Love In Destin ✔

19 - beneath your beautiful

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𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒌

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WE'RE DOING IT again, being silent during the car ride. We both inhale the silence, her staring out the window as the wind blows strands of her hair in the air and my attention fully focused on the road. I am just glad she's not been asking questions since we left her house. It's giving me the chance to think of what more I can do to make her like me so I can quickly get this dare over and done with.

"How did you and Mark meet?" she asks as I reach for the radio. She turns to face me with her legs crossed on the car seat and her shoes taken off.

"Isn't that uncomfortable?" I say, pinpointing her seated position.

"I sometimes sit like this when my butt starts hurting," she responds as I raise an eyebrow at her like she's mad. "It helps me get comfy," she adds.

"Okay...,"

"You didn't answer my question,"

"For a person who isn't interested in me, you sure do want to know a lot about me,"

"What? So you just want me to quietly go with you as you take me someplace I don't know?"

"Fair enough,"

"It's an outing, remember? We can still be friends,"

A humorless laugh sputters out of me. Damn, she's so naïve, it's pretty sad. Besides, getting to know each other is part of the process, isn't it? Just go with it.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I met Mark at a tough time in my life. He brought me ice cream and sat right next to me in front of my front door porch, and we ate our ice cream without a word. He did that every day until we started talking,"

I still remember that day as clearly as any cloudless day. It was Mom's first death anniversary, and it had dawned on my thirteen-year-old self that it had been a year without my mother. A year with no lullabies, no kisses on the forehead or cheek, no musical Saturdays, and no hearty meals.

Mom was everywhere and in everything. She was the one to open the blinds bright early in the morning, to tickle us goodnight, to hear us whine about wanting chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and to make us paint things when we thought it was boring. She was the one I would always go to when I had a bad day at school, injured myself, or was happy about something. She was my everything.

And my everything was gone from that house. It was suffocating to be in there, let alone sleep there. I wanted an out. So, I was always outside our front door porch staring at the sky, hoping it would soothe the stinging pain I had to bear until Mark came out of the blue like my little hero. He knew I wasn't in the mood to talk, so he said nothing until I said something. We've been best friends ever since, and Luke would've completed us were he still here.

My hand tightens on the steering wheel as my eyes sting. I close my eyes and release a tiny bit of air. There's no way this girl is gonna see me cry.

"Even though I have no clue what you went through, I hope it's all better now," says Maya.

I turn my attention from the road to look at her, and I'm taken aback. She's smiling, for goodness sake. I'm hurting, and she's smiling. I can't believe this girl smiles about everything.

When reaching our destination, I park the car a small distance from the café. The weight sits on my shoulders as I stare at the café, which mom always brought Noah and me to. Maya finishes putting on her shoes and we head to the entrance.