Tainted

Chapter 31: Singing Ain't Manly Man

"A year from now, we'll all be gone, all our friends will move away and they're going to better places, but our friends will be gone away," I sing along to to the song as Jesse taps his finger on the steering wheel. John's sleeping in the back seat and Naomi's texting something on her phone as we make it home from the agency. Have you ever had that feeling where you're trying so desperately to forget something but everyone keeps talking about it so you can't? Yeah that's me right now. I've told everyone everything but that doesn't seem to be enough, they want more information about my father but there's nothing more to tell.

I feel like Jesse, John, and Naomi are the only ones who aren't constantly talking about it and pushing me to tell them more when there's nothing left.
"If you don't know what to make of this, then we can not relate, so if you don't know what to make of this, then we will not relate," I sing and catch a glimpse of Jesse looking at me. I turn my head to look at him as the night time lighting makes him look almost ten years older, "What's that look for?" I question as he smirks at me.
"I like it when you sing," he hums and I let out a short laugh.
"I sound like a dying animal," I snort and he chuckles lowly.
"Maybe when you go solo but with the music you're not half bad," he teases and I roll my eyes.

"Well Mr. Prodigy I'd like to hear you sing," I poke him and he glances nervously at me.
"Yeah you don't want that," he lets out a breathy laugh as I roll my eyes.
"Oh come on I bet you don't sound half bad with the music," I mimic him dropping my voice a few octaves.
"Nothin' is as it has been, and I miss your face like hell," he sings quietly and my face lights up.
"See you're not that bad," I nudge him and a small blush creeps onto his face in the dark lighting and I can't help but let out a laugh at how embarassed he is.

"Been talking about the way things change," I start to sing and soon Jesse's voice creeps in slightly in the background and I let a smile crawl onto my face. It's amazing about what he can do to me, one moment I'm thinking about the end of my life and suddenly the next I'm singing a very pitchy duet. I raise my voice with each word to encourage Jesse as much as possible and soon he's singing at a normal volume and we're both swaying our bodies and smiling with the occasional laugh when we hit the wrong note.

"Rivers and roads! Oh rivers and roads! Rivers till I reach you!" we no longer sing but shout at the top of our lungs and Naomi's laughter fills in the background as mutters and curses are uttered from John who no doubt got woken up by our obnoxoius singing.
"Rivers and roads oh rivers and roads, rivers till I reach you..." we finish the song off gently before I glance at him and soon we're both laughing, but not the type where you're laughing at yourself or others, the type of laughter that you can't hold in because you're just so happy and smiling just isn't enough.

"I think you deserve your man card to be taken away," John huffs from the back seat as his hair goes straight up from where he'd been sleeping, "Singing ain't manly man," John mutters.
"Yeah says the 26 year old man who knows every word to any Taylor Swift song ever," Jesse snorts.
"Hey do not insult T-Swift she is more manly than you will ever be!" John accuses.
"You do realize you just insulted her right?"Naomi stares at her best friend who simply pouts and flips over in the seat spreading his body across the back seat and Naomi as he tries to sleep again.

Soon we're all back in our previous states with the music playing softly in the background, warmth suddenly brushes against my hand and soon Jesse's hand interwines with mine as he drives.
"I love you too," I turn to him with a small smile as his eyebrows furrow in confusion for a second.
"The other day you told me you loved me and I didn't say it back," I blush a little at the memory and a sweet smile graces his lips as he stares at me.

"Well I did like your other response as well..." he smirks and I let a smile spring onto my lips as I hide my face in my hair.
"Hey stop the lovey dovey talk your turns here lover boy," Naomi taps Jesse as the sign for our neighborhood shines bright in the car's lighting.
"Hey did my mom ride home with Ryan again?" I ask skeptically as we pull into our driveway to see Chris's car already there. Surprisingly enough Katie came with us and Chris and her wanted to drive home alone, no surprise there.