Ordinary Quirks

Chapter 1- Clare

We were sitting in his car when it happened, a 2003 Infinity that his dad had given him for his 15th birthday, having been tossed away like an unwanted toy the minute he spotted something else that caught his eye.

Nick loved that car and everything about it. Even the smell of shit that practically exhumed from the worn leather seats, from his dirty gym clothes that he tossed in the back and promptly forgot about. It took me days of begging and promises of massages and Star Trek marathons to get him to use the stash of air fresheners he had been given by his parents and by me, but even then, the stench of sweat and Chinese food still lingered.

But because Nick loved that car, I loved it too. We called it the Death Star amongst ourselves and our friends. Nobody ever got it. That car was where he first asked me out, first asked me to be his girlfriend. That was where we had our first, sort-of kiss. That was where we shared many kisses afterward. I know it sounds totally cheesy, but when I fell in love with Nick, I fell in love with that car too.

He was driving us somewhere. A "surprise" he had called it. It was my birthday, my 17th year of being alive. I hated birthdays and he knew that. But he got me something anyway. I never found out what it was.

"Clare," he had said, shaking me out of my thoughts and of my plots of convincing him to tell me what his "surprise" was. He leaned over to kiss my cheek.

"I don't want to be driven by someone who obviously has trouble keeping his eyes off the road," I smirked. He smirked back.

"Happy Birthday. I love you so much, you know that? I always have and I always will," he whispered. A tear ran down my cheek, quickly joined by another one and another one, and another one.

He was the love of my life and he knew it. Because I was the love and the light of his. Well, at least I was, then.

I laughed, causing my tears to fall down my cheeks faster. "It's just...I know. And I just want to say that I love you too. Maybe even more." He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close, closer to him, closer to that warm, fuzzy feeling I always felt when he held me, and I felt so much closer to us than I had for a while.

"But, dumb ass, you need to keep your eyes on the road if you want to drive," I reminded Nick for the millionth time, "You're going to kill me."

He glanced at the road, then looked back at me, raised my head from his shoulder and our lips met. Even though it had been a lifetime ago, our kisses still felt like our first. It sounds super mushy, though everything good in life is, but every kiss we had was magical, and each felt like they could freeze time.

Even though I couldn't help but fall into him, our kiss melting my insides, I had to push him away, somewhat reluctantly. He sighed heavily and turned back to the wheel.

A laugh escaped my lips at Nick's dramatics. It was light and airy, and reminded me of our childhood, pushing each other into the lake behind our houses, running after birds and butterflies, almost jumping to catch them, light trailing through our outstretched fingers and weaving its way through our hair, making us look like gods. I missed those days. I loved Nick, loved him more than anything, but sometimes I missed having a best friend. A real best friend, not like May or Riley or any of the girls in our group. Hell, I missed being able to not have a care in the world, the only thing that mattered being what we were going to have for dinner that night.

His laugh joined mine, never being able to hold up a joke too long. His was deep, deeper than the giggles that escaped every time the chubby little boy behind me opened his mouth. My laugh was the same, as I grew older, that was the only thing that stayed the same.

Over time, my best friend turned into my crush, and we grew apart, listening to what all the kids on the playground shouted to us: girls and boys simply cannot be friends. The tall girl with the overbite turned into the even taller girl with orthodontia-straightened teeth. The chubby boy next door transformed into the lean, even taller-than-me version of Nick Lucier. I didn't know him and he didn't know me.

Until he bumped into me in the crowded middle school hallway four years ago. He helped me pick up my books, and then we started talking again, texting until midnight every night, taking out our two matching Star Wars flashlights and sending each other Morse code messages across our lawns. I discovered he was still that little nerd at heart, despite being popular. His room was still plastered with posters of Darth Maul and Boba Fett. He discovered that I was still as obsessed with reading and writing as ever. We were both trying out for the math team that year. It was so easy to jump right back into our friendship, little did we know, it would be just as easy to jump into the more-than-friends territory as well.

Nick wrapped his arm around me. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked as he watched me staring out into the abyss that was my mind.

"No! You'll probably forget to give me my penny later. And anyways, a penny is too cheap a price to be able to hear my deepest thoughts! For all you know, I could be thinking about the guy who works at Starbucks...." I teased Nick, knowing well that he would shut up.

Nick was.....of the jealous type, to put it lightly. He had always been, even when we were little, and I had wanted to play with Sandra Narwood, who lived a block away, instead of him. We were having an argument over who had won our long-lasting game of War, and I had decided to go over to Sandra's house to annoy him.

An hour later, I heard wails coming from the street. It was Nick. Of course.

"Clare, why did you have to go and and play with silly old Sandy Narwhal? Why can't you play with me? I'll let you win at War!! I'll give you ten of my best Pokemon cards! I'll give you my Charizard card!" Nick sniffled, and I could see tears and snot running down his face, even from Sandra's front door.

I glanced over at Sandra, who rolled her eyes at me.

"Sorry, Sandy. He's like a puppy, every time I leave, he cries. Maybe we can play again the next time he's not around," I called out to her as I walked over to Nick, who had miraculously stopped crying.

Nick punched me in the arm. "I'm not giving you my Charizard card."

I was snapped back to the present when Nick kissed my cheek. "Seriously, what are you thinking about?"

The tears from earlier had made their way to my jacket sleeve and had disappeared, but to my surprise, they started to fall again, like the drops of rain that streamed down our windows during the summer. I think I was PMSing.

"I'm just thinking about how far we've been. I mean, we've known each other for sixteen years. We're practically twins. But we're not, because that would be weird. My whole life would be different if you hadn't came along with me. I wouldn't know you. I wouldn't love you," I whispered.

"And you'd be miserable, right?" Nick grinned as he simultaneously sped to catch a green-turning-yellow light and leaned in to kiss me.

I was still laughing when our lips touched. I was still laughing when the silver SUV running a red light rammed into the side of our car. I was still laughing when I saw Nick's head slam into the steering wheel. I was still laughing when the mix of colors, sounds, and memories blurred together and I blacked out.