Many Mistakes, No Regrets

Chapter 25: I've got a pickle!

Chapter 25: I’ve got a pickle!           

Jake’s POV

            Two weeks of boredom. I only saw Rikki for a few minutes before she left for the cruise. I was on that trip and then I had finals to study for. But once she gets back today and we are going into town. But the best part of her coming back is her aunt isn’t. She and Izzy are going to LA for an acting job or something and won’t be back until the end of August.

            Austin and I are picking her up at the airport in an hour and I can’t wait. I may have chickened out last summer but I won’t this summer. I will find the courage to tell her. Maybe. What if she laughs at me? I know she won’t actually laugh but what if she just shoots me down. That might be worse than her laughing. That settles it, I can’t tell her.

            “Jake, we need to go. I need to make a few stops before we pick her up.”

            Soon. Very soon. She will be back for the whole summer. She may not realize it but I have planned a trip for the summer and Austin’s in on it. It’s for her birthday which is only a few weeks away. But everything is just about set. Basically, all that is left to do it to tell Rikki.

            “Jake. Let’s. Go.”

            “Coming.” I race down the hall and run right into Austin. “Sorry.”

            “Forget about it. Just get in the car.”

            I did as I was told, which is a rarity for me, but this is Austin and I owe him. He agreed not to tell Mom and Dad about what I did in Cleveland. If they knew, I would be deader than dead.

            “So, where are we stopping first?”

            “Rikki’s house.”

            “Why?”

            “You’ll see.” He drove the few minutes it takes to get to Rikki’s house without saying a word to me. When we stopped out front, he got out and went over towards the garage. “You know the trip you’re planning means driving. And I was thinking about it and I have decided not to drive my car.” He paused and let that sink in.

            “But Austin. You can’t do this. I need you to drive us. If you don’t drive, then we can’t go and you already told Paige about it. I was there. She is so excited for it. She said that she loves going to the-”

            “Calm down. I said I wasn’t going to drive MY car. I didn’t say I wasn’t going to drive. I am going to drive Rikki’s car.”

            “Rikki doesn’t have a car.” I say as I shake my head. What is he talking about?

            “Yes, she does. It was her brother’s. I’ll show it to you.”  He opened up the garage and inside there were two cars. One was a black sedan. The other had a cover over it.  Austin went up to the one with a cover and took it off.  Underneath was a red Camaro.

            “This is her car.” It looks so familiar. I remember seeing it. It looks nearly identical to the one that- it is the same one.

            “You almost hit me!”

            “What?”

            “Last summer, I was on my bike and I was going down the road. Then this car was going straight towards me. And you were in it, weren’t you?”