Present
I’m one hour into the car ride with Aspen.
It’s already going horribly wrong.
For starters, the asshole didn’t tell me his truck didn’t have a working audio jack.
When we made the deal last night to carpool, he made no mention that I wouldn’t be able to play my playlist through the car speakers.
And if sitting in silence with my own worst enemy isn’t enough, we’re stuck in the morning commute traffic. Aspen’s brakes make a screeching sound as we inch our way down the highway.
“If we would’ve left five minutes earlier,” I mumble, picking at the thread of my shorts, “we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Aspen abruptly stops tapping on his steering wheel. He’s hidden his eyes behind a pair of Ray Bans so I’m unable to see the look in them, but by the strain of the muscles in his forearm, I can tell he heard my commentary. “Maybe if I didn’t have to spend those five precious minutes shoving your suitcase in the back, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“Maybe if you told me your car doesn’t have the ability to play music we wouldn’t be in this scenario,” I fire back, wiggling my butt in the seat in an attempt to get comfortable.
“That makes absolutely no sense,” Aspen responds, leaning forward to look in the mirror on the side of his car.
I think my words through, scrunching my nose in the process. He’s probably right, the lack of music playing through the speakers isn’t the whole reason we’re driving ten miles per hour. But damn it, I’m annoyed I can’t play the rad playlist I slaved over.
“That makes absolutely no sense,” I mock, trying my best to match Aspen’s tone.
The car shifts all the way into the left lane before he glances over at me. “Did you just copy me?” A smile tugs at the corner of his lips.
“No. I simply restated what you said.” I go back to picking at one of the loose threads on my denim shorts. When I look at the car next to us, I see an old man and woman both peacefully smiling, acting as if the traffic doesn’t faze them at all. I wish I could say the same for us.
“AKA copying,” Aspen points out.
“Pish posh,” I respond, turning my attention to him. I’m shocked to find a smile still on his face. It shows off one of his deep dimples. I want to stick my finger in it.
“Is it in your nature to argue? Or do you ever just simply have a normal conversation without it escalating there?” There’s a small bit of humor in his voice.
We’re happily met with the rumbling of Aspen’s death trap—I’m sorry, Gladys’s engine. We’ve officially broken free of the bumper to bumper traffic and are now picking up a steady pace.
“You know, most of the time, I’m able to have a simple conversation. The problem is, when it comes to you, I can’t help but argue. You infuriate me that much,” I reply simply, before pulling my feet up onto the seat with me.
He looks at me from the driver’s seat for a moment before turning his eyes back on the road. “Ever think about why you feel the need to argue with me?”
“Probably because I hate you.” I aim a big smile his way, showing off all my teeth.
“Tread carefully, Lily. There’s a fine line between love and hate.” His words take mine away instantly. With one simple sentence, he shuts me up.
My teeth snap together quickly. I refuse to look at him after he’s put those words out into the universe. They catch me off guard because he’s right. I toed the line between loving and hating him for a long time. There was a brief stint where I jumped right over it, choosing to love him instead of hating him. The only difference here is that I’ve promised myself to never do that again.
No matter how thin that line is, I refuse to cross it.
“Oh, so that’s the trick to shutting you up?” He lifts his hips, adjusting his position on the seat. “I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.”
I go to shoot him a glare, but I’m met with his huge grin. Instinctively, I reach across the center console and flick him right in one of the hollow dimples in his cheeks.
“Ow!” he howls, rubbing the spot where I just flicked.
“You deserved it,” I say with a huff. I let my head fall against the head rest, looking out over the dashboard to gauge the progress we’ve made.
Unfortunately, the traffic really set us back and we haven’t traveled very far in the time we’ve been in the car.
I want to ask Aspen when he thinks he might make a stop and where we’ll be sleeping tonight, but that would mean starting another conversation with him. Which right now, I’m not really feeling.
My phone chimes from the cup holder between us. I pick it up, finding a missed text from Veronica.
Veronica: Checking for life…
Lily: It’s YOUR life you need to be worried about here.
Lily: When I see you, it’s game on, bitch.
Veronica: I’m terrified.
I smile after reading her text. I can’t help but read it in her ever-present dry tone. The girl has mastered the uninterested sarcastic tone.
Lily: You should be! We haven’t been in the car more than an hour and I already want to punch him.
Veronica: Do it. Maybe it’ll help ease the sexual tension!
A loud gasp escapes my throat.
The sound causes Aspen to slam on the brakes. “What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Oh, nothing,” I respond. “Just reacting to a text from V.” I look at him, giving him a shrug.
“Are you kidding me? I thought I hit a squirrel or something. You can’t gasp that loud over a flipping text.”
“You aren’t the boss of me,” I remind him, pointing to the road so he stops glaring at me before he really does hit a squirrel.
“Whatever,” he grumbles, his eyes thankfully on the road.
Lily: NEVER use the words sexual tension again when it comes to Aspen. OUR FRIENDSHIP DEPENDS ON IT!
“What are the two of you talking about, anyway?” Aspen asks, leaning across the center console to try to peek at my phone.
“Aspen, eyes on the road!” I shout.
He shakes his head at me, and I’m pretty confident that his eyes roll behind the aviator sunglasses he’s wearing. “My eyes are on the road.”
I can feel my phone vibrate in my lap, but I don’t look at it, afraid Aspen will put our lives in harm’s way by being nosy again. “Weird how you say your eyes were on the road when they were most definitely trying to look at my text messages.”
His head is still facing the direction of the road, but he does take the time to take one of his hands off the wheel and flip me off.
“Just admit you were being nosy, Aspen,” I say, turning my body so it faces away from him. The door digs into my back a little, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to avoid prying eyes.
Veronica: Sorry, I meant maybe instead of punching him, the two of you should bang to ease the sexual tension.
Lily: I’m ignoring you. Bye.
Veronica: You love me!
I wish she was here right now so I could wipe the pretty smile I know she’s wearing off her face. I scroll through all my social media apps for an extended amount of time before I start to feel nauseous. With a long sigh, I shove my phone into the crevice between my thighs and look out the passenger window.
Cars race by on either side of us on the highway. The sun has fully risen, its rays attempting to blind me from my position in the seat.
When Aspen directs the car into the exit lane, I look out the window in confusion, my gaze snapping to his dashboard to see if we’re running out of gas. We aren’t—if the meter on his dash is correct. “Why are we exiting here? We need I-20.”
“No, we don’t,” Aspen says, not bothering to explain.
“Uh, yes we do.” I reach between my legs to find my phone, getting ready to prove to him that I-20 is how we’ll reach South Carolina the fastest.
He reaches out and covers my phone with the palm of his hand. “We’re taking a small detour.”
“A detour?” I ask hesitantly.
“Yeah, kind of,” he says, so sure of himself. “Think of this trip as…the scenic route.” His lips pull up in a teasing smile as we cross from one highway to another.
“I didn’t sign up for the scenic route! I signed up for two—maybe three—days of being stuck in the car with you. Nothing more than that.” I search the signs around us to try to determine what exactly he means by scenic route, but there aren’t any clues to be found.
“We have a little over a week before the grand opening. Let’s have some fun,” he offers.
“My definition of fun will never involve you,” I bite back, my fingers finding my temples as I try to think my way out of this. “You’re essentially kidnapping me,” I continue, rubbing the sides of my head lightly.
Aspen lets out a big breath of air as a mocking laugh. “Kidnapping? A little dramatic, don’t you think?”
I look at him from the corner of my eye, the hand rubbing my temple partially obstructing his smirking face. “I bet if we look up the definition of kidnapping it would literally say taking someone somewhere against their will.”
“If you don’t want to participate, Gladys and I are happy to drop you off at the next bus station.” The words come out nonchalantly, then he looks over at me and lifts the sunglasses off his face. His straight eyebrows raise, as if he thinks that’s actually a good idea.
“I’m not riding a bus,” I state. My hair falls in my face and—annoyed—I blow out a breath to try to move it.
“Well then, it looks like you’re all out of options, Lily Bear. You need me—and my scenic route.” His green eyes hold nothing but mischief in them as he looks over at me briefly. After getting his point across, he pulls the sunglasses back over his eyes and focuses on the road.
“Let’s get one thing very clear, Aspen. I don’t need you. So, what does this ‘scenic route’ entail?” I inquire, using air quotes.
“You’ll see,” he replies, without explaining further.