Seven Letter Words #Wattys2016

Part 13

Liam

Was it bad that I wanted to take her phone and chuck it out the window? I knew Pines would not be a fan of her asshole boyfriend and would appreciate any intervention I was willing to perform to get her away from him long enough to see what an idiot he was. I looked down at it in the cup holder and had to tighten my hand on the steering wheel so that I wouldn't be tempted to grab it. If I knew her as well as I knew my other friends, I would have told her she needed to get her head out of the clouds and realize she's worth more than the way he'd treated her.

It was hard to be stuck in that position. I wanted to protect her like a brother, but I also couldn't deny that I didn't think of her as a sister. She was a beautiful woman who seemed intelligent and independent when her head wasn't clouded with grief. She was someone I would absolutely be interested in—if she wasn't already with someone else and my friends weren't waiting for me to make one wrong move so they could kick my ass.

The fields outside my window flew by. I wasn't always sure what they were growing, but I didn't even have to ask. I would move to point and from across the truck's cab, Juliet would just say, "Cabbage," or "Potatoes," or some other produce she must have seen a million times living there. It seemed like the further away from her town we drove, the more she relaxed. Eventually, her cute little feet were bare and resting on the dashboard. Her toenails were painted red.

The city I grew up in would never be described as "quaint," or "heartland." Where I grew up, you locked the doors at night and watched your back if you were walking down a dark street at night. It wasn't a dangerous place, but it wasn't one of the towns where the residents trusted each other and knew each other for generations. Juliet came from a quaint town in the heartland. We were from different worlds, but in the cab of that truck, I felt right at home with her.

Her window was down as the sun blared through. We had the AC cranked on too, but she'd cracked her window a few miles back when we drove past a large field of colorful flowers. With her sunglasses on and her head tipped back, she looked like an actress straight out of a Hollywood movie. I wanted to reach over and touch her tan shoulder where it peeked out from beneath her tank top.

We were driving somewhere near the center of the state, making crazy road changes to stay on the highway. The directions I pulled off the Internet had us driving through small towns with a pizza place and an old gas station as the only frame of references. I was feeling antsy to get out and stretch my legs and I also thought it would be a good idea to have a distraction from the pretty girl sitting next to me. I drove us along a road through an old town that would eventually lead us to the next major highway. The only options were a small Chinese buffet and a chain steak restaurant. We had a long drive ahead of us and I figured it was probably best not to go too exotic in our choices.

"This place ok to grab a bite?" I asked, pulling into the parking lot of the steakhouse as a large truck passed behind us.

"Sure." She shifted in her seat and took her cute little toes off the dash. I parked and jumped out, moving around to open her door for her as she gathered her purse and checked herself in the mirror. Her hair was wild from the wind and her cheeks were a little pink from the sun, but I thought it only made her more attractive. I liked a little color on her cheeks. She walked beside me and I opened the restaurant door for us, loving the cool air conditioning that hit us immediately.

Once the young hostess sat us, Juliet let me know her order and then excused herself to the restroom. I folded my menu and looked out the window, focusing on the cars pulling in and the people getting out. I wondered what way Pines would have driven if he would have made it home. Did he ever drive to California to see his dad? What would his dad be like when we finally met him?

"Thinking of making a run for it?" Juliet asked as she tucked herself into her side of the booth. I smiled and looked up at her. She had freshened up, not that she didn't smell great before, but now I could clearly smell apples and vanilla. I felt my tongue slide along my lip.

"Not a chance." She smiled back at me and rested her elbows on the table. A big curl escaped from the messy bun she'd tried to secure on the top of her head. "I was just thinking about your brother."

Her eyes looked up into mine with understanding. I think it helped that we could talk about him even though everything was still so fresh. "What about him?"

She asked, tucking the curl back up in some hidden pin she pulled from the edge of the bun. She was breathtaking. I shook my head a little to focus.

"I was just wondering if he'd ever driven to California."

Juliet shook her head. "We always fly." Her fingers moved to the packs of sugar at the end of the table. She began to play with them. "He was going to drive us when he got home. It was going to be our first big road trip." My heart clenched in my chest. I put my hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. Her eyes met mine and I could see the sadness in them.

"I'm sorry." I leaned forward and whispered it quietly so no one else could hear. "I'll do what ever you think he wanted to do. We can do it for him."

She smiled and nodded her head. "I'd really like that."

"Then consider it done."