Test Drives ✓

viii. oneirataxia

Author's Note: this is it, the final chapter, my first completed book of this year! Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout this whole process. I hate to ask because you guys are the most amazing readers ever, but it would be nice if you left some comments. I don't seem to get a lot of those and since this is the finale, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

thank you,

tay

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s c e n e e i g h t :

o n e i r a t a x i a

oneirataxia (n.) • inability to distinguish dreams or fantasy from real life

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If you told me I could have my heart fixed and broken in a day, I would've done the smart but cruel thing to do and left Peyton on the side of the road so he could hitchhike with someone else. But you couldn't prepare your heart for these things, you just had to put your faith in love and let it lead the way.

Of course, it had done a rubbish job when I had done so much tonight for Peyton Evers and he even kissed me and told me about forever when he was still hung up on his ex-girlfriend.

Vanessa Wynn was Peyton's ex from last year, the current saluditorian, and one of the most popular girls in our grade. Her other merits included her unblemished skin and curly red hair, her status as the leader of the debate team, and the fact that she was always a teacher's favorite because of her perfect grades and peachy personality. I sometimes loathed her from afar but it was always just jealousy. And here I was again, jealous of her in the most pitiful of ways.

Passing under a streetlight, his face was illuminated in the pale orange glow and I was reminded of all of my failures tonight. There was no such thing as success, at least not for me. Rome may not have been easy to build, but taking it down was all in a days work when the right people came around and did it. If it wasn't Jake, then it would have to be Peyton.

A sigh escaped my lips as I drove on forward. This was the last lap, the beginning of the end, and I couldn't be anymore grateful. Because while I was the one who crashed into Peyton first, he had effortlessly shattered my heart like a bullet. How long has it been, six hours? It was ample time for him to exact his revenge on me, for him to turn my world upside down and yet I never saw it coming — even from many miles away.

Because maybe, there was some part of me that had gotten used to falling in love with him before it even happened. Now I would have to learn to live without him yet we were only together for one day.

"Look," Peyton said with a sigh, "I get that you're upset, but why? Is it because of Vanessa?"

I didn't answer, only traveled onwards in silence which didn't silence him, but instead he chuckled. "It's definitely about Vanessa then."

"Well, Peyton, I honestly don't see how you can be so smug about this? Do you think I just want to be your rebound from your very attractive and successful ex-girlfriend," I asked, my fingers gripping the wheel until they were beginning to numb.

"Well do you want to be my first," he asked. "Should I take us back in time to when we would've likely never talked or wouldn't have liked each other the way we do now?"

I turned quickly in confusion, only catching his eye for a second before turning away to face the road. But it was enough to capture the look he gave me, it was rather cocky, like he knew he was right and there was no evidence that could prove otherwise. His eyes were wide with amusement and I could see how they were differently colored, but this time they held a look of vague triumph in them.