We’d all gone to dinner that night then straight to bed for an early morning departure. When we loaded up the car, I slipped a twenty in Ezra’s pocket when he wasn’t looking for my third of the motel then snuck away like a thief in the night, who, well, gave money away instead of stole it. I needed to go to thief school.
I did a little jig by my side of the car, channeling my extensive knowledge of Irish dance obtained by hours glued to PBS Riverdance specials, when the boys went to check the room for straggling belongings. Ezra emerged as I’d clapped the side of my boot in a stellar dance kick. There was a bra dangling from his index finger.
“Egad!” I said, stopping my victory dance. I loped to him and yanked the garment from his hand, tucking it underneath an armpit. I felt my face flush. “Heh, I, uh, must have forgotten it last night after my shower.”
Ezra’s brow raised in amusement, making me want to fall over in mortification, and stuck his hand in his pocket to pull out his keys. The twenty came with them. I started whistling and examining the edge of the motel roofline. Because whistling is inconspicuous. I saw it in a cartoon once. It didn’t really work out for that character, but I had high hopes.
“What the—” Ezra said. He held up the twenty between his index and middle finger. “Kai, is this yours?”
“Nah, man,” he said, pulling back the front passenger seat to get into the back.
I whistled louder, studied more intently.
Ezra looked at me, his brows furrowed, his eyes serious. His mouth opened, presumably to speak, but I stopped him with a very convincing argument. “It’s not mine! It’s not mine!”
Nailed it.
“Gosh damn it, Jupiter Corey! What did I tell you?” he shouted, running around the front of the GTO. My heart started to race. He yanked me up by wrapping an arm around my waist and plopped me on the hood of his car. I gasped like a schoolgirl. Which is ironic, I know. Note to self: Make Ezra angry more often. He set the twenty by my hip then took my calf in his hands and began untying the laces of my right boot. I tried to yank it from his grasp, but he brought it right back to him.
“Don’t. Move,” he ordered, making my blood race through my veins.
He took the boot off and laid the twenty flat inside before placing it back on my foot and lacing it back up. I fought the urge to fan myself.
He leaned forward. “Don’t try something like that again,” his deep voice settled across my ears. He released my leg and let my booted foot dangle.
He picked me up again, his hands scorching, and set me down. He left me standing there, dazed and confused.
“Get in the car, Jupiter.”
I stumbled to the car door in an Ezra-induced stupor and opened it slowly. Ezra was already inside and had started the engine as I sat down, closing the door behind me.
He backed out of the parking lot and made his way toward the on-ramp. Kai poked my shoulder, so I turned toward him. He wagged his brows at me, causing my face to flush hot as I fought a smile. It was gonna be hard to get over Ezra Brandon if he kept touching me like that.
“What’s our next stop?” I asked him.
“Nashville.”
“Nashville?” I asked.
“Nashville?” Kai asked as well, sitting up. He started pressing buttons on his phone feverishly.
“Yes, Nashville,” Ezra answered, glancing at us like we were idiots, you know, ’cause we were. “Why do I feel like I just keep repeating things over and over around you two?”
You can repeat that car bit again if you want, I thought too quickly. No! No. Bad Jupiter. Bad Jupiter. I tried to turn my thoughts toward more innocent diversions, but it was really hard to when Ezra Brandon’s hands, the very hands that lifted me not a mere ten minutes before, were resting so charmingly across his steering wheel. I took a deep sigh.
Then I sat up with a jerk. “Oh shit!”
Ezra fishtailed a little. “What?”
My face flushed warm again. “Uh, I just, uh, forgot to phone my sister last night.”
“Damn it, Jupiter!” Ezra panted. He situated himself in his seat once more, pulling at his seatbelt.
“Sorry! Sorry! I’m really sorry!”
“Just call your sister before I lose control of the car again.”
I smiled at him. His smirk came about but he fought it, I could tell, with everything he had. I found my sister’s number and pressed the call button. I waited while it rang.
“You promised,” she answered.
“I know. I’m sorry but I got sidetracked.”
“But you promised,” she said, her voice breaking up like she was holding back tears.
“Aww, Mercury, don’t do that. You’ll make me cry, and if I cry then Ezra will cry; we’ll all be crying.”
Ezra threw an annoyed look at me, but I ignored it.
“What’s new there?” I asked her, trying to distract her.
“Nothing really. Have you been able to eat anything good yet?” Mercury and I were constantly scavenging for anything other than organic tomatoes. A bag of Cheetos in my house was worth two weeks of dish duty to the right person, and by right person, I mean Mercury.
“Yeah, actually, I ate a cheeseburger last night.”
“Cheese and crackers! You heinous brat. Tell me all about it.”
For the next ten minutes I described the cheeseburger I’d consumed the night before bite by bite, even going so far as to describe the various textures and temperatures of the pile of fries I’d hit Kai’s hand over once when he’d tried to pilfer one.
“All right, gotta go, Mercury.”
“You busy?”
“Nah, but I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Okay, love you!” she said.
“Love you too. Remember, you’re the hottest planet, baby.”
“And you’re the heaviest.”
“Aw, man, I was trying to be nice, you punk.”
“That’s for not wanting to talk to me anymore.”
“Fine,” I said. “Bye, lint licker!”
I hung up before she could respond. I took a deep breath in satisfaction, my work done.
“Anyone want a cheeseburger?” Kai asked, making me light up inside.
“I should be a food critic, no?” I asked him.
He nodded with authority, which made me begin to question my life’s plans.
“I might change my major,” I told the car.
“What are you going to the University of Washington for?” Ezra asked.
He’d asked it so seriously, my whole body sobered. “Oh, I’m going to get a nursing degree as well as a nursing home administration degree.”
Ezra did a literal double take, which I thought was only possible in cartoons. “What?” he asked.
He hadn’t heard me apparently, so I spoke very slowly. “Me want to be nurse. Me also want to open a nursing home.”
“I heard you, smart-ass, I just— I just can’t…”
“What he’s trying to say is that he finds this an incredible coincidence, because he too would like to work with the elderly,” Kai chimed in.
“A geriatric physician,” Ezra explained quietly, studying me.
“Well,” I breathed, “that is interesting.”
Ezra stared at the road ahead of him. “I want to start something sort of different,” he continued.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I want to start a joint nursing home and preschool. During the day the elderly could work side by side with the children, helping them, teaching them, giving them all something to work towards.” He glanced at me, the fire obvious in his eyes. “Preschool-age children have so much to gain from being around them, and they give so much love in return. It’s a win-win.”
My breath sucked into my chest. It was a brilliant idea, literally brilliant. “That is an incredible idea, Ezra,” I told him, thinking back on all my friends in my yoga class. They would have loved that.
“You think so?” he asked, that enchanting smile, the one that was so utterly Ezra’s, gracing his face.
“I think it’s genius, Ezra,” I told him quietly, and I meant it.
“Thank you,” he answered, making my heart skip a beat.
Please don’t fall in love with him. Please don’t fall in love with him.