Toxic

C10: Drive

Chapter10-Drive

The fire was more fun to make than I thought it would have been. Part of me didn't really want to burn all of Jason's stuff, all the stuff he'd given me. But the part that did was bigger and was dying to forget about him.

Besides, it was clear we had moved on. He was cheating on me with someone else and I was with Ava. He seemed to be happy and I was a lot happier.

"Are you gonna call him again?" Ava asked, staring at the flames.

"What if she answers?"

"You are over him, right?" She glanced at me.

I smiled at her slight jealousy. "I think so. But he cheated on me. I really can't take that lightly."

She rested her head on my shoulder. "Of course not. But I don't want him to act all innocent and try to get you back."

I laughed. "I'll let you yell at him if you want to."

"Now that sounds fun."

"I want you to be there with me when I do it. I don't know if I can keep calm around him anymore."

"I wouldn't hold it against you if you weren't."

"Did you do this with your girlfriend's stuff?"

She nodded. "It was just too hard to keep."

"Were you two... close?"

She looked at me, like she was trying to figure out what I meant by that. "Not as much as I wanted to be. Like she never really hung out with me. It was always what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go."

"You don't seem the type to let someone take charge."

She laughed. "I promised myself I wouldn't let someone do that to me again. So I'm sorry in advance if I end up like that."

"I won't hold it against you."

She stared at the fire for a while, the flames reflected in her eyes. She was so beautiful; her red hair glowing in the fire, her freckles standing out. Was this how guys acted around their girlfriends?

"Lydia?"

"Yeah?"

"What do we do when you go back home with your mom?" Her voice got small and fragile, like she was afraid to ask the question. I didn't blame her though. I would have acted the same way.

This time, I rested my head on her shoulder. "I don't know. I'm trying not to think that far ahead."

"Why?"

Her question caught me off guard. What did she mean 'why?' So I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "The whole thing with my mom. I just... don't want to have to deal with it. And, you know, I'm starting to like this place a little."

"This place?" She laughed.

"Okay, it's mostly because of you. But still. Things are going better here than they did back home."

"Maybe you should stay with me forever. Let me kidnap you and hide you under my bed."

I laughed. "You'd like that, huh?"

"More than you can imagine."

I sighed in contempt and got to my feet, brushing my jeans off. "I'm starving. Wanna help me raid the fridge?"

She took my offered hand and pulled herself to her feet. "I'd be glad to."

Although we couldn't send all our time together, we spent three fourths of it with each other. Sometimes we went to her house and hung out, other times we were at mine. More often than not, we were at the diner, eating.

This went on for awhile and it certainly didn't take long for our fathers to get involved. Whether it be an extra glance or lingering in the background, they were there. And it was driving us nuts.

One day, when Ava was picking me up, she turned down a road I'd never been on. "I'm so sick and tired of never getting to spend any time with just you."

I laughed but didn't say anything. If she wanted to be with me, she'd make it happen. She was just amazing like that.

I pried her hand from the steering wheel and linked my fingers with hers. "So, where are we going?"

She glanced over at me and a smile slowly crept onto her face. She wasn't the best at keeping secrets and I knew that she'd give in and tell me. "It's nowhere special. I just... I really want to be with you."

"Ava, we're together all the time."

"Not like that. Not when my dad or yours can break this up. Some place with no distractions."

"Makes me wonder if you have a secret motive."

She laughed but didn't say anything.

I stared out the window as she drove, watching as pavement turned into dirt and the houses and businesses turned into trees and weeds. The town was beautiful but the wilderness was even more beautiful.

When she stopped the truck, she stayed inside, turning the volume down so we could talk. "Has Jason tried calling you?"

I sighed. "He called last night after you left. He didn't leave a voice mail so I don't know why he was calling."

"To win you over probably."

"I think someone getting jealous. And paranoid."

She groaned. "I'm sorry but he messed up. He ruined things between you. I should not be punished by him taking you from me."

I leaned across the seat and kissed her. "Stop worrying, Ava. I'm with you now, okay? He's not going to take me from you."

"You say that now-"

"Trust me. I know Jason and I know my better judgment. Besides, I like being with a girl way better than a guy."

Instead of saying anything, she climbed over the seat and sat in the tiny backseat. She pulled on my hand, blinking her eyelashes at me.

I laughed and climbed back to sit beside her.

"You know, we could run away and just stay like this forever." She said, snuggling up against my side.

"We barely have any money, our gas would run out quickly, we'd starve, and then we'd die. I don't see that happening for us." I said, reality coming to me faster than I really wanted it to.

She glared at me. "Do you really have to be so reasonable?"

I kissed her. "Not always. Just on practical things."

She sighed and put her forehead on my shoulder. "I wish I could see you get jealous about stuff."

"What? You wanna see me get all freaked out and over-protective?"

"It'd be a nice change from me always being so freaked out."

"You don't have to be, you know." I said, propping my feet up on the middle console.

"It's not that easy."

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. "It's cute, nonetheless. Don't ever change."

She laughed and nodded. "Okay."

I'm not sure why this looks so funky but whatever. This chapter is up on my fictionpress page so check it out there if this is too weird.