Sleep Magazine (Completed)

The Window: 2

By the time Celia got into the passenger seat of AJ's dodgy little sedan, she was shivering.

"You know, it's going to snow tonight," AJ said matter-of-factly.

"No it's not," she responded adamantly, arms crossed tight over her chest.

AJ only smirked and started the engine.

"I checked the weather this morning," Celia added defensively as she fiddled with the dials on the dash and held her hands up to the air vents. She gasped when she felt an electric shock run through her index finger.

"There's no heat," AJ said, his smile spreading across his face. "No heat and no radio."

"Nice." Celia threw herself back into her seat. "Oh!" she laughed out in mock-surprise as she reached her hand up beside the headrest. "And no seatbelts!"

"Lucky for you," AJ turned to look at Celia with raised eyebrows, "You're in the hands of the safest driver in town."

She rolled her eyes and looked out the window. "And the coldest and quietest...um, you didn't stop." She pointed at the stop sign they were now driving past.

"Oh yeah, for all the cars?" AJ retorted sarcastically.

"Shut up." She kept her head turned toward the window so he couldn't see her smile.

As they pulled onto the main road, completely void of any other vehicles, Celia watched the streetlight above them flicker and burn out.

"Where's your real car?" she asked him.

"The electrical keeps going out," he began to explain just as the headlights shut off, making Celia's eyes widen, the road in front of them going black. AJ pounded his fist on the dashboard and the lights were back on again, even brighter than before. "Like the power windows and—" he turned his head to see the shocked expression on Celia's face and his voice dropped a bit. "And the lights and shit..." he trailed off.

She leaned forward and turned her upper body to quickly glance into the back of the car.

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing," she said cooly, consciously mixing some neutrality into her voice.

"So it's in the shop," AJ continued, trying to sound inconspicuous. "They can't really find anything wrong with it, but this is my grandpa's car, and it seems like it has the same problems..."

Celia swallowed. "That's so weird," she choked out in a cheery, unsuspecting tone. She kept her eyes on the road straight ahead, half-expecting a UFO to suddenly beam them up into the sky.

When AJ brought up their math projects in an effort to change the subject, Celia begged him not to talk about school; her stomach twisted at the thought of all the work she had not yet done for her presentation on Tuesday. From there, their conversation evolved into talking about AJ's younger sister, who was homeschooled and had apparently won some mathematics achievement award at a youth competition a few months back.

"What do you think of Ava?" Celia couldn't help herself from asking, though she instantly regretted bringing her up.

"Well, she's a little young for me," he joked.

Celia stifled her laugh. "You know what I mean."

"No, I don't." He shot her a confused look.

Celia sighed deeply. She was unsure of what, exactly, she expected him to say. "Do you think she's, like, too wild?"

A bewildered expression spread over AJ's face and he looked again at Celia. "Do you?"

She licked her lips. "It's hard for me to judge, that's why I'm asking you."