The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S3 E5.3: Pink Town

Jayda's POV

Just one more hour to go. In one more hour, I'll be home. I'll be away from Andreas. I won't feel this pulsing current making my body want to be closer to his. I won't see his face every time I blink. I'll be able to hide away and pretend he doesn't exist. Just one more hour.

That means we're here. Didsbury is a small town, about the size of my neighbourhood. The antique book store is the first place we see as we pull off the only paved road and onto the gravel way. The signs that say the name of the roads all look like preschoolers painted them in art class, struck by globs of colour with no clear intention. That makes them a little hard to read, but I bet everyone here knows the street names off by heart anyway.

"Maybe this is too big of a gesture, buying this book for Deion," Brayden suddenly says.

"Brayden," Andreas responds, "we're literally pulling into the parking lot. If you don't get it, you wasted my time, and you'll be walking home."

Rather than get offended, Brayden just unbuckles his seatbelt, saying, "I think that was the nudge I needed. Thank you."

He gets out of the car, and with him not here, that means the only ones remaining are me and Andreas, which makes my heartbeat trill from nervousness. Out of habit, and needing something to keep me occupied, I pull down the car mirror and start fixing my hair, flattening out any kinks.

"You look good," Andreas says. "Stop worrying."

His comment does nothing but make me more stressed. I slap the sun visor back up against the roof and look over at him, but the second I do, I get restless.

"Is it stuffy in here?" I say then whip the car door open.

It closes with a slam behind me, nearly catching the bottom of my dress. I'm relieved to be out in the open air, but it doesn't calm my pulse at all. Instead, the sound of Andreas's door opening only perpetuates it. I close my eyes, but I can hear him as he walks around the vehicle and leans against the metal right next to me, his shoulder grazing mine. This isn't helping.

"Better?" he asks.

"Not really," I mutter.

I push myself off the car and walk forward, away from Andreas. Being a few metres away now, I slow down, but when I turn around to him, he's stepping closer to me again, and I just wish he would stop.

"Okay, what's up?" he questions.

"Up? Nothing. Nothing's up. Everything's down, actually." My voice sounds frantic. He'd have to be an idiot to not know I'm lying.

Andreas nods slowly. "You've been real quiet since that last conversation about...sports teams."

I cross my arms over my chest, saying, "I'm just not in a talking mood."

"No offence," Andreas says with a smirk, "but I've never seen you in that mood before. What are you not saying?"

"What are you not saying?" I shoot back. "I'm saying everything."

He raises his eyebrows, not believing me at all. "Really?"

"Yeah."

There's a break, and he uses it to be so frickin annoying by glancing down and biting his lip. I frickin hate it. He makes being rational and smart the hardest thing ever. I'm just trying to not screw up our families, and he's over here making me feel like a preteen meeting her favorite boyband. Like, I seriously can't even look at him clearly without letting the pinks of my emotions seep into my vision.

"Jayda," he says softly, "what were we talking about earlier? 'Cause it wasn't sports."

"It was... I don't know. What were you talking about?"