UNMASKING THE DANCER

31. Drive lessons.

Diane's pov

There were two reasons why I was feeling nervous on a Thursday afternoon, one being that, this was my first time behind a wheel,

And secondly, being near Ryan was distracting as well as disturbing. The way he moved close to show me how to hold a wheel and to know the pedals was making me aware of him more than I should.

    I had asked Jade days before to give me drive lessons considering the fact that I knew next to nothing about driving and she agreed, but Jason had decided that today was a good day to go out, so Jade asked Ryan to give me the lessons.

   I muttered a curse for Jason before concentrating on the drive lessons again.

"Did you say something?" Ryan asked, pausing in his movement to show me the......., What did he call it?, Oh!, The accelerator,

"No!" I replied all too quickly which made him give me a look, but he asked no further questions.

"So, the accelerator is used for increasing your speed limit and you don't want to step on that too much" he said while pointing and I placed a foot on the accelerator tentatively,

The already started car lurched forward and I squealed making Ryan laugh,

   "What's so funny?" I asked sending him a glare and he stopped,

   "Just hold the wheel to control the movement of the car and everything will be fine" he said and I nodded before grabbing the wheel like a lifeline,

   I stepped on the accelerator again and the car started moving down the estate where their house was.

I felt my heart beat wildly in my chest as I controlled the movement of the car. Everything was going fine and I kind of relaxed until we got to a turn,

   "Quick!, swerve gently to the right" Ryan said but I panicked and forgot how to do just that.

So I watched in horror as the car kept moving straight and to the dead end there, until Ryan leaned in close all to quickly and swerved sharply to the right.

I turned at that moment and paused with eyes wide open when my mouth came just two inches away from his and just then, he chose that moment to look down.

I looked into those blue eyes of his and felt like I was drowning in them..... until he sat back in his side of the passenger seat, averting his eyes.

"Why didn't you turn?" He asked, obviously ignoring what happened or might have happened,

"Uhm..... I forgot how to go about it" I replied, gaining my lost composure,

"Umph!, let's start again"

****

We both walked into the house two hours later feeling stressed and tired but I now knew some basics about driving a car.

I went into the kitchen to get a cup of water and met aunt Melanie there cooking dinner.

   "Good evening" I greeted and she turned around,

"Diane, how are you doing?",

"I'm good and you?"

"Splendid...... would you be staying for dinner?,

"Uhm... sure",

  "Okay then, it will soon be ready"

   "Okay"

   I moved to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water which I finished in a few gulps. I dropped the plastic in the bin before leaning on the counter, "so... you hearing from mum?",

  "Yeah..... it's been really good talking to her",

  "it's nice to know you guys are still friends though",

  "Yeah, we would always be friends"

   "I can believe that" I replied smiling.

    "Anyway I can help?" I asked and she looked around,

    "There isn't much to do except cut those vegetables"

    "I'm on it",

   We worked on making dinner silently until, "so how were those years?, you know...., without Frank, your dad" she asked and I paused,

"Okay..... I guess. I mean it was hard on us but we managed",

My voice thickened with emotion and she dropped the knife she was holding to take my hand, "i'm sorry about his death and i'm glad you both made it through

"Yeah",

She smiled with glassy eyes before dropping my hand and we went back to cutting vegetables.

   "But how did you know about dad?" I asked after a few minutes, "I mean, I don't remember Mom telling anyone about it",

    "She called me when you both were in India and told me not to call for a while"

    "Why is that?"

    "Well she thought that if you still had connection to New York, you may never be able to move on from the incident"

    "Maybe but I still missed you guys, all of you including uncle Richard. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since I came to the house....."

    "Yeah, he went on a business trip but is back now. He would be joining us for dinner"

    "That's good then".

    I finished cutting the vegetables and some minutes later, we all sat down at the dining table for a sumptous dinner of sheet pan honey chili chicken with vegetables.

    Uncle Richard, their dad had expressed his surprise at seeing me and he asked me a lot of questions which I answered eagerly,

"I'm sorry about your dad" he said suddenly and I nodded,

"Thanks"

   We chatted between ourselves as we ate and after dinner I helped in cleaning up before going back to my apartment.

****

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter?.