Flames

sixteen

I quickly got into the car and closed the door. A big wave of warmth hit my face with force, causing my eyes to water for a brief second.

As if on instinct, I reached forward and moved the air vents with my fingers, pointing them up.

Even with the rush of the hot air, it felt better than being outside, and just being able to stretch my tired legs and muscles was enough to make me ten times happier, plus being out of the rain was an added bonus.

I didn't say anything, nor did I want to. I didn't know what I would even say, and even if I did say something, I knew it would just make things awkward.

Louis drove in silence, and I sat stiffly on my seat, taking in the smell of his car and the familiarity of it all. Although I thoroughly remembered the way it smelled and the way it looked, it felt like it was a new discovery all over again. It had been so long, or rather, too long since the last time we were together in this vehicle.

I held on to my food and looked out the window, although I could not concentrate on anything but Louis and the idea of us being together in his car.

Thankfully, we weren't sitting on awkward silence as the radio played some mainstream pop songs in the background.

It was not a long drive, but being practically soaked from head to toe while holding onto a paper bag with my dinner for the night and contemplating on the relationship the person driving and I had made it seem like time was going by slower than wanted.

When we finally reached the outside of my house and Louis stopped the car, we still hadn't spoken a single word to each other, heck, we hadn't even looked at each other either.

That is, until I finally looked away from the road and to my house, and I saw someone waiting there. Two people that I hoped I wouldn't see for a while...my grandparents. Their new Camry was parked on the driveway, and I could see two shadows of their heads inside of it.

I freaked.

"Holy shit."

"What?" Louis mockingly asked.

"My grandparents," I replied without a second thought.

"Your what?" Louis asked again, but stopped himself once he followed my eyes and saw the reason for my wariness. "Oh."

"Fuck!" I cursed as I opened the car door and jumped out. I didn't say goodbye or even acknowledge Louis as I was too preoccupied thinking of ways to get rid of my grandparents, or at least stall until I could get inside and clean the house. Thankfully I knew my father wasn't home, and he wouldn't be for a while, so he wouldn't be a problem. The only problem was going to be the bottles of alcohol scattered around the house - which I had not bothered to clean after a couple of eventful days. Besides, I thought no one would see them anyway so I let them be.

I hated myself for that at the moment.

At least the rain had subsided back to a bearable drizzle.

As soon as the noise of the car door struck, the doors of their own car opened and two gray heads slowly popped out.

"Nana, Papa, hey!" I redirected their attention toward me.

Both of them smiled widely once they saw me and waited with open arms. I reached my grandfather first, who smelt of medicine and candy as I hugged him. When I reached to hug my grandmother, she gave me a kiss on the cheek, and I wiped it in response, as I did not want her red lipstick to leave a mark.

"Sammy girl, how's our favorite granddaughter? And why are you wet?" Grandpa said.

I nervously smiled at him and replied, "You mean your only granddaughter? Fine totally fine, just got caught up in the rain, how's sunny Florida?"