Complication

Chapter Forty-Four

My eyes slowly open around nine the next morning. Still in the same place I fell asleep at. I yawn and rub my eyes. I'm exhausted. I check my phone and jolt up at the look of the time. Brandon and Lucas will be at the barn in a hour. They've been driving all night. They are exhausted, not me.

Justin walks out of his room, rubbing his temples. His hair, I can't get over it. It looks the same as yesterday even when he slept on it, telling me that it naturally falls to the side by itself. Actually, now that I think about it, it looks like a shorter version of Lucas's. Then I remember walking the streets in Florida and a lot of young guys having similar hairstyles. Am I really that oblivious to things? That I don't even notice that almost every guy has the same hairstyle, or that my dad was standing in front of me for five minutes and all I could think of were how green his eyes were.

I take a deep breath. I had my meltdown already, no need for another one. I have to get to the barn. I have to get my mind off to help them like I promised.

Noah trots out of his room and I'm surprised by how big he got. He sees me and happily comes over and licks my face as I pet him. "Hey Noah!" He brightened my mood a bit.

After a few minutes Justin calls Noah over to the door and let's him out.

"What are you doing today?" I ask him ask nicely as I can.

"Umm... Nothing really. I have therapy at five-"

"Perfect, can I borrow your car?"

"Why?"

"Because I have to get to Two Trees."

He opens up the pantry and rummages through it, "let me guess, you have to get your mind off of everything? Have to run away?"

"What?" I was surprised with his first guess it was right. But the second one? What was that all about?

"Run away." He sees the confused look on my face and continues. "You know, you run whenever things get too hard for you to handle..." I shift my weight onto one leg and raise my eyebrow. "It's not a bad thing, a lot of people do it."

I'm not sure to be mad at him or, oh wait, I'm mad at him. "And what gives you the right to label me?" I snap.

"Gina, think about it. You fell off Harry, you didn't ride. You broke up with me, you ran to Florida. Your dad came, you ran home. And now you want to get away from me so you're running to the barn."

It rings truth but I don't want to let that bother me right now. "You're right about one thing. I do want to get away from you. So can I borrow your car. I'll have it back well before five."

I know he'll never let me drive it. He didn't when we were together because he treated that thing like a his baby. And this new car cost twice as much as his other one. But surprisingly he tosses the keys over to me. "You scratch it, you pay for it."

Okay maybe I was wrong, I think walking out to the car. I push the start button to turn on the engine and that's when I realize why he is "letting" me drive it.

I don't know how to drive stick shift.

I stare at it like its hieroglyphics, there's more pedals then necessary on the floor and the center counsel shift has a lot of buttons. I look up and Justin is standing my the front door, watching me try to figure this out.

"Haha, very funny" I say flatly. The real funny thing is that he thinks I'll just get out and give the keys back. Nah, I'll drive the thing in neutral the whole way if I have to. It takes me three tries to move the gears into reverse to back out of his driveway. I roll down the windows and watch Justin's amused face drop when he realizes that I'm going anyway.