cool inside in the LA heat.
He rolled down the windows and reached for his designer shades, which were sitting on the dashboard. Putting them on his face, he flicked his head back so his hair fell back into place. He cranked up the music, letting the sounds of Eminem resound through the lot.
A group of the more popular girls were gathered around a car close to us, and their heads turned at the sound of him revving his engine. He twisted in his seat to back out of the parking spot. I saw them catch his eye, and he gave them a small nod, which sent them over the edge. Half of them blushed and played with their hair as we drove by.
Much to Jayden’s irritation, there was a little traffic on the way home. Fridays were usually a little busier when school was just getting out. And we seemed to be hitting every red light today. “Fuck, man,” Jayden muttered under his breath as we hit the last light on another red.
We sat idle at the intersection, so I started to look around and admire all the unique kinds of cars I could see. You never knew what you might see around the Hills, and today was no exception. There was a pretty red Ferrari directly across from us. To our right were two brightly colored vehicles, a Tesla and a Porsche. Then, I saw a flash of color pull up on Jayden’s side. I turned my head and gasped slightly. A gorgeous, vintage-looking car was parked next to us. I leaned forward in my seat to see around Jayden and tried to take in as many details as possible. It looked like it had some kind of white pinstriping on its shinypurple paint job. As my eyes continued to follow the curves of the car toward the cab, I realized I wasn’t the only one staring. I locked eyes with the driver. His dark eyes, framed by his straight dark hair, were accented by the smirk on his lips. I snapped out of it and quickly sank back in my seat, facing forward. Realizing I had been caught checking out his car like some psycho had my cheeks feeling hot with embarrassment.
Jayden chuckled as he glanced over at me. “That’s what you get.”
“Shut up, Jayden. The light’s green. Go!” I nervously snapped, still embarrassed about what had just happened.
But I will admit, the guy driving the car was super good-looking. From what little I got to see, I kept thinking about his dark, intense eyes as we kept driving.
Finally home, Jayden punched in the gate code. As the gates slowly swung open, I looked at our house. Mom and Dad had done really well for themselves. Like, really well. Dad told us stories of when he first met Mom, he had just bought this house after spending three years sleeping on a couch in the loft of the custom car shop he had bought. Well, the two-story Gothic Tudor-style mansion right in front of my eyes was certainly a far cry from that. I could just see Mom and Dad working long nights between his shop and her real estate business to build everything that we have today.
We drove up the driveway through the landscaped yard and gardens toward the water fountain in front of the house in the center of the driveway. Mom was coming out the front doors. And boy, was she looking nice tonight. She was wearing a designer form fitting black midi dress with platinum accessories to match. And just like Jayden had a lot of Dad’s features, it was the same for Mom and me. Her dark brunette hair and piercing blue eyes might look better on her than me, and I totally didn’t have the curves she did (but I wasn’t ready to give uphope on that one yet!), but we had the same fair complexion as well. She gave us a little wave, getting into her white-and-red Lamborghini Huracan as Jayden put his car in park to let me out at the front door.
I reached down and grabbed my backpack, turning to look at Jayden. I paused before pulling the door handle. “Thanks for the ride.” Jayden looked at me and nodded. I got out of the car and could barely shut the door before he was driving down the driveway again. I watched as he went back through the gate and out of sight onto the street. Soon that will be me! I pushed open the door, going inside where I kicked off my shoes in the entryway as I heard Dad’s voice from behind me.
“Hey, kiddo, are you all ready to get your license today?” Dad asked excitedly.
I turned to face him, and there stood Kayden Wells, an older version of my brother. Except Dad was almost always smiling, just like he was right now. Dad and Mom were young for parents compared to some of our friends’, both were still in their early forties. Dad was wearing some black joggers, a black t-shirt with the name of his custom car shop, and a black-and-yellow bomber jacket layered on top. I wasn’t sure who was more excited for me to officially get my driver’s license, myself or Dad.
“Yeah! Just let me go change real quick and I’ll be ready to go!” I said as I walked over and gave him a big hug.
I quickly ran up the large wooden stairs two at a time to my room to change out of my school clothes into something more comfy. My room wasn’t like a stereotypical girl’s room. There wasn’t anything particularly girly about it. I had white walls except for the one behind my bed, which was painted jet black. Car posters covered the walls and my bedspread was a deep dark blue. Except for the small purple Miata car plushie in the center of my pillows, it was nothing like the rooms other girls my age had.
I dropped my backpack on the floor by my desk and opened the doors to my walk-in closet, quickly getting out of my pants and top. I slipped into a pair of black ripped denim jeans and a black and mint green accented crop top, then pulled my long hair back into a high ponytail. Giving myself a quick once-over in the mirror, I nodded and gave myself two thumbs-up. “Lookin’ good!” I snagged my wallet and phone from my backpack, running back down the hall and stairs, coming to a halt, slightly out of breath in front of my dad, my words rushing out. “All ready!”
An hour later, I had easily aced the driver’s test in my dad’s Tesla. I came running down the steps of the DMV with so much joy I could burst! I held my temporary license in my hand and shook it slightly with excitement. “I’m freeee!” I shouted as I ran over to my dad, who laughed at the sight of me basically floating on air, running over to him and showing him my license.
“So I guess now you’re ready to go get your car, hmm?” he asked me, and I nodded, feverishly looking at him. “Then get in, and let’s go get it!”
I stared back, my smile growing, if that was even possible. I nodded quickly. “Yes, sir! I can’t come to work every day if I don’t have my own car, right?” I said cheerfully. Jayden had picked out basically any car he wanted from the dealership our dad owned when he passed his test, so I was kind of expecting the same. If that assumption was right, I knewexactlywhich car I would be getting.