Shift

The Hunters

Adrian's truck was speeding along the road, and he took every shortcut he could find. Scarlet didn't know how to make him feel better, what to say to calm his nerves, but she could tell that he was scared. He was afraid for the safety of his friends, and it scared her, too.

They drove straight through Louisiana, through Texas for over ten hours, with neither of them speaking or falling asleep. Finally, Scarlet convinced Adrian that they should pull over and get some rest.

"We don't even have to get a room," she said. "Just pull over, we can sleep in the truck for a few hours and get going again when we wake up."

Adrian sighed. His eyes were dry, their lids heavy, and he knew he needed to sleep. But he didn't want to risk wasting time.

"You know," Scarlet went on, quietly. "This would be a lot easier, and faster, if you'd let me drive."

He tossed her a sideways glare before pulling off the street and parking on the shoulder. He turned the truck off but kept gripping the steering wheel, his breathing heavy and rapid.

"Adrian." She rested her hand on his knee, looking at him with concern. Now that she was feeling better, she could focus on things outside of her own body. And what she saw on Adrian's face was more than just worry for his friends. Something was seriously bothering him, and she felt awful for not realizing it sooner.

It was late at night, the dark sky speckled with thousands of bright stars, the waning moon winking down at them. There were hardly any other cars on the road, the empty darkness seeming to stretch on for an eternity around them.

"Talk to me," Scarlet said. "Please."

"I can't." Adrian's voice caught in his throat and he took a deep breath. Finally, he removed his hands from the steering wheel, the white of his knuckles fading.

"Yes, you can. Always." She waited, but he refused to speak. "You know you can tell me anything. This whole trip, I've felt like there's something weird between us, some kind of unspoken resentment and I don't understand it. I need you to explain this to me, I can't read your mind."

He turned to look at her and she could see that his eyes were bloodshot. She couldn't tell whether he was going to cry or lash out in rage. His eyebrows were pulled together in a sad sort of frown as he chewed on his bottom lip.

"You really don't know how I feel about you?" The words came out quiet, unsure. But Scarlet felt the weight behind them.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come.

Adrian continued. "Because I feel like you do. I feel like you know exactly how I feel about you, how I've always felt about you, and you just ignore it. You refuse to accept it because you're too scared of what will happen if it's laid out for you in black and white."

She held her breath as she listened. Her heartbeat picked up and she started to feel hot all over, nervous and downright terrified of what was going to happen next. She realized then that it's how she'd always lived her life; Afraid.

"I know this isn't a one-sided thing," Adrian went on. "I know you love me just as much as I love you, you're just too damn scared to admit it. You know that I've loved you since we were kids, and you're so scared of things changing between us, of any kind of change at all, that you just block it out. You refuse to see it, even though its standing right in front of you."

Scarlet could tell that he was getting worked up, now. The apprehension had left his voice and his words grew louder. But instead of interrupting him, instead of cutting him off and trying to calm him down, she just sat and listened. She let him get everything off of his chest because it was the least she could do after everything Adrian had done for her.