Spin

Sixteen

[RORY]

I did my best to ignore the incessant honking coming from out front, trying to get the zipper on Finn's ratty old Jansport to close. The backpack had been on its last leg for a long time — longer than I'd even known its owner — but Finn's undying love for the ripping red sack was contagious, like most things. I'd been using it in place of my own, pathetically clinging to even the smallest of opportunities to feel closer to him.

"Success," I breathlessly sighed, finally getting it to close. "I'm coming!"

Knowing Cal was pleased with her obnoxious behavior, I took my time locking up. She was laying on the horn as I retrieved my phone from my pocket, skimming the unexpected text from Anna I'd received. I couldn't help my smile, typing back with one hand as I opened the passenger door with the other.

"Take your time, Rory. It's not like I've been waiting 15 minutes already."

"It was not," I rolled my eyes at the dramatics, climbing into the car. I barely had time to shut the door before she was gassing it. "Jesus, I didn't realize we were in such a hurry."

"We wouldn't be if you were ever on time."

"My tardiness and your speeding cancel each other out, we're fine," I forced out a laugh, glancing back at my phone. I multitasked, responding to another text. "How are you then? Besides being in a mood?"

"I wasn't in a mood," she grumbled, gripping the steering wheel tighter than need be. "But there's a shit ton of traffic and I told mom we'd be there at 5."

"Mom isn't going to give a shit we're running a little late, Cal."

"We were not running late, you made us late."

"Fine, I'm sorry."

While it would have been easy to feed into the tension, I wasn't in the mood to argue with her about something so trivial. We sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a few minutes before I attempted to make a peace offering, reaching forward to turn on the radio.

"No," she interjected as I froze, slowly bringing my hand back to my lap. "Sorry, no music right now."

"We're sitting in silence and I wanted to show you a song."

"I'm not in the mood for your weird indie shit, Rory."

"So we're just going to sit in silence?"

"Fine, let's talk."

"Okay..." I hummed, laughing under my breath at Finn's text. "You never answered how you were."

She let out a labored sigh as I quickly responded to Finn before glancing over at her.

"I'm fine."

"That's it?"

"Well I'm not going to elaborate when you're glued to your phone."

"I'm not glued to my phone," I made a point of setting it in the cupholder, crossing my arms and giving her my full attention. "Sorry, Anna texted me and then Finn was just checking in. He says hi."

"How's Manchester?"

"Oh, they aren't in Manchester anymore," I easily responded, shaking my head. "They're in London now. I think they're all at some party."

I mistook Cal's silence as a comfortable one, grabbing my phone to see if Finn had replied. I was smiling, skimming the cheeky message once more when my phone started ringing.

"Do you mind if I quickly—?"

"Yes, I fucking mind," she snapped. "I'm not your fucking Uber, Rory. He's not going to forget about you if you don't respond for five minutes, fucking chill."