Narrow Paths

Chapter Two

"Where are we going?" I asked over the radio.

"To hell."

I knew it was too much to hope that I'd get a straight answer from her. Considering her reputation as a smart ass who liked to beat around the bush, it wasn't shocking that she didn't spill her life's secrets as soon as I jumped into the car. I just prayed she wasn't planning to hurt me or someone else. I didn't put much past her at this point.

"Have you ever veered off the road, Carter?"

"What are you talking about?"

She laughed, her attention focused completely on the road. Her headlights were bright on the dirt road before us. Soon, the lights hit pavement as she pulled onto the main road.

"Your life is like a dirt road that's never seen much traffic."

Everything Darcy had said so far only confused me. While I hadn't expected straight answers, I didn't expect metaphors and similes to be thrown at me like I was some kind of English major.

"This whole town is full of people who are just lab rats. Each one with a different path to the same chunk of cheese."

"You're using a lot of similes."

"If you passed seventh grade reading, you should be keeping up," she snapped.

Silence fell soon after her words left her mouth. I didn't feel like explaining to her that normal people didn't beat around the bush to try and sound intelligent.

"Why did you bomb my mailbox?"

Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned a shade of white visible in the low light. She pursed her lips and tossed her hair over her shoulder, a very unattractive gesture for her.

"It was the only reliable way to get you out of bed."

"Why did you want to do that?"

She glanced toward me and batted her eyelashes. It was a ridiculous look, but I'd seen it before. It was the kind of look girls used to get you to agree to whatever they wanted. It never worked on me. Thankfully, Darcy wasn't serious.

"I feel like someone can finally understand where I'm coming from. That someone is you."

"Awe, you've got a crush on me!" I said teasingly. She didn't seem to find it all that funny. Her grip on the wheel got even tighter.

"If I did, you'd be the last person I'd tell. Anyway, I pulled you out of bed to have fun, damn it, and that's what we're going to do. So no more questions."

"I'm not familiar with the Darcy version of fun. Does it include breaking more laws?"

"Every single mailbox was bombed with the best of intentions, excluding yours."

"What intentions? And that doesn't mean you didn't break the law."

She sighed and pursed her lips again, measuring her words before she said them. I could tell she wasn't used to telling people her plans and the reasoning behind them.

"You're still on the road, Carter. You wouldn't get it."

"What road?!"

"You've been on it so long that you don't even have it in you to look down and acknowledge it."

She suddenly slammed the off button on the radio. The croaking of frogs, chirping of grasshoppers, and the sound of her car's engine were all that filled the silence.

"I'm going to make you acknowledge it if it's the last thing I do," she muttered.

A wave of calm seemed to wash over her as she spoke, almost like she was trying to reassure herself more than me. Her grip on the steering wheel became relaxed, normal. Her face lost its worried look, and she smiled slightly.