Once Again

Once Again (20)

Once Again - Chapter 20

Chris drives us to the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store. There is a lot of space only a few things to hit. He puts the car in park and reluctantly lets me get in the driver’s seat. I roll of the sleeves of my loose knit sweater, buckle my seat belt, and am ready to go.

Five miles an hour suddenly seems recklessly fast when I’m the one behind the wheel. Parking spots whiz by and I have to swerve to miss a soda cup someone left behind. This makes Chris and Dylan scream. And when I hit the brakes to avoid running into the empty store building, they overreact to that as well.

“Okay!” Chris exclaims after only ten minutes of me driving. His knuckles still ashen white and gripping the overhead handle tightly. “That’s enough. I’m taking you home.”

I sulk most of the way home after he finally coaxes me out of from behind the wheel. But as we approach my house, I cheer up. “Thank you so much!” I say, smiling at Chris. “No one else will take me to practice driving.” It’s true; Connor just says ‘Hell no,’ my dad is never home, and my mom always finds an excuse to put it off.

“I can see why,” Chris says bitterly.

“Stop being such a baby,” I say, punching his arm lightly. “Dylan isn’t still complaining. It was fun teaching me to drive, right?”

I turn around and look at him, and though his expression doesn’t seem to match his words, he offers up a small “sure.”

“You’re right. I do need to stop hanging around you, Car, if I value my life.”

“Finally! I’ve been telling you this my whole life!” A slight overstatement considering he has only been friends with Connor since they were eight and he’s said more to me this year than he had in the other ten years I’ve known him combined. Another exaggeration, but I’m making a point.

But maybe Chris wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t want to hang out with me anymore; the moment Dylan and I have the majority of our bodies out of his car, Chris says “adios” and floors it in reverse.

I turn to Dylan to see if he is as stunned as I am. He is, but he soon regains his ability to speak.

“You’ll get the hang of it,” he assures me, and I laugh. “Eventually,” he adds. I laugh because I will most likely never get the hang of it, because we both know I was the worst driver any of us have ever seen, and because I am remembering their high pitched squeals.

“I sure hope so.”

Dylan takes a step towards me and a step towards my house. I don’t give him the chance to get any closer to me and drag me into a conversation or a hug or whatever else. I know that I was supposed to tell him how I really felt today, but now that the moment has actually arrived, I panic.

“Bye!” I say, over my shoulder as I jog away, leaving Dylan standing bewildered on my driveway. “This was fun!” I shout, feeling sorry for him. It isn’t his fault that I can’t act like a normal person.