Locust Lane

Chapter 10

{Saraji Carson}

The first place that Amir and I went to was the gas station right down the street from his home. While he went in the store, I looked through his CD book. He has at least two hundred CDs. I settled on a CD that had Old R&B written on it. The first song on the CD was some song by Mint Condition.

I watched Amir as he came out the store and over to the pump. He put it in the car then turned his attention back to his phone.

Something isn't quite right about Amir. That phone of his always seems to occupy his time. I don't think that would be such a bad thing if it didn't seem like he was paranoid all of a sudden.

I'm sure if I asked him what was wrong, he'd lie, so I'll leave it alone. For now anyway.

After pumping the gas, he got back in the car. He put his phone in the cup holder. As he put his seat belt on, I grabbed his phone. He looked at me oddly before trying to get it from me.

"This phone only seems to stress you out. I'll make you a deal: If you stay off your phone for the remainder of the night, so will I."

He looked hesitant, but he finally agreed. I put both of our phones in the dashboard compartment.

He stared at it for a moment, then he took a deep breath and started the car.

Aside from the music, the car was silent. When he merged onto the Interstate, I suddenly understood why he asked how far I was willing to go.

I glanced over at him right at the same time he briefly glanced back. He then got into the middle lane and focused on the road in front of us. For it to be a Saturday night, the Interstate wasn't ridiculously cluttered. At least not on the side we were on. Traffic was bumper to bumper on the other side.

Amir seemed to be paying attention to our surroundings, yet he seemed... spaced out. There's no telling what all goes on in that mind of his.

"Amir."

He did a quick glance at me before looking back at the road.

"Truthfully tell me what's on your mind right now."

"Where we're going. Truthfully tell me what's on your mind at this moment."

"You."

Really, I wasn't too sure what I expected his reaction to be. I sure didn't expect him to chuckle as he did, though.

"Corn ball. You want this to be like a movie scene so bad."

Embarrassment washed over me. Tht was the truthful answer. I really was wondering why he was acting so paranoid. He didn't get like that until we went to his apartment.

"Apparently I suck at jokes. Sorry I wasn't serious about the movie scene."

"Yeah. You're right. You do suck at jokes."

An awkward pause fell upon us. To escape it, I turned the radio up slightly louder.

One of my favorite songs of all time started playing. Even though I was a little reluctant, I couldn't resist singing along.

"On a perfect day, I know that I can count on you
When that's not possible, tell me can you weather a storm..."

"Cause I need somebody who will stand by me
Through the good times and bad times she will always, always be right there."

I was surprised that Amir jumped in. His singing isn't as horrible as mine. In unison, we sang the hook.

"Sunny days- everybody loves them.
Tell me, baby, can you stand the rain?
Storms will come, this we know for sure.
Can you stand the rain?"