as the way comes

Chapter 25

"Holy crap! Slow down!" I heard the fear and saw the shakes in Brianna's body as she trembled. I ignored them.

"Tabetha!" I called out. I don't know why I did that. It's not like she could hear me. I continued following the blue bus for several miles, anger dissipating the more I drove. It was cathartic honestly. The bus was speeding, I was speeding and, ultimately, I calmed down. I think Brianna calmed down, too. Her shakes were gone, after all, and her face was no longer red in fear and her eyes were no longer dilated, which told me oh-shit-I'm-gonna-die.

Regardless of these facts, I continued to follow the bus. That is until I saw a body slam against my windshield, and I heard the THUD of the body landing on the street. Immediately, I slammed my brakes, pulled to the shoulder, and screamed. "HOLY SHIT! DID I KILL SOMEONE?"

"Oh, my Jesus, stop following me!" I heard Ashley say as I stepped out of the car, running to what I soon realized was a perfectly fine individual. I guess she jumped out of the bus.

"What the hell?" I asked. "I thought you were dead!"

"Ray!" Brianna demanded me to calm down.

"Who's this?" Ashley asked.

"The fuck do you care?" I asked. "How are you alive?"

"What do you mean?"

The cars sped past us as we exchanged yelling and vulgarity. Brianna was shaking again. And, it was as I saw her shaking that I realized how traumatic this must be for her.

"I'm sorry, Brianna." I said. "I've noticed your shaking. I have, and I ignored them. That was inconsiderate of me. I'm sorry."

Brianna was still shaking, but a bit less now. "It's okay. I'm used to it." She frowned. I felt really bad.

"Screw you!" I looked at Tabetha — or Ashley — or whatever her name was. "I cared for you. But you're clearly nothing but trouble. It's...it's," Wow, I was such an asshole. It was Brianna's birthday and I stressed her out that much. I wanted to pin this on Ashley, but this was all on me.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I dragged you on this crazy thing and it's your birthday. What do you wanna do? Go back to Dunkin'?"

"Yeah, and you just followed me for like 10 miles!" Tabetha/Ashley interjected.

"Oh, fuck you!" Brianna said, flipping her off. She chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I can't believe I used to care about you. After all you put me through." I said, turning around. I headed towards the car. "Let's go, Brianna."

We sat in the car in silence for just a moment. "THAT WAS EXCITING!" Brianna screamed, excitedly.

"Want to keep driving?" I asked.

"Where to?" She asked. Her shakes were gone.

"Just...anywhere. Wherever we go."

"Sure."