Freak Genius

Chapter 13: Dan

         The green Toyota rocked as Brittany tripped into the passenger’s seat. Dan stifled his laughter; she was already on uneasy terms with him. There was no need to make it worse. He shuffled around the rear of the car, after closing his girlfriend’s door, to the driver’s side. He ducked into it, able to relieve his already sore feet. He was not one for dressing up. The two were perfectly still before Dan mustered the courage to speak. “You look very pretty,” he murmured softly. She smiled, unveiling her untainted teeth behind crimson lips. “Thank you. You don’t look bad yourself.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, not wanting to bring up their argument last night.

The small car roared to life as Dan jammed the keys into the ignition. He gently pressed his toe onto the gas pedal, pulling out of the cul-de-sac. The silence between them grew in intensity with every rotation of the wheels. He continued to steal glances at his girlfriend in the rearview mirror. Her dress was low-cut and hemmed well above her knees. Intricate lace patterns weaved their way down past her elbows to her mid forearm. The patterns leaked onto the black dress. Its simple beauty suffocated her figure, shaving several centimeters of skin from her appearance. It was complemented by what he believed to be an authentic diamond necklace with a set of subsequent earrings. Her jewelry was coordinated with an “S” shaped barrette holding luxuriant curls firmly into place on the back of her head.

“I like your dress,” he stammered, even more uncomfortably than before. Brittany’s four-inch heels glimmered as she crossed her legs, lowering her heavily lined eyes. “Dan, there is no use avoiding what happened last night. If we want to enjoy ourselves, we need to talk about it.” He stared with all his might at the road ahead of him. He didn’t understand why they could never move on and forget about it. Clenching his jaw, he tried to loosen his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” Brittany suddenly demanded. Don’t say anything that will ruin senior homecoming for yourself, Dan. “That depends. What would you like me to say?” There was a bit more hostile bite in his inflection than he’d intended, and Brittany immediately folded her arms across her chest with a palpable defiance. “I would like you to explain what you meant last night by, ‘Don’t say anything around me you don’t want someone else to hear.’ Were you trying to say that you won’t willingly keep my secrets?” Dan sighed, tension building in his muscles. Why can we not move on and pretend nothing happened? “No! Well, not exactly…” He trailed off, confident that Brittany would rather not know what his thought process was. “So then what exactly?” He paused, searching for the proper way to phrase his ideas. Was there any way to answer truthfully without abandoning his evening of memories?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just trying to say that I don’t appreciate you degrading my friends,” he whispered. Brittany scoffed haughtily, “Degrading your friends? How was I ever degrading your friends? Are you saying you’re going to tell someone if I say something about them to you? Am I not your girlfriend? Is our relationship not more important than others?” Relief washed over Dan. This he could fix. This problem was not unsolvable.

“Of course it’s more important! I wouldn’t tell anyone if you said something to me! I just… I suppose that words are more fragile than I’d previously thought.”

Another silence settled between the couple. This silence wasn’t as awkward or tense, but more hopeful. Dan only wanted to change the subject. He would talk about anything but this. The silence, however, allowed him to consciously realize that he didn’t completely concur with the heartfelt verse he’d just gifted to Brittany. There was not only hope but disturbance in this silence… And it unnerved Dan.

“Words are very fragile,” Brittany repeated unnecessarily. Clearly trying to eradicate the void of sound, she did, finally, shift the topic. “You said your sister and mom were meeting us there for pictures, right?” Dan nodded, all too grateful for the new matter. “Yeah, I told them to wait for us in the butterfly garden parking lot. I assumed we could just walk down to the river from there.”