Crash Course in Shane Mathias

6. Sunrise to Sunrise

Shane had awoken at seven that morning, which was earlier than his body was accustomed to because of the odd sleeping schedules he was allowed to follow at the hospital. Even though Jugatxi had told him that they would leave at two AM that night and that he should get some sleep, he didn't want to sleep even though his body begged for it. He was just too anxious. Jugatxi was taking a nap in the room that Shane had kept aside for her. So Shane figured that they had been close enough that he always had had space for her. 

Shane looked at the clock. It was one thirty in the morning, he should wake Jugatxi. 

He headed down the hall and was about to knock on her door, when it opened. Jugatxi stepped out. " Good morning," she smiled. 

"Good morning," Shane said. 

"You're anxious, aren't you?" she smiled at him. He didn't respond. "I've known you all of your life. You may not be exactly you right now, but I still know you. We'll leave soon enough." She patted his arm and headed into the bathroom.

Shane decided to take their luggage down while Jugatxi finished whatever she needed to do. It was the middle of a winter night and Shane had forgotten to put on a sweater, all he was wearing was a t-shirt. The cold wind bit at his exposed arms, neck, and face. He opened the trunk to Jugatxi's Solara, and lifted each of their suitcases inside. He was heading back inside when he heard his name being called. 

"Shane!" He turned to find a petite blonde running toward him. She threw his arms around him, but he didn't wrap his arms around her. She didn't seem to notice. "I miss you so much! I'm so glad you're okay. When I heard about your accident, I cried so much!"

Shane tried to push her away as softly as possible. "Do... I... know... you?"

"Oh, my God, you don't know who I am!" She let go of him and took a step back. Were those tears Shane saw in her eyes? She seemed to be caught between hysterical crying and incredulous laughter. "I... You... I never..." That was the only thing Shane understood when she spoke because she was sobbing uncontrollably and mumbling. Shane raised his eyebrows in disbelief. 

"Ugh, shut up and go away, Delilah." Jugatxi walked out of the building and rolled her eyes. She threw a sweater at Shane. "You're not supposed to be here anyway."

Shane pointed at the girl. "Uh, who is she?"

"She's your crazy ex-girlfriend," Jugatxi said as she moved past them. "Get in the car, Shane." 

Once inside the car, he looked back at the spot where the girl had disappeared from as Jugatxi drove off. "Huh," was all he said.  Jugatxi laughed. "It doesn't really matter if you don't remember her. You broke up with her like almost a year ago."

"So why is she still looking for me?"

"'Cause you're hot and she's crazy, but she's kind of cool when she's not acting too crazy. And she's funny sometimes too. But she's crazy."

"How did I meet her?" Shane asked. 

"Well... your car hit her."

"What?! I hit her with my car?"

Jugatxi laughed, "No, your car hit her. She ran into it while it was parked and she swore it hit her."

"So she is crazy," Shane concluded, laughing a bit.

"Yeah," Jugatxi nodded. "She was actually better than the one with the pet pig though."

"Tell me about her," Shane said, interested in whatever information he could get.

"She had this pet pig that her mom gave her for her birthday..." Jugatxi started. They talked through all of the remainder of the night. Shane resisted sleep so that he could talk to Jugatxi about how his life had been and so that she wouldn't be tempted to go to sleep behind the wheel. 

They were somewhere in Arizona when the sun started to rise. The horizon was tinged in red, then orange. It was beautiful with the deep blues above it, and the barely visible sandy hues below it. Shane could have sworn he had seen this sunrise before. 

"We stayed up to see the sunrise the first time we took a road trip with mom and dad too." Jugatxi did the mind-reading thing that she does. "That time you woke up at seven am and fell asleep at seven am the next day just after you saw the sunrise, just like today. You won't be able to resist sleep now, it's just the way that you work." She smiled softly at Shane. 

Shane knew she was right. "Good night," he told her, even though he knew it was morning. He returned the smiled as his eyes closed. 

"Goodnight, Shane," she said softly.