Long Ride

THE BEFORE LEAVING

Ámbar looks annoyed outside her car window, it's one of the hottest days of all the summer and she is this close to have a mental breakdown. She promised herself that she would be nicer this year, gave her cousin and Simón rides to the animal shelters, volunteering to babysit kids and other stuff like that, but not to be her friends' slave. Oh, how the tables have turned since she was younger. Now, her best friends- that bitch traitor- invited her to a party on the near the sea saying that it would have been epic- she didn't want to go, but he said it was important- and then he not-so-kindly asked her to bring Ramiro with her because he doesn't have a ride ("Skating is not an option Ámbar" "It could be, if you let him"). It's not like he doesn't like him- they are friends- but she knows that nine hours in the same car with him will be hell. She can see him getting out of the door of his block. He has sunglasses and his I-just-got-out-of-bed hair. Or maybe I-got-laid-last-night hair, with him no one knows.
"I have a gift for you!" exclaims the dark-haired boy, getting in the car and grabbing his phone from the pocket of his hoodie, "I made three playlists". Good, at least they don't have to talk to each other all the time. She is not in the right mood for anything, especially listening to his problems with a random someone.
"The first playlist is called 'song that Simón would cry to', the second is 'song that Matteo and Gastón would have sex to' and the third one is 'song that Jazmin would dance to'. Don't be fooled they are almost the same".
She rolls her eyes as she starts her car, already starting to fight on whose music they are gonna listen to. This is going to be a long car ride.

FIRST HOUR

They talk for a while. They chat about what they missed in the weeks they haven't seen each other. He has been seeing a girl and with his job, he is busy. In his words, it was difficult to balance everything and he knew anyway that they wouldn't last. She doesn't understand why.
She met the girl once- Alex or Alice, maybe it was Mia?- and she looked nice and funny, but Ramiro looked kind of uncomfortable as soon as he recognized her. Maybe it was only the fact that she was walking back home in the dark because Matteo had her car, or maybe it was the weird look the girl gave him when he asked her if she wanted him to give her a ride home. Not that it matters anyway.
"She looked nice," Ámbar tries to say as she taps her fingers on the steering wheel, eyes locked on the road. He scoffs turning towards her "She is nice, but being nice is not enough". She would like to say that she knows- but her only real relationship was with Benicio, and he definitely wasn't a nice person. Everyone knew that- God, even she knew- but, to her, it didn't matter. She was trying to prove a point- to someone who doesn't care- and decided that dating him would be a good idea. He looked like the perfect boy on the outside, but, in reality, he was a monster. Dating him was a big mistake- the worst of her life- and everyone told her. She had lost contact with a lot of her friends, back in those days, and she changed drastically. Ramiro and Matteo didn't give up on her, luckily. Without them, she is not sure what could have happened to her.
"I suppose you are right," she says awkwardly, her fingers curling on the steering wheel, holding it tightly. He notices but doesn't say anything, not instantly, at least.
"I liked the idea of who Mia could be, not her. She just looked like-" he stops brutally, thinking carefully his next words, "Nevermind".
She lets it go. She knows better than to put her nose in others' businesses. A weird silence falls between the two, no one really knowing what to say.

SECOND HOUR

"Ramiro that's disgusting!" she tries to not puke as Ramiro eats his hamburger, trying to not spill the mustard in there, "I shouldn't have stopped".
The boy shakes his head, sending her a death glare. She was the one that wanted the fries. She stopped for herself, he just used it for himself too. He doesn't even understand why she is being like this. Yeah, he almost spilled her milkshake, but it was a mistake!
"You are disgusting!" he replies, his mouth so full of food that she can see little pieces of bread. She pretends to gag, taking her fries away from him, "Nono wait, I want one".
"Then you should have taken them," she states, a small smile on her face as she changes the song from one of her playlists. She waits for him to steal a fry and then she puts a Taylor Swift song, "I drive, I pick the music". She acts like he doesn't blast her music in his room almost every night.
"You don't own Taylor Swift's music"  he murmurs as he takes another bite, luckily for him, she didn't listen. Ámbar is too busy singing Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, ignoring him completely. He missed this. Seeing her smile and singing along the radio, not caring how loud she is, is a sight for his eyes. When she started dating Benicio- that asshole- she stopped being herself. And it was a slow change. Almost none of their friends noticed it. But both him and Matteo had their eyes on her. Always, since the relationship started. Suddenly, she didn't want to sing anymore in the Opens, nor she wanted to skate with Simón- her designed partner by Juliana- or the others. Juliana went crazy in those weeks. Then she stopped hanging out with them, and if she did, Benicio would be by her side, stopping her from doing anything she would have enjoyed. It took 7 months, 5 different adults- and none of them was Sharon- and too many group hugs to make sure that Benicio would be far away from her. (It also took 9 calls to the police, but no one told Ámbar that.) And now she is back, happier than he has never seen her.
"I missed this," he softly says, a genuine smile on his face as she scoffs jokingly.
"Me giving you rides?" she knows he doesn't mean that. It's obvious, but she doesn't like to speak about that, even if Ramiro is her safe space.
"You know what I meant," she freezes on her spot, still not ready to open that chapter of her life again "But the rides are good perks, I'm not gonna deny that".