Will to Way, Wilt Away

Chapter 13

"I'll pull into that Subway parking lot over there and then we can walk over to him," Aria said.

I knew I wouldn't be able to say what I needed to say to Julius if all of them were there. Aria was going thirty-five miles per hour with no intention of slowing down. I hoped the stop light ahead of us would turn red before we reached it, but we were only a thousand or so feet away from it and the light had just turned green.

"Actually, if you slow down a bit at the light, I can just hop out really quick," I suggested.

"Aspen, there's a bunch of cars behind us," Shiloh refuted.

We got closer and closer to Julius and I began to panic.

"No, really," I unbuckled my seat belt. "Aria just slow down right up there and give me a second to get out."

"Um, okay," Aria replied, unsure of whether she should trust me. I looked at the speedometer. Thirty miles per hour. Twenty-two miles per hour.

"Aria, don't actually slow down! Those cars behind us are gonna be pissed," Shiloh shouted.

"No, it's alright we're almost there, just a bit slower," I insisted.

Aria's foot hovered over the gas pedal. "Uhh, I don't know what to—"

"Speed up!" Shiloh demanded, turning his head over his shoulder to see if we had produced any road rage yet.

"No, it's alright. Slow down." I said, trying to keep my voice collected so Aria would actually listen to me.

17 miles per hour. Honk!

Indi, who had tried to avoid raising her voice, now looked over her shoulder nervously. "Yea, Ari I think you should speed up," Indi added softly.

"Aria, drive faster!" Shiloh screamed.

Julius was only one hundred feet away now. Honk! Honk!

Aria was completely frazzled. "Aspen, people are get—"

"It's fine I'll be quick!"

Twelve miles per hour. HONKKK! 9 miles per hour. HONK! HONK! HONK! We reached Julius.

Here goes nothing.

I opened the car door and hurled myself onto the sidewalk, landing forcefully on my hands and knees.

"ASPEN, WHAT THE FU—"

HONKKK! HONKKK! HONKKKK!

"Shit, just go!" I heard Shiloh yell while I clasped my throbbing knee caps. He slammed the car door shut and Aria vroomed away with a horde of eight livid cars on her tail.

Before I could tend to my wounds, a tired, raspy voice behind me asked, "How'd you know I was here?"

I got up from the ground and limped over to Julius, who did not move a muscle despite the fact that he just watched me jump out of a moving car.

"Well, once I heard Holloway Street, it was a pretty dead giveaway," I answered while taking a seat beside him in the dark green grass. My knees throbbed and my hands were badly scraped, but I could tell Julius was in more pain than I was.

"You going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, looking at him even though he refused to remove his eyes from the ground. I couldn't help but see the resemblance between Julius and the brown-haired boy in the cemetery, except Julius didn't have a shoulder to rest his head on. That made a world of difference.

Julius didn't move or speak.

"To be honest, I think I deserve an explanation. I jumped out of a car just to sit here next to you," I said candidly.