It was almost instant, you noticed how quickly you and Matt fell into a friendship. From the minute you woke up, the storm was gone and Matt had a cup of coffee for you, the anxiety of the day before was gone. There was no watching yourself around Matt, biting your tongue to stop yourself snapping at every little thing he did. There was no irritation on how he taps the steering wheel or how he asks so many questions.
What you realised was, Matt was more interesting that you ever thought. He was more interesting than the endless fields of corn that he drove past. His jokes are dumb, but he said them with a huge smile on his face and you couldn't help but laugh. His comments were strange, but you found yourself enjoying the words that came out of his mouth.
"If we were in a Children of the Corn situation" He started, raising his voice to be heard over his music. "Do you think you'd be able to outsmart the cult? Or would you get sacrificed?"
You nearly choked on your water as you turned to give Matt a confused look. "What?"
"We're in Nebraska. That's where it takes place, right?" He looked over at you. "There's like a weird child cult and they kill all the adults in the town for corn. Then this couple on the road finds them and tries to stop them. Do you think you'd be able to?"
"Do I think I'd be able to stop a child cult? Or would I get sacrificed? That's what you're asking?" The question was ridiculous but you were already thinking of what you would do. "I think I could stop them. They're just kids, right? You just can't be afraid to, you know?" You dragged your thumb across your throat and Matt raised his eyebrow.
"You'd kill a bunch of kids?"
"If they were evil and wanted to kill me? Absolutely" You leaned back on the headrest, keeping your eyes locked on Matt. "Wouldn't you?"
Matt shrugged. "I don't know. I'd try to reason with them I think"
You pointed at him and clicked your tongue. "And that's why they'd sacrifice you and not me"
Matt laughed and shook his head, looking back at the road. "Wouldn't you try to save me?"
You hummed, pretending to think about the question. "That would depend on how annoying you were that day"
"You're such a sweetheart" He laughed again, but stopped when he saw a sign on the road. "Oh! There's a gift shop on the next exit"
You groaned, sensing defeat. "No, Matt. You don't need another keychain-"
"You don't know that!"
~
"I could drive if you want"
Matt looked at you in the midst of attaching his new key chain to his keys. "What?"
"You've been driving for three days straight" you leaned over the passenger side of the car. "I could drive. I know how to. I didn't in LA because the traffic was annoying"
"Uh, no offence but.." he opened the car door and smiled. "No one drives but me. Besides it's a stick, have you ever driven one?"
"No" you admitted, biting your lip. "But you could show me"
Matt took a breath and looked around the car park. You knew he was looking for a reason to say no, but there wasn't one. There was no other cars and it was a flat area. Matt exhaled and nodded, stepping back from the drivers side. "Fine. Get in"
You and Matt swapped sides of the car and you were more excited about it than Matt was. When you got in and adjusted his seat, Matt looked uncomfortable and you rolled your eyes.
"Oh, come on. You're taller than me, Matt. I need to reach the pedals" You scoffed and adjusted the rear view mirror. "You can fix it back later"
"Yeah" Matt sighed and pushed his sunglasses up into his hair. "Okay, so..there's three pedals on the floor. The right is gas, the middle is break and the left is the clutch. And here-" he took your hand and placed it on the gear stick. "This is how you shift. There's six gears, okay? And they depend on the speed your going at. So start with this one-" His hand squeezed yours as he changed the gears. "Which is here. Here's two-" He moved the gear stick down to the left and moved it as he spoke. "Three, four, five and reverse. Got it?"
