Saturday was coming to a close and never have I ever been in a better mood. The top to my convertible car was down and warm air blew my hair around wildly. Domino by Jessie J blasted from the radio and I could feel my throat becoming sore from singing along so loudly. Luckily no one would be bothered by me here on the highway. All was going well but suddenly something happened. Either I was on a sugar high from all those slurpies or my car was slowly declining speed. My eyes flickered to the dashboard where it was shown that my gas tank was on empty. What? Ugh, why now? No no no...I willed the car to keep going a little while longer but soon I was parked-or maybe stranded is a more accurate word-on the side of the highway with sunset nearing. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down and grabbed my phone out of my purse. I'll be fine, I told myself. I'll just call someone. I press a button to activate my phone and, of course, find it's dead. Perfect. Just like a horror movie. Eventually someone or rather something will emerge from the thick woods that stand only yards away from me and hack me to death or eat me alive or something. I turn my attention to the passing cars hoping that it won't be a stranger pulling over to help me, if anyone even bothers. Half an hour passes and I'm left sitting in a car on the side of the road and in the dark. My head rested against the cool glass window and my eyes drooped shut so it startled me half to death when I heard a tapping on the window. On the other side of the door stood a tall boy, around my age, with soft chocolate eyes and a cute smile. After recomposing myself I roll down the window. "Hi," I say.
"Hi, I'm sorry if I startled you. Do you need a ride?" I contemplate in my head whether or not it'd be smart to go with the boy. Anyone knows that good looks can be deceiving. He could still be some psycho killer. But I have no other plans to resort to so I push the paranoid thoughts away and answer him.
"Yeah, if it wouldn't be any trouble. My phone's dead and my car kinda failed on me too."
"Oh, no trouble," he replies. "I'm just surprised that no one has been kind or smart enough to stop and help out such a pretty girl."
I hop out of my beloved new car and into the boy's SUV. I buckle in and make sure to lock my car's doors before he drives off.
"I'm Liam, by the way." He says before an awkward silence can settle in.
"Oh, thanks, Liam. I'm Y/N"
"So what happened to your car?"
"Oh, ran out of gas. I've never been in this situation so I have no idea what to do or how to get my car back home..."
"Don't worry, Y/N I'll help you out."
Liam lets me choose a radio station and when I can't decide, he lets me look through his CD collection. I flip through them all, and they're all pretty good, but then I find my favorite band's album, a group almost nobody else I know knows about. I pop it in to the player and turn it up loud. He looks over at me and gives a big surprised smile. "You know them?" he asks. I tell him they are my absolute favorite group and we sing along to the whole album together, me giving him directions every now and then. Once all the songs are over we make it to a gas station. He buys a couple gallons for me to take back to my car. It was dark already and I didn't want to wait in the car so I went inside with Liam and looked around for some snacks to buy while he got the gas. With a good sized pile of food in my arms I headed to the counter to pay. A woman in her twenties was standing behind the register chewing bubblegum. While she was scanning all the items Liam called to me from the door.
"I'm gonna head back out to the car, Y/N." I smiled and gave him a thumbs up, now chewing my own piece of gum.
"That's one cute guy you got there." I turned around and found it was the checkout girl speaking to me. "I wish my boyfriend looked like yours." I followed her gaze and watched Liam as he walked back to his car.
"Oh. Yeah," I dropped the money in her hand and took the plastic bag. "Thanks." I said, and left for the door. It's true, Liam was extremely gorgeous. And his voice was like heaven, especially when he sang. He had the cutest smile, is really sweet, and we love the same underrated band. I couldn't have gotten any luckier with who stopped to help me on the highway. I couldn't help but picture how we'd look as a couple. We sat in the car for a minute dividing the snacks then took off so we could get back to my car. There had been a few minutes of silence that I was eager to break. "So where were you going to before you so kindly stopped to help me?"
"Oh, um, just to go meet some friends for dinner, actually."
"Oh, oh I'm so sorry, did I ruin your plans?"
"No! Of course not, you're an exception. Besides, I let them know and they understand.....but there's still time to make it. Would you like to join me?"
"Really? It wouldn't be a bother? I mean, we just met, and I'd be a total stranger to everyone."
"Yeah, you could come! And anyway, all of my friends have brought their girlfriends and I'm kind of a fifth wheel so,"
"So you want me to be your fake girlfriend for a day?"
"I mean I guess so. You'll be my date. Come on, it'll be fun."
After fueling up my car, I drove in mine and followed Liam to the restaurant. It was actually a really good time. His friends' girlfriends were lovely, we all exchanged numbers and at one point went to the ladies' room to chat a bit and I made up a little story about how Liam and I met, so that it wouldn't be obvious I was just there to rid of all embarrassment. At the end of the night I was glad I'd make a few friends, and I was hoping Liam would want to be friends too, but I didn't feel that I had the right to be. Nor did I feel confident enough to ask him for his number. I'm just the girl he helped off the side of the road and used as a pretend date or girlfriend or something. That doesn't mean much.
"Thanks for coming. Hope you had a good time," Liam said as he walked me to my car. If you could even call it that; we were parked right next to each other.
"Oh yeah, no problem. A favor for a favor. Well, have a good life-I mean-night." I quickly ducked into my car but Liam stopped me before I could close the door.
"Hey, I just met you so I know this sounds kind of crazy, and we just went on a fake date, but...here's my number. Maybe you could call me sometime?" I watched his face. He looked genuinely nervous as he waited for my reply.
"Thanks, I'd love to." I said with a very pleased smile. His face lit up so fast and nothing had ever made my heart race as much as his smile did. "So I'll see you soon?"
"I sure hope so. Goodnight, Y/N. Keep that car in good shape!"
After he drove off I sat in my car staring at the napkin that had his phone number scribbled on it. And I actually squealed in happiness. I have never loved my car so much for running out of gas.
