Spinning Out

Chapter 29

JAINA

Today has been such an emotional day. Nathan made it out of surgery. The doctors were able to remove the clot and he is back in the ICU. I wonder about what it will be like for him if he wakes up. I wonder if he will remember anything that has happened to him while he was in the coma. I brought him his letters and read a few before I felt so exhausted I couldn't keep going. It's as if my adrenaline of the day finally wore off and left me tired and unable to concentrate. I also felt a sense of peace. He made it out, and even though I preferred he never had to go through anything else, it showed me he is fighting.

I didn't want to leave him, but I have another mission to see to. I grab my hoodie from my closet and make my way back downstairs. My parents know I'm going out with a friend, and they didn't really ask me much more than that. Tonight could have been very difficult and maybe they felt a sense of relief too that we all got through the day and this monumental

occasion won't always be linked to the loss of my friend.

"You look great," Elijah says as he opens the door for me.

"You're into hoodies?" I ask him sarcastically.

"I'm probably into whatever you're wearing," he says. He's cute and charming.

"Thanks for going out tonight," I tell him.

"No problem. It's a big night for you, right?" he asks.

I nod.

"Hey, are you not doing Grad Night?" he asks.

"No. I didn't want to go without Nathan."

"Understandable. I heard they are all lame around here anyway. Last year one of my friends said they got locked into a mini golf until 4 am," he says.

"Yea this year the plan is to do something equally as terrible. I might have gone if it was something Nathan wanted to do, but right now I would rather go to LA with you." I tell him.

He nods. The car fires right up and we take off down my street. I texted him the first meeting earlier. I wasn't sure which was acurate since there were two different accounts posting different locations. I asked Elijah about it and he said different clubs might start at different locations. So he told me to pick one and I did.

"How's Nathan doing?" he asks.

"Better," I say. I can't help but smile. He isn't doing awesome or even good, be he is doing better. For sure better than he was the first night, and also better than he was this morning with the clot. It feels good to be able to answer that.

"Good," he says.

We drive along the freeway without saying much. It's warm outside so with my hoodie on, I can sit with the windows down and let the night air flow into the car like we are driving in a scene from a teen movie. The traffic is light, which is rare, but it's later than most people need to be traveling. I watch as Elijah drives with skill. His eyes are always focused on the road, but his hands maneuver the mustang as if we are on a track.

As we pull off the freeway, I can hear the cars honking and the sound of tires spinning. We park as close as possible to the end of the congestion. There are no cops on scene.

"Cops probably have more important things to do tonight," I say.

"Maybe. But this shit will get out of hand without them," he tells me.

"I wonder why they don't arrest everyone," I say.

"For what? Watching isn't a crime unless we are blocking traffic or something."