My Imaginary Boyfriend

My Imaginary Boyfriend *Home

"Brake."

"Yes," Caleb says approvingly. "And this is to accelerate the car."

"I don't need to use my left foot?"

Caleb shakes his head.

"Okay," I say. "So this," I slowly put my right foot over the pedal and say, "is for acceleration."

"You spent thirty minutes memorizing that," Alex comments from the back. "I don't know how many years you need to spend to learn how to drive a manual."

I scowl at him through the mirror and snap, "I only need to learn to drive an automatic, okay?"

"In order for you to really learn, you need to drive a stick."

"Not gonna happen," I say. "I need to master this first."

"It's your choice. You're just making it difficult."

Turning around, I glare at him. He's been dropping annoying comments ever since we started. I don't even know why he joined us if he's just going to rant.

"You two," Caleb says exasperatedly before I can snap at Alex, "cut it out!"

Today's Sunday, and like Caleb promised, he is now teaching me how to drive. We're in a secluded part of our town. The road is deserted; it used to be one of the busy roads years ago, but now cars seldom take this route. There's already a fast lane on the highway.

I gladly took Caleb's offer because I need to let my mind free. I've been staying in the house and all I do is think about Daniel. No wonder I'm having delusions about him. I can't even stop wondering if what I saw yesterday was true. I must be going crazy, though—

"This is the steering wheel," Caleb says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Obviously," I mutter.

"You need to put your hands in ten and two."

"What?"

In the rear view mirror, I catch Alex rolling his eyes. I decide to ignore him.

"Ten and two like, the clock," Caleb explains.

I feel stupid for not knowing that. I position my left hand while thinking about the place of the ten in the clock then proceed with my right hand in the two. After, I turn to Caleb. "What's next?"

Before he can answer, Alex says, "I drive one hand."

No one is asking for your opinion, I want to say, but Caleb says, "He's reckless."

"And you're boring," Alex shoots back.

I sigh. After annoying me, Alex goes ahead and irritates his brother. What's up with him today? I thought he already outgrew his snarky side.

"Don't forget to check the mirrors," Caleb says after a while. "The rear view and both the side mirrors."

I'm about to answer when I get distracted by a guy walking in front of us. He's the same height as Daniel, and they even have the same built. When I squint, I see that they have the identical color of hair. I lean forward to view clearly. A fraction of second after, he turns his gaze on me. I intake a sharp breath.

It can't be.

Am I hallucinating again?

Why am I seeing Daniel in the real world? Yesterday it was in the bookstore, and now, here. I blink, and when I look again, he's gone.

"Annalise?"

My heart skips a beat in my chest.

His eyes; his soft blue eyes.