The Cracks Beneath the Pavement

Chapter 1

The wind was blowing in my face and the world around was dark. Nothing had ever felt more relaxing than this moment driving in the dark through roads I had never traveled on my own. I was singing under my breath when suddenly a loud pop interrupted me mid-verse and the car felt like it leaned to the right side. I pulled to the side of the road and turned my emergency lights on even though it seemed useless since there wasn't another car in sight. I turned to the passenger seat to see if Noah had woken up but he seemed as asleep as ever.

I got out of the car to evaluate the damage done to the car, it appeared that we had a flat tire. I glanced at my phone, it was 2 am and I had no service. It wasn't like I could really call someone at that hour either so I decided to try to fix the problem myself instead. I remembered having seen my father change a tire before but I never bothered to learn how to do it myself. Part of me wanted to wake Noah and make him do it but part of me said that I didn't need a boy to do this and that I could do it myself.

After an hour and too many attempts later I decided to take a break. It didn't mean I was quitting, I was simply taking a break or at least that's what I told myself. If only I had service and I could look up a tutorial online, I was sure I could do it if I saw someone and my memory was refreshed a bit. As I was sitting on the side of the road at 3 am, I thought I saw headlights headed towards us but I was sure it was just my imagination. It had been a while since I had slept and I was tired. I rubbed my eyes and took another look towards that side of the road and sure enough another car was headed towards us.

It slowed and pulled up next to us, I tried to remain calm and minded my own business. The driver stopped and turned on his emergency lights on as well. He started to approach me and spoke up.

"Hey, are you alright? It's a little late to be traveling don't you think?" he said.

I instinctively took a step back and tried to put as much distance between us as possible without making it too obvious that I was a bit paranoid. I'd seen too many crime shows to know that these kind of encounters never end well and I certainly didn't want to end up as a legend or an example or what could happen if you got a flat tire and your road trip partner slept through it.

"Yeah, fine thanks. We just got a flat tire no big deal," I said loudly trying to wake Noah up.

"Oh, well do you need some help? I'm sure I've got some helpful tools in my trunk,"  he expressed calmly.

"Oh no, this is it. Of all the ways to die I will be murdered by a handsome stranger on the side of the road," I thought. 

"No need, I'm sure we've got it under control. It really isn't necessary."

He had started walking to his car and opened his trunk. I took a deep breath preparing my lungs to scream if necessary and if at all possible. Hopefully Noah would wake up when he heard my screams and would be able to get away in time, he was a good friend (up until the moment when he slept through the car getting a flat tire and my possible murder) and I didn't mind dying for him. He definitely had a brighter future and was a much better person than I was. The guy pulled out a box of tools from his trunk and began to walk towards me, before I knew it words escaped my mouth.

"If you're going to kill me please make it quick and painless and spare my friends' life."

"What? I'm not going to kill you. I was just trying to help, sorry if I scared you."

"No, I'm sorry. It's just you know it's late and this is the kind of thing that inspires scary stories." I said a bit embarrassed.

"Why don't we start over? I'm Adam, can I help you fix your car?"

"Hi Adam. I'm Parker, and  yes that would be nice thank you."

After about 30 minutes he had guided me through all the steps of changing a tire so I wasn't completely a damsel in distress.

"Thanks for helping, I don't know how much longer I would've been here if you hadn't helped."

"No problem, you seemed a little stressed out but you did good."

"Well, thanks again. I should let you get on your way and sorry if I held you up."

"Really it's not a big deal, anyways good luck and be careful Miss Parker there's a lot of psychos out there."

I smiled being thankful that he wasn't a serial killer and even if he was he had spared my life.

"I will. It was nice to meet you Adam. Bye."

We got in our respective vehicles and I watched him drive away through the rearview mirror.

"What are you watching Prince Charming ride away?" Noah spoke up beside me and nearly made me jump out of my skin.

"What the hell? You've been awake?! Why didn't you say something?"

"I just woke up now and I didn't want to disturb, you two seemed to be having a moment," Noah said with a smirk.

I turned the car on and started to drive again with any luck we'd reach Noah's dad's house by 6 am.

"Oh shut up, we weren't having a moment I was just thanking him for helping to fix our flat tire while you Ms. Sleeping Beauty did nothing. Besides, just because you and Lisa are happily "in love" doesn't mean you need to hook me up with a stranger," I told him firmly.

"Hey! Hey! In the words of the wise Beatles, all you need is love!" he said enthusiastically.

"Yeah because love is going to help me change the flat tire," I said rolling my eyes.

"For all we know he might be the one," said Noah raising his eyebrows.

"Oh please, I doubt we'll ever see him again. Are you hungry?" I asked trying to change the topic which was making me more uncomfortable than I would like to admit.

"Now that you mention it, I could use a snack," said Noah as he reached for our snack bag.

Our 4 am meal choices consisted of some half eaten beef jerky, a bag of chips, a peanut butter chocolate bar, two large chocolate cookies, and two cold sodas. We ate our food in silence and listened to the Road Trip Mix that both Noah and I had composed. Even though we had a similar taste in music we still liked different bands.

Another hour passed and it was getting harder to stay awake now so Noah and I traded spots. I turned up the stereo and Noah and I both started to sing along to one of our favorite songs. He rolled the windows down and his blonde hair started to blow in the wind.  As I focused on him from the passenger seat I realized how lucky I was to have such an awesome best friend, he had let me tag along with him to see his dad and live with him for the summer. He had always been my savior allowing me to crash at his mom's place when my parents fighting was too much for me to take.

Everyone always wondered why we weren't together and the answer was simple. We were like brother and sister. It wasn't that Noah wasn't a good looking guy (blonde hair and blue eyes, who didn't want to be with him?)  or anything it just had never been about that between us, we had always been best friends and we were both okay with that. We had both seen each other through all our embarrassing phases as well as our lowest and highest moments.

"Thanks for letting me tag along, I don't know what I would've done all summer stuck at home without you."

"No big deal P! Besides I needed a reliable source to assure Lisa that she's the only one  on my mind these two months," he said with a small chuckle.

"Well glad to be of service Mr. Casanova." I said with a wink.

"Go to sleep if you want, I got it from here. I'll wake you up when we get there."

"You don't have to tell me twice. Night night!"

Suddenly, now having permission to rest, my eyelids felt heavy and soon I slipped into peaceful unconsciousness.