illicit affairs | rily

drive my car (p1/3)

it was late in denver, just as it was in salt lake, and while they were in the same timezone, their states not so far apart to make such a difference, ricky had the world clock set up on his phone for colorado when nini told him about yac.

he had never claimed to be great with geography, but he knew exactly how many miles separated denver, colorado from salt lake city utah. 518 miles. a trip that would take him 11 hours by bus.

when he gets the phone call though, he's surprised for more reasons than just the late hour. they don't really talk on the phone anymore, it's been months since she's left and well- it's hard to move on from the likely love of your life when you're always hearing her voice from a distance.

it's not like they've cut communication, though maybe it would be easier to let go that way. rather, they've stuck to texts and following each other's social media accounts. even her photographs bring back far too many memories.

so the phone call catches ricky off guard.

"i'm in a show." she tells him the news fairly straight off, and he's happy for her, of course he is. that was the point of going to yac, bigger and newer opportunities.

she asked him if he would come see her opening night on saturday, her reason for the call, and despite the weird layers of heartbreak that still sat upon his conscience, he finds himself saying yes. yes he would go to see her on her opening night. how could any part of him even contemplate saying no to nini salazar-roberts?

he watched nini play tree number 3 and fork number 2 in shows at east's underfunded theatre department, so of course he'd go to see her play a named character at a performing arts school. it would only be fair to support her. she was his childhood best friend before anything else.

she told him he could bring someone too, that he should, and somehow ricky decides that the only person he can feel good in bringing is the one girl whose been able to ease his aching heart since nini's departure.

he's not trying to make nini jealous by bringing the blonde haired actress whose eyes sparkled like the ocean. it might come off that way, and the onlooker truly could not be blamed for seeing his decision in that light, but he truly just found a comfort in lily. a comfort that helped him move on (or at the very least try to).

he wonders if going without her would have him falling back into the state of sorrow that the very sudden breakup thrust him into.

he wonders if seeing nini on her opening night would throw him back into her arms, arms which for all he knew no longer wished to hold him.

so maybe that's why he texts lily to ask her if she'd go with him to denver the following weekend to see his ex (and best friend) in a play.

asking someone he'd only properly known a few weeks to spend eleven hours on a greyhound bus with you is definitely a huge ask... so he doesn't know whether to expect a yes from lily, and then when she gives it, he makes sure to tell her he'll make it up to her as best he can. she says she can think of a few ways he might.

she winds up telling him they should just drive there in her car, it takes three hours off the trip to drive instead of take the bus. three hours that could be spent asleep in a motel rather than making futile attempts to relax in uncomfortable bus seats.

he supposes the motel idea was a good one, and perhaps the privacy of the car ride could be nice. he just hopes the gas will be cheaper than the bus fare. otherwise it could be tough to explain to his dad why he'd choose the drive.

lily's family was for whatever reason okay with her taking off for the weekend with a young man they'd never quite properly met, and his dad, having met lily, and knowing that they were going to see nini, had given his full support to the trip.