The Fast Lane

Chapter 4

We sat in awkward silence as he zipped in and out of traffic.  I pulled my hair out of the ugly tight bun Jenna insisted all of the bridesmaids got.  I threw it back up into a loose bun like I had yesterday. I pulled some of the hair down on the sides of my face and glanced over at Harry who had apparently been watching the whole thing. 

"Jeezus, would you keep your eyes on the road please?"  I snapped at him. "And put your seatbelt on? Please?" 

He laughed and slowly reached for his seatbelt, but he didn’t stop looking at me.  I huffed and crossed my arms and looked straight ahead. “If you’re going to maintain this speed and not look at the road, I suggest you get into the left lane,” I said.  Without checking is blind spot, he swerved to the left. He laughed again when I quickly looked back to see if he was going to hit anyone.  I felt my cheeks flush.

"Do you think this is a joke?" I was irritated now.  "You should look where you’re going.  And also, do you realize what you just got me into?  My mom still thinks I’m dating Alex and all of a sudden I’m engaged to a guy she’s never me-"

"OH so you WERE dating that guy!"  Harry looked at the road and smiled like he had just solved a crime.  

"I never said we didn’t date.  I said we weren’t dating yesterday.  My mom was expecting him to be at the wedding and all of a sudden she gets you…" I inhaled deeply.  Maybe "you" wasn’t so bad. Harry certainly wasn’t ugly or anything close to it. His voice made me want to melt.  But I didn’t know anything about him other than the length of his junk, he liked to drive fast, and he had a scary mother.

I pulled my peach strapless dress up. “How did you get into that wedding anyway?” 

"My brother was the best man," Harry said pleasantly.  Now that I thought about it, I could see the resemblance. 

"Well then why didn’t we drive up together? You got off at some random exit like 3 hours before Charlotte." 

He shifted in his seat. “Well,” he started. “I, uh. I had to race.” 

"Race?" 

"Yeah.  You know.  Like, street racing?"

I nodded.  I knew what it was.  ”Isn’t that illegal?”

"Sometimes!" He laughed. Cooper used to street race. Suddenly I saw Cooper in my mind.  Then I looked behind him and saw a car smashing into a tree and- 

"You do earn a lot of money when you win though! It’s nice," Harry explained. 

Suddenly I began to feel a little sick.  ”Please, just pull over and let me out,” I said.  Harry looked at me, suddenly worried. 

"Is everything okay?" he asked.  He began to slow down and pulled over into a Wendy’s parking lot.  I fell out of the car and threw up.  Harry jumped out and ran over to me.  He began to rub my back as a buried my head into a bush.  I hated my peach colored dress.  It was tight around my stomach.  I needed to get it off. 

"Please, just drive me back to the hotel.  I need a little sleep and maybe a coke…" I said, clutching my stomach.  Harry nodded and helped me back to his car.  We got in and he started to drive.  I kept my eyes closed because watching the passing cars made me dizzy.  I could feel that we definitely weren’t driving as fast anymore, but I must have been tired because I quickly fell asleep.  

I woke up in Harry’s arms.  I could smell him.  I thanked him without opening my eyes.  He told me to shush and rest, laying me down on a bed.  It was a lot softer than the one I remembered at the hotel.  It smelled a lot nicer in the room too, but I was too tired and too sick to open my eyes and figure out where I was.  Harry kissed me on the cheek.  I heard footsteps, a light being switched off, blinds being shut, and a door closing. And that was the last thing I remember before I fell asleep.